Avto increases lead, SKA edges Dynamo again. December 6 round-up
The two Conference leaders won Tuesday’s top games. Avtomobilist scored three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat Metallurg and move five clear at the top in the East. SKA, meanwhile, needed Nikita Gusev’s overtime goal to win at Dynamo. Elsewhere, Traktor halted its losing streak with victory at Sibir and Lokomotiv came from 0-2 to defeat in-form Spartak. There was also success for Vityaz, Neftekhimik, Salavat Yulaev and Barys.
Traktor gets much-needed win
Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 (1-0, 0-2, 1-2)
Traktor picked up a valuable road win, snapping its five-game skid and halting Sibir’s winning streak. For this game, the visitor was without Finnish forward Teemu Pulkkinen, while Sergei Mylnikov returned in goal. Sibir welcomed back Ilya Pastukhov and Vyacheslav Osnovin. Despite the teams’ divergent form of late, a close game was in prospect: the previous three meetings between the two this season produced one shoot-out win, one overtime verdict and a 2-3 regulation scoreline.
Early in the game, the home team took the initiative. Traktor managed just three shots at Anton Krasotkin in the first period. Sibir’s pressure at the other end eventually paid off when Vladimir Butuzov opened the scoring on the power play in the last moments of the firsts period.
In the locker room, Anvar Gatiyatullin clearly found the right words to inspire Traktor. Alexei Byvaltsev forced a turnover in the corner and surprised Krasotkin with an unexpected shot from beyond the goal line. That gave the visitor a lift and midway through the fame Maxim Shabanov made it 2-1.
Defending that lead in the final stanza, Traktor was happy to absorb Sibir’s pressure and wait for a chance to attack. That chance came on the power play and Shabanov took advantage for his second of the night. The game wasn’t done. Nikita Setdikov put Sibir right back in contention, but despite a late surge from the home team, Pyotr Khokhryakov’s empty net goal sealed the win for Traktor.
Salavat Yulaev moves ahead of Avangard
Avangard Omsk 1 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 (1-2, 0-0, 0-1)
Avangard today announced it had extended forward Reid Boucher’s contract for another year. On the ice, though, there was little good news for the Hawks as Salavat Yulaev left Omsk with a victory that lifts it up to fourth, ahead of the home team.
Ufa seems to be emerging from a slump. Coming into this game, Viktor Kozlov’s men had lost eight of their previous 10. However, after a long losing streak, Salavat Yulaev is now alternating wins and losses. Today’s success makes it three victories from five.
The game got off to a fast start. With barely a minute played, the visitor took the lead when Danil Bashkirov went around the back to put the puck on the slot for Alexei Pustozyorov to score. It wasn’t long before Avangard tied it up: a power play saw Semyon Chistyakov fire in a point shot while Ivan Telegin screened goaltender Andrei Kareyev.
While the home crowd hoped that the goal would put Avangard on the front foot, they were disappointed. Salavat Yulaev played an assured game in its zone, and in center ice. Late in the frame, Grigory Panin’s shot from the blue line beat Vasily Demchenko to restore Ufa’s lead.
Although Avangard spent much of the second period looking hard for a way back into the game, in reality Mikhail Kravets’ team struggled to keep control of the puck. Solid defense from Salavat Yulaev ensured that the Hawks were unable to establish any attacking positions. At the other end, the visitor’s pacy forwards regularly tried to threaten on the counter. However, neither team to add to the scoreline.
Gradually, Avangard began to play more of a dump-and-chase game. However, this also bore little fruit. Ufa made the hits when it needed to, protecting Kareyev’s net and making it tough for Omsk to create the clear-cut chance it needed to save the game. In the final seconds, an empty net goal for Alexander Chmelevski sealed Salavat’s win and put his team back into the top four in the East.
Revenge win for Barys
Barys Astana 3 Ak Bars Kazan 2 SO (2-0, 0-1, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
When these teams met here two weeks ago, Ak Bars’ victory reportedly saved Oleg Znarok from the sack. Since then, the visitor’s head coach quit of his own volition and on this return trip to Astana, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov joined interim head coach Yury Babenko’s coaching staff.
Ak Bars decided to bring hard-hitting stay-at-home defenseman Kirill Adamchuk into the line up in place of the two-way attacking contribution of Slava Voynov. Barys made a significant change of its own, with Dmitry Shevchenko slotting into the fourth line on his return to the club from Avangard.
Shevchenko made an early impact. In the first minute he ended up in the net. That was due to a foul by Dmitry Yudin, and Barys converted the power play with a goal from Arkady Shestakov. That early Yudin penalty set the tone for a first period frequently interrupted by the referee’s whistle. Barys managed to kill a three-on-five situation, and once back at full strength the home team extended its lead as Alex Grant got his first goal since arriving from SKA.
During the break, both teams talked about the need to clean up their play and cut down on penalties. The second period saw the box empty during an extended passage of breathless, high-speed action. Ak Bars had a slight advantage and that began to make itself felt on the stats, and then on the scoreboard. Nikita Dynyak got the visitor on the board, evading the attentions of three opponents and firing in a shot that ricocheted off Nikita Boyarkin’s pads and into the net.
That goal kickstarted the Ak Bars fightback. In the third period, there were dangerous efforts from Dmitry Kagarlitsky and Vadim Shipachyov before Kirill Petrov tied it up with a wrister five minutes before the end. Lifted by that goal, the visitor went closer to winning it in regulation, but could not finish the job before overtime.
There was no winner in the extras, and in the shoot-out Barys scored its first two attempts. That prompted Ak Bars to replace starting goalie Amir Miftakhov with Timur Bilyalov. However, he could not save his team from defeat.
Avto motors clear in the East
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (0-0, 1-1, 3-0)
A second summit meeting in three days saw Avtomobilist cement its position atop the Eastern Conference. After edging a 2-1 verdict in Magnitogorsk, the Motormen returned home to secure a bigger margin of victory. However, although the final scoreline was convincing, it took two late goals for Yekaterinburg to see off its visitor today.
Both teams welcomed back forwards. Patrice Cormier returned for Avtomobilist, while Metallurg brought Nikolai Goldobin back into the team. However, for long periods there was little sign of a goal at either end. Avto started the game cautiously, in keeping with their recent approach, and although Metallurg produced some pretty patterns in the home zone there were few dangerous moments for Igor Bobkov in the home net.
The game opened up in the middle frame. However, this was largely due to Metallurg stepping up the pace on the attack. Eventually, that brought the first goal of the game, scored by Yegor Yakovlev. Avtomobilist’s swift counterattacks brought a swift response: Eddie Pasquale denied Brooks Macek, but could do nothing to prevent Curtis Valk scoring on the rebound.
Magnitka began the third period on the power play, but could not get its game going. A strong PK laid the foundations for the Motormen, and once back to full strength the home team went in front thanks to Oleg Li’s redirect from Jesse Blacker’s shot.
From that point on, Avto was content to play the game in center ice and protect its lead. By the 52-minute mark, Li’s goal was the only shot on goal the home team had managed in the third period. However, the next effort brought another goal, with Stephane Da Costa’s solo rush beating Pasquale. Li got his second of the game into an empty net to wrap up the win.
Shikin denies former club
Kunlun Red Star 1 Vityaz Moscow Region 3 (0-2, 1-0, 0-1)
Vityaz picked up a useful win to keep itself clear of the chasing pack. The Moscow Region team was rarely troubled in Mytishchi and now has a five-point advantage over ninth-placed Severstal. Red Star, in tenth, is 12 points adrift of the playoff places and faces an uphill battle to force its way into contention.
In the first period, former Kunlun goalie Dmitry Shikin was the key figure. The home team made a fast start, pressing for a goal from the first face off. By the 13-minute mark, the Dragons were up 12-5 on shots, but Shikin had stopped everything that came his way. Better still, the visiting goalie had an assist to his credit after launching the breakaway that saw Kirill Rasskazov open the scoring. In the 16th minute, Roman Abrosimov added a second for Vityaz, and Red Star’s problems were not helped by a rash of penalties towards the end of the session.
Captain Brandon Yip has been at the heart of most of the good things about the Chinese franchise this season. Today he was on the scoresheet again with a power play effort in the 28th minute. That offered the home team a lifeline, but Shikin was again impressive against his former club to ensure there would be no further success for the home team.
That was largely the pattern in the third period as well. Kunlun pushed for a tying goal, but Shikin finished the game with 35 saves to take the ‘W’. Vladislav Kara’s empty-netter added some gloss to the final score.
Neftekhimik on top in basement battle
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 HC Sochi 2 (2-2, 1-0, 0-0)
Sochi suffered a ninth straight loss after going down at fellow struggler Neftekhimik. This was a clash of the two teams at the foot of their respective conferences, but while Sochi is adrift of the playoff spots, the home side is only four points from eighth-placed Barys in the East.
After a long spell of misfortune, the last thing the visitor needed was an early penalty. However, Sergei Kosovets was called for holding after just 84 seconds, and Neftekhimik converted that power play. Ilya Fedotov got the opening goal. However, Sochi showed some resilience to battle back and take the lead with two quick goals. Just 40 seconds separated strikes from Nikita Feoktistov and Dmitry Zavgorodny. The latter has been on the scoresheet in five of his last six games, with three goals and two assists in that time.
At that point, the Leopards needed to consolidate. Instead, Evgeny Mityakin quickly hauled Neftekhimik level. The teams produced three goals in 1:19, but the game remained as intriguingly poised as ever.
The middle frame was evenly matched. At times, both teams were so cautious in their defensive play that it was almost impossible to see where a goal might come from. By the first commercial break, there were just two shots on goal in the session, one at each end. The tempo picked up as the play went on, and late in the frame Sergei Kuptsov put Neftekhimik back in front.
That goal proved decisive, although once again Sochi was left cursing its luck. With less than three minutes to play, Andrei Chivilyov tripped Artyom Nikolayev right in front of the Neftekhimik net. The officials awarded a penalty shot, but Nikolayev was unable to beat Alexander Sudnitsin and the host held on to take the win.
Gusev sinks Dynamo in OT
Dynamo Moscow 1 SKA St. Petersburg 2 OT (1-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-1)
For the third game running, it took overtime to separate these teams. Moreover, both Dynamo and SKA went beyond the 60-minute mark in their previous games. Not surprisingly, perhaps, we went into the extras here. However, two goals from Nikita Gusev ultimately proved sufficient to give SKA the edge.
Although Dynamo lost out in Kazan in its previous game, head coach Alexei Kudashov made few changes to his team. By contrast, Roman Rotenberg saw a youthful roster get a big fright at Kunlun and responded by reshuffling almost his entire roster outside of the first line.
The home team has suffered on the PK in recent games and played a highly-disciplined game in the first period here. SKA took just one penalty, and killed it effectively enough. However, shortly after Marat Khairullin returned to the game, Alexander Skorenov put the home team ahead.
In the second stanza, Dynamo had two more chances on the power play but could not extend its lead. Although there were no goals in the period, this was not a reflection of limited attacking play. Instead, it was largely to the credit of the two goalies, Konstantin Volkov and Dmitry Nikolayev, who performed impressively to keep the scoreline at 1-0.
However, Volkov’s head was not immediately in the game at the start of the third and within 15 seconds he allowed a Nikita Gusev shot through his five hole to tie the game. The game was all square after 60 minutes – a fair reflection of the play – and both teams had good chances in overtime. Ivan Igumnov might have won it for Dynamo, but Alexander Volkov managed to get his stick behind his goalie to clear the goalbound puck. A minute later, Gusev went to the other end to score the winner and keep SKA way out in front at the top of the table.
Loko’s fightback ends Spartak’s run
Spartak Moscow 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 (2-0, 0-1, 0-2)
Lokomotiv rallied from 0-2 to win in Moscow and end Spartak’s run of victories. The home team had six straight successes ahead of this game, and had won nine out of 10 since the departure of head coach Boris Mironov. Today, though, that run of form hit a bump.
Things began well enough for the home team. Shane Prince opened the scoring with a goal on the counterattack, and late in the first period Alexei Yegorov’s stretch pass enabled Alexander Khokhlachyov to double the lead. However, Lokomotiv showed signs of its own attacking prowess: Maxim Shalunov dinged the piping amid several good chances.
The visitor’s enterprise was rewarded midway through the game. Denis Alexeyev dished the puck off to the blue line, where Alexander Yelesin fired a one timer into the top corner. At the other end, Spartak had chances to extend its lead but could not take them. Matvei Zaseda, in particular, forced a smart save out of Daniil Isayev in the visitor’s net.
Early in the third, Isayev again denied Zaseda. Those stops proved crucial. Shalunov redirected a Nikita Cherepanov point shot into Patrik Rybar’s net to tie the game with 10 minutes left. Then, in the 58th minute, Lokomotiv grabbed a controversial winner. Daniil Tesanov got the puck to the slot, where Maxim Beryozkin managed to stuff it over the line. The Spartak bench challenged the play, claiming interference on Rybar, but a review upheld the on-ice decision. Now, as well as being a goal down, the Red-and-Whites had to contend with being a man down in the final minutes of the game. That prevented any meaningful attempt to save the game and Loko skated off with the points.
