Larionov ties up series with Fedorov. December 7 round-up
The second meeting of the ‘Russian Five’ saw Igor Larionov’s Torpedo beat Sergei Fedorov’s CSKA 4-2 in Moscow. After two games between the distinguished ex-players, the score is 1-1. In the Far East derby we have also seen two episodes this season. Here, though, Amur has a 2-0 advantage after an overtime victory against Admiral today.
Amur maintains derby day advantage
Amur Khabarovsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 2 OT (1-0, 0-2, 1-0, 1-0)
The season promises 10 editions of the Far East derby, and the first three of them are scheduled for this week. On Monday, Amur won 2-0 in Vladivostok to move into the top eight in Eastern Conference. Today’s victory on home ice again moved the Tigers ahead of Barys into eighth place.
Despite a shut-out in the previous game, Vadim Yepanchintsev reshuffled his defense, bringing Viktor Baldayev and Cam Lee back into the team. Ruslan Pedan dropped to the third pair to make way, and Rafael Batyrshin was named as the seventh defenseman. Admiral’s Leonids Tambijevs mixed up his forward combinations, with only the top line remaining unchanged.
Amur had the better of the first period, enjoying three spells on the power play. However, the only goal came with the teams at equal strength. Stanislav Bocharov, a Khabarovsk native, scored his first goal for his hometown team at the age of 31. He only rejoined the organization at the start of the month, having earlier learned his hockey in Amur’s school.
In the second period, Admiral came into the game more. Alexander Gorshkov tied the game, ended Evgeny Alikin’s shut-out sequence on 97 minutes, 54 seconds. Then a power play goal from Rudolf Cerveny, redirecting a Libor Sulak shot, gave the Sailors the lead.
Cerveny’s goal was close to winning it for Admiral. However, with 48 seconds left to play, Ivan Nikolishin saved the home team. He ended the resistance of visiting goalie Nikita Serebryakov, who pulled of several big saves including a spectacular stop to deny Kirill Slepets.
Amur spent overtime on the front foot. The puck rarely left the Admiral zone, and the game reached its logical conclusion when Nikita Grebyonkin fired home the winner for the Tigers.
Revenge win for Larionov
CSKA Moscow 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 (1-0, 1-1, 0-3)
Igor Larionov got revenge over his former ‘Russian Five’ team-mate Sergei Fedorov when his Torpedo team won 4-2 at the defending champion on Wednesday. A couple of weeks earlier, the two teams met in Nizhny Novgorod for the first time since the Red Wings legends took over as head coaches in the KHL. On that occasion, Fedorov’s CSKA powered to a 4-0 victory but today was a different story.
Perhaps fittingly, it was another name from the immediate post-Soviet era that led Torpedo to victory. Nikolai Kovalenko, son of Andrei, ‘the Tank’, scored twice to get this win for the visitor. In addition, Igor Larionov Jr was also on target. Some days, hockey’s heritage bubbles to the surface and this was one of those days.
Initially, though, CSKA had the upper hand in the game. Semyon Pankratov gave the home side the lead in the sixth minute and, although the action was fairly evenly-matched, that advantage held until the first intermission.
In that opening frame, there were good chances for Larionov Jr and Konstantin Okulov but neither could find the net. In the second period, both players made up for their disappointments. First, Larionov tied the game with a power play goal midway through the session. Then Okulov restored CSKA’s lead when he reacted first to a rebound in front of Ivan Kulbakov’s net.
Torpedo spent the last four minutes of the second period on the penalty kill, but held on to keep the game alive going into the third. Then the visitor hit top form to turn the scoreline upside down. CSKA contributed to its own downfall, with penalty trouble helping Kovalenko tie the scores during a 5-on-3 power play. The home side continued to dominate much of the play, but was unable to score again. Then, in the closing moments, Torpedo forged ahead. Larionov’s efforts on the dot helped Kirill Voronin give the visitor the lead for the first time on 58:08. Then, as the Muscovites sought to save the game, Kovalenko found the empty net to seal Torpedo’s win.
