SKA bounces back with big win over CSKA. November 22 round-up
Tuesday’s top game saw table topping SKA entertain defending champion CSKA. The visitor arrived in significantly better form, but left on the wrong end of a 6-2 scoreline. Elsewhere, Dynamo Moscow grabbed a last-minute winner at Severstal, Torpedo scored four on Kunlun Red Star and there were road wins for Vityaz and Lokomotiv.
Late strike from Weal gives Dynamo the points
Severstal Cherepovets 2 Dynamo Moscow 3 (1-2, 0-0, 1-1)
Jordan Weal scored twice as Dynamo snapped its skid on Saturday. Today he followed that with a game-winner in the final minute at Severstal.
The former Ak Bars man is now on a four-game productive streak worth 5 (3+2) points and moves to 22 (7+15) for the season. His decisive effort here came on 59:24. It started when Robin Press was unable to keep the puck in the zone. That enabled Jakob Lilja to break. The Swede’s shot was saved, but Weal was ready to put away the rebound.
The late goal wiped out a brave fightback from Severstal. The home team was down 0-2 inside seven minutes after Alexander Skorenov’s power play goal was followed by Yegor Martynov’s effort. However, the Steelmen hit back. Alexander Suvorov halved the deficit in the opening session with a power play tally of his own (Weal was the guilty party as Dynamo took its first penalty of the game).
Then Severstal dominated the second period, outshooting the visitor 16-4 without finding a way past Ilya Konovalov. That pressure was rewarded at the start of the third when Mikhail Tikhonov tied it at 2-2. However, with overtime beckoning, Weal grabbed a winner for Dynamo.
Linesman ‘assists’ on lacrosse goal
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 Kunlun Red Star 1 (2-0, 1-1,1-0)
Torpedo has enjoyed its meetings with the Dragons so far this season. The team’s previous meeting in Nizhny Novgorod ended in a 3-2 home victory, then Igor Larionov’s team powered to a 5-0 win on the road just over a week ago. Today, back on home ice, Torpedo enjoyed another convincing victory – complete with a lacrosse goal.
That memorable marker went to Denis Vengryzhanovsky in the sixth minute. He opened the scoring in style, collecting the puck behind the net and slinging it into the top corner, Michigan-style. The visiting defense was nowhere to be seen although, in fairness to Red Star’s players they were hopelessly wrong-footed by a freak deflection of the linesman’s skate.
Vengryzhanovsky’s goal set the tone for a dominant home display. Kirill Voronin doubled the lead in the first period during a passage of 4-on-3 play. Early in the second, Kunlun got one back through Devin Brosseau, but there was never much sign of a major fightback. Andrei Belevich missed a penalty shot midway through the game before Maxim Fedotov made it 3-1 for Torpedo.
In the final frame the visitor tried to make a game of it. However, there was only one more goal, and that went into Red Star’s unguarded net at the end of the action. Nikolai Kovalenko was the scorer with Igor Larionov Jr collected his 11th assist in seven games.
Rasskazov extends Dinamo’s slump
Dinamo Minsk 1 Vityaz Moscow Region 2 OT (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-1)
An overtime goal from Kirill Rasskazov sent Dinamo to a fifth successive defeat. Vityaz moves two points clear of its opponent after recording a second victory in three games. The visitor also went to overtime in between those two wins.
Dinamo had a great opportunity for a fast start when Scott Wilson got a hooking minor. However, the home team could not take advantage and the Bison’s power play also drew a blank later in the opening frame when Daniil Ilyin went to the box for tripping.
However, Minsk’s strong showing in the first period got a reward in the second when Cedric Paquette opening the scoring in the 28th minute. Dinamo looked to be in complete control of the game, outshooting Vityaz 22-6 in the session, but Maxim Dorozhko kept the visitor in contention.
In the third, too, Dinamo had the edge. However, Vityaz managed to get a tying goal through Alexander Yaremchuk with four minutes to play. The extras lasted just 19 seconds, long enough for Rasskazov to bring play down the right-hand channel, move into the center and shoot home from between the hash marks.
League leader overpowers defending champ
SKA St. Petersburg 6 CSKA Moscow 2 (4-0, 1-2, 1-0)
A powerful first-period display gave SKA a convincing victory over CSKA. This was the kind of performance that could ease the doubts about the league leader’s unconvincing form of late, with a 6-2 victory leaving the defending champion looking like an outsider.
The game was more or less settled inside 14 minutes as the home team plundered four unanswered goals. Mikhail Vorobyov set the tone with an opener after 28 seconds, and Nikita Gusev soon made it 2-0. On both occasions, CSKA goalie Adam Reideborn was guilty of giving up big rebounds in front of the net and SKA punished the Swede on both occasions. Gusev, who had an assist on the opener, moved on to 9 (5+4) points from five games.
There was more to come. Zakhar Bardakov made it 3-0, then as CSKA made a mess of clearing its lines, Damir Zhafyarov punished his former club to add a fourth. That was the end of Reideborn’s evening, with Alexander Sharychenkov taking over between the piping.
He at least halted the flow of goals. However, at the first intermission, SKA had a 4-0 lead from just 10 shots on goal and there was little hope of the Muscovites fighting back. Zhafyarov’s second of the game made it five early in the second before finally the visitor had something to celebrate. Pavel Karnaukhov and Vladislav Kamenev scored two in quick succession, prompting SKA to take a time-out and calm any nerves. It says much about the recent form of Roman Rotenberg’s team that even up 5-2, he felt the need to intervene in the game after some misfortune.
All of that happened inside the first 30 minutes. Subsequently, the pace of the game dropped. There was just one more goal, scored by Dmitrij Jaskin midway through the third. This was a night for SKA to savor. However, the table-toppers will recall that its previous victory, a 7-2 thrashing of Dinamo Minsk, also featured a flurry of quick goals but did not generate the confidence to reverse the team’s recent losses.
Loko bounces back
HC Sochi 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (0-0, 0-3, 1-1)
On Nov. 9, Sochi snapped a long losing streak with an overtime success against Vityaz. That result started a five-game skid for the Railwaymen. Today, though, Igor Nikitin’s team ended its unhappy run against the very team that started it.
Loko made a fast start to the game and went on to dominate the first period. The visitor outshot Sochi 17-4 and spent almost three times as long on the attack. However, there was no way past Maxim Tretyak in the home net.
That all changed in the middle frame as Lokomotiv added precision to possession. Sochi’s penalty kill held on at the start of the session, but it wasn’t long before Sergei Andronov opened the scoring with the teams back at full strength. Late in the second period, Andrei Altybarmakyan got himself into trouble with the officials. Maxim Shalunov punished the Sochi forward’s interference, and barely a minute later the visitor had another advantage when Altybarmakyan again went to the box. This time, Stepan Nikulin got the power play goal to put the game out of reach.
Home hopes flickered briefly midway through the third when Sergei Popov pulled one back on the power play. Late in the game, Lokomotiv had a goal whistled back for offside, then grabbed another power play tally thanks to Shalunov to record a comfortable win.
