SKA loses at Neftekhimik, Avangard wins ninth in a row. November 19
Eastern Conference struggler Neftekhimik produced the performance of the day, frustrating table topping SKA with a 2-1 win. While SKA endures a protracted stumble, Avangard goes from strength to strength: its overtime win over Ak Bars is its ninth in a row. Dynamo snapped a five-game skid with victory over KRS and Avtomobilist blasted eight goals past Sochi. There were also wins for Sibir, Amur, Metallurg and Admiral on a busy day of KHL action.
Nine in a row for Omsk
Avangard Omsk 2 Ak Bars Kazan 1 OT (0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 1-0)
Avangard reeled off a ninth successive victory, but this clash of two Eastern Conference titans was a slow burner of a game. Both clubs have faced unaccustomed struggles this season, but there were reasons for optimism in both camps ahead of the game. Ak Bars arrived in Omsk on the back of an emphatic victory over table-topping SKA, while the Hawks had that long winning streak to encourage them.
That recent form meant that Mikhail Kravets finally lost the ‘interim’ tag in front of his head coach title. He made no changes to his winning team, while Oleg Znarok was forced bring Konstantin Luchevnikov into his team in place of injured defenseman Nikita Yevseyev.
It took a long time for the game to come to a boil. Both teams started cautiously, and although Ak Bars enjoyed good possession and territory its offense was too sluggish to convert that into serious danger for Vasily Demchenko in the home net.
Later in the first period, Avangard began to offer a little more. A counterattack saw Reid Boucher hit the crossbar and the final moments brought a home power play that saw the puck in the net. However, the ‘goal’ arrived a fraction after the hooter sounded and the teams remained deadlocked.
Instead of firing the teams up for a pacier second period, all that seemed to have a sleep-inducing effect. After the intermission, the game slowed even more. It felt as if both teams were waiting for an error from the other, rather than trying to take the initiative themselves.
In the third, Avangard began to trouble Timur Bilyalov with more shots on goals. Ultimately, that brought the opening goal, with Ziyat Paigin firing home from the blue line.
Now, at last, Ak Bars showed some urgency. A power play for the visitor brought a tying goal from Dmitry Voronkov, following up on the slot after Alexander Radulov’s shot. That lifted the visitor, and Ak Bars finished the game more strongly without being able to force a winner.
That took us to overtime, where Vladimir Tkachyov decided to bring matters to an end. He took on two defensemen, fired in a shot and collected the rebound to score the game winner. Ak Bars challenged the play, citing interference on Bilyalov, but after a long video review the officials upheld the on-ice decision to give Avangard the verdict.
Motormen run over struggling Sochi
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 8 HC Sochi 2 (3-0, 3-1, 2-1)
Sochi’s reward for its recent improvement was the departure of Nikita Popugayev to SKA. The forward has been rejuvenated under Sergei Svetlov, and his form attracted attention in Petersburg. He follows Vasily Glotov north from Black Sea, underlining the challenges facing teams with smaller budgets when it comes to keeping hold of star players.
In the first game without Popugayev, Sochi travelled to Yekaterinburg. Defeat at home to Avtomobilist earlier this season brought an end to Andrei Nazarov’s time behind the bench. Today’s game turned into an unhappy throwback to the tough times at the start of the campaign as Avto’s offense ran riot to deliver a comprehensive win.
The home team scored from its first meaningful attack, with Georgy Belousov converting his breakaway to score on Maxim Tretyak. Two minutes later, Nick Ebert doubled the lead on the first power play of the game. With Sochi’s youngsters reeling, Brooks Macek made it 3-0 midway through the first period and chased Tretiak from the net. Youngster Artemy Pleshkov replaced him, and was possibly the visitor’s best player as he defied the home onslaught.
Pleshkov kept Avtomobilist at bay until midway through the second period, only to be beaten by a shorthanded goal from Daniil Romantsev. That sparked a collapse: Anatoly Golyshev and Sergei Zborovsky added two more goals within a couple of minutes, turning the scoreline into a rout. Donat Stalnov pulled one back, but that was little consolation to the visitor.
The third period was largely irrelevant to the outcome, although the teams traded power play goals (Stephane Da Costa and Nikita Tochitsky scoring) before Macek completed the scoring. Avtomobilist secured a sixth successive victory.
No happy return for Mikhailis
Barys Astana 1 Amur Khabarovsk 3 (1-1, 0-1, 0-1)
Both of these teams have been missing key forwards in recent games. Nikita Mikhailis returned to the Barys line-up after sitting out 10 games due to injury. In his absence, the Kazakhs won just twice. Amur, meanwhile, is still without Yaroslav Likhachyov although the youngster remains the Tigers’ leading goalscorer.
On his return to action, Mikhailis did not pose an immediate threat to Evgeny Alikin in the Amur net. However, on a power play his interchange with Linden Vey had the Tigers’ goalie leaping from post to post. The only thing missing was a telling shot. Moments later, on the same PP, Ansar Shaikhmeddenov found exactly that to force home the opening goal.
The celebrations were cut short, though. Amur responded almost immediately with a power play of its own and Sergei Dubakin tied the game before the first intermission. Dubakin is one of the young players on loan at Amur, and he continued to make an impact with an assist on his team’s second goal. On this occasion, though, the award was largely a formality: Dubakin got the puck to Jan Drozg, but the Slovenian forward created this marker for himself.
That goal continued to separate the teams until the very end. Barys had chances to tie it up but could not find a way past Alikin. Instead, the final score was settled by Alexander Sharov’s empty net goal as Amur moved ahead of Barys in the Eastern Conference standings.
Salavat Yulaev falls at home again
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 Sibir Novosibirsk 2 (0-1, 0-1, 1-0)
This game was Ufa’s last chance to get a win in its current home stand, having lost it three previous outings. Sibir, meanwhile, was looking to build on its overtime win in Minsk and draw level on points with today’s host.
While Sibir made minor changes to its line-up, Salavat Yulaev’s coaches had more adjustments to make. Alexander Kadeikin’s trio was listed as the first line and welcomed back Stanislav Bocharov. Yaroslav Tsulygin returned after his duties with Russia’s U20s to add to a defense still missing the influential yet injured Ryan Murphy.
Sibir made a strong start to the game, and deservedly got in front late in the first period. The goal came from Trevor Murphy, who made an effective contribution to the offense and angled in a shot to the near post.
Salavat Yulaev had little to offer in response. For long periods Sibir outskated the home team and generally looked sharper all over the ice. During the second session, both teams were disrupted by injury: first visiting forward Vyacheslav Litovchenko left the game, then Ufa D-man Grigory Panin joined him in the sick bay. Late in the frame, a double power play helped Alexander Sharov extend Sibir’s lead.
Salavat got back into the game on its sixth power play of the day. Nikolai Kulemin’s redirect to a powerful Mikhail Naumenkov shot beyond Denis Kostin to reduce the deficit. There were chances to save the game, with Bocharov hitting the post. But that was as close as the home team got as Sibir held on for the win.
Magnitka maintains local supremacy
Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Metallurg won its third South Ural derby of the season, but the scores are getting closer each time. Previously, the Steelmen won 5-2, then 4-3. Today it took overtime to separate these near neighbors.
Part three of the series started well for Ilya Vorobyov’s team, and Nikita Korostelyov’s fifth-minute opener was just reward for an enterprising opening. Philippe Maillet was among the assists on that play. The Canadian moves to 100 points in the KHL, and extended his productive streak to five games. Traktor did not lack for attacking ambitions, but could not get itself on the scoresheet.
In the second period, the home team continued to create more chances. However, it was unable to make a breakthrough with the teams at equal strength. It took a power play to get Traktor off the mark thanks to Teemu Pulkkinen’s redirect. As the game progressed, Traktor looked the likely winner, with Nikita Tertyshny causing persistent problems. However, there was no deciding goal in regulation and it fell to Maxim Karpov – a one-time Traktor prospect – to score an impressive game-winner in OT.
SKA slips up again
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 SKA St. Petersburg 1 (0-1, 1-0, 1-0)
SKA’s wobble at the top of the table is in danger of turning into a slump. Saturday’s loss at Neftekhimik means Roman Rotenberg’s team has just one win in six games. More troubling, two of those defeats came against teams outside the playoff places, and another was at an Ak Bars team struggling for any sort of form this season.
The short trip across Tatarstan to Nizhnekamsk began well enough for the visitor. In a hard-fought first period, the visitor had the edge and got the opening goal thanks to Dmitrij Jaskin’s 16th-minute effort.
However, in the second period SKA was guilty of failing to turn pressure into goals. Despite a solid advantage on the shot count and a big lead in time on attack, there were no further goals from Jaskin, Gusev & Co. Then a power play gave Neftekhimik a chance, and the home team grabbed it. Evgeny Mityakin tied the game and suddenly there was pressure on SKA.
The visitor responded by continuing in the same vein. Over 60 minutes, SKA had almost twice as much attacking time, and outshot Neftekhimik 32-18. But Andrei Tikhomirov was in invincible mode, and the home team rode his goaltending to an improbable win. The decisive goal came on the penalty kill, with Vyacheslav Leshchenko grabbing a shorty to stun SKA and send the home crowd into raptures. There was an anxious three minutes left to play, but Tikhomirov backstopped his hardworking defense through the closing stages to spark celebrations at the hooter.
Five-game skid comes to an end
Dynamo Moscow 5 Kunlun Red Star 3 (2-0, 2-2, 1-1)
The Blue-and-Whites snapped a five-game skid but had to work hard to subdue a spirited Red Star. The visitor was lifted by a shoot-out win in Yaroslavl last time out and may feel that a better first period could have led to a repeat of that success here.
Instead, though, Jordan Weal scored twice in that opening frame to put Dynamo in control. Weal opened the scoring in the second minute and extended the lead in the 18th. Jakob Lilja assisted on both.
Kunlun hit back early in the second thanks to Alex Riche, but it wasn’t long before Vladislav Kodola’s power play goal restored that two-goal advantage for the home team. Late in the middle frame the teams traded two more goals. Tyler Wong’s PP tally halved the deficit, but Kodola matched Weal’s double to make it 4-2.
That wasn’t the end of it. The Dragons hung around in the game and when Doyle Somerby made it a one-goal game in the 55th minute, there were clear nerves in the Dynamo camp. Confidence is not high after a losing streak, and Lilja’s empty net effort was greeted with great relief as it finished off the KRS resistance.
Admiral up to third
Dinamo Minsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 4 SO (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Admiral had to navigate some choppy waters in Minsk, but victory over Dinamo steers the Sailors into third place in the East. These are heady days for the Vladivostok club, which is more accustomed to life below decks in the battle for a playoff spot. Today it is just four points before Eastern Conference pacesetter Avtomobilist.
The game was something of a rollercoaster. Vadim Moroz gave Dinamo the lead midway through the first period, but a power play goal late in the session saw Evgeny Lisovets tie it up. That, no doubt, was a sweet moment for the Belarusian defenseman, who played several seasons in Minsk.
Admiral’s power play continued to fire, and Alexander Gorshkov added two goals in the second period. The visitor looked set fair for victory, until Cedric Paquette struck late in the frame to take some of the wind out of the opposition’s sails.
Midway through the third period, Dmitry Sokolov’s goal tied the game and ensured that we would go all the way to a shoot-out. However, Gorshkov left with the decisive tally, while Nikita Serebryakov stopped all of Dinamo’s efforts.
