CSKA on top in Astana, Magnitka slips up at home. January 12 round-up
After losing to Avtomobilist, CSKA got back on track with a 5-2 win at Barys. The home team, though, suffered a fourth loss since the turn of the year and failed to enhance its position in the playoff race. Metallurg suffered a second successive home loss, going down to Admiral in a shoot-out. Torpedo got the better of Sochi thanks to Nikolai Kovalenko’s overtime goal.
CSKA bounces back
Barys Astana 2 CSKA Moscow 5 (0-1, 2-2, 0-2)
CSKA shrugged off its defeat in Yekaterinburg to get a win at Barys and maintain its grip on second place in the Western Conference. Going into the game, head coach Sergei Fedorov scratched Vladimir Bryukvin and Fredrik Claesson and reshuffled every line except the first. His opposite number, Andrei Skabelka, also changed things up after winning just one of four games in the Far East. Alexander Borisevich, who recently stepped up from the Kazakh championship, missed out on today’s game.
The visitor started with a series of penalties. Of the first 12 minutes of the game, CSKA spent eight on the PK. However, Barys was unable to take advantage. The best chance fell to Jeremy Bracco, but he was unable to convert Anthony Louis’ feed. And yet, in the middle of it all, a breakaway enabled Matvei Guskov to put the Muscovites in front in the 12th minute with a shorthanded goal. That proved to be the only goal of the first period.
Late in the opening session, Barys took its first penalty of the game and shortly after the intermission, Konstantin Okulov doubled the visitor’s lead. The Novosibirsk native began his career at Skabelka’s Sibir, and today scored on the coach who handed him his KHL debut.
Barys needed a swift response to prevent the game from drifting away. The home team got it, with Nikita Mikhailis setting up Anton Sagadeyev to halve the deficit little more than a minute later. That transformed the game as a spectacle as the two teams traded raids on each other’s net, barely pausing in center ice. A penalty on Bracco seemed to hand the initiative to CSKA, but instead we saw the second shorthanded marker of the day when Dmitry Shevchenko hauled Barys level in the 30th minute.
Having let a two-goal lead slip, CSKA regrouped and went back in front late in the middle frame thanks to Sergei Plotnikov’s powerful shot. In the third period, Barys switched to three-line hockey as it sought to save the game. However, home hopes were effectively ended when Anton Slepyshev’s howitzer made it 4-2 in the 49th minute and Maxim Mamin sealed the win with a fifth goal.
Battling Admiral subdues Magnitka
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 Admiral Vladivostok 2 SO (1-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)
At times, it feels like nobody wants to lead the Eastern Conference. Avtomobilist’s long losing streak should have opened the door for the chasing pack to take over, yet all too often they fluffed their lines. Metallurg’s 0-2 loss at home to Salavat Yulaev last time out was merely the latest instance of a team missing the chance to move into top spot.
After that loss, Magnitka had a couple of days to rest and reconsider. Several players were left out of the team for today’s game, including Josh Currie, Nikita Korostelyov, Ilya Nikolayev, Vladislav Yeryomenko and Arkhip Nekolenko. Artyom Minulin and Grigory Dronov returned from injury, and Pavel Akolzin, Mikhail Fisenko and Anatoly Nikontsev returned to the team. There was also a debut for youngster Roman Kantserov, who featured in last month’s KHL All-Star Game. Today he was named as 13th forward.
The new-look Metallurg made a good impression early on. More compact on the ice and better able to launch attacks, the home team opened the scoring thanks to Maxim Karpov’s 14th-minute power play goal. It was a deserved lead, with Admiral largely limited to counterattacks. Visiting goalie Nikita Serebryakov was the key man, keeping the score down in the opening exchanges.
However, the visitor improved after the first intermission. Admiral had the better of the second period and Metallurg goalie Eddie Pasquale found himself at the center of attention. He pulled off a string of big saves, none better than the two occasions he robbed Nikolai Chebykin of an equalizer. First, the goalie came out on top in a one-on-one duel, then 30 seconds before the hooter he thrust out his glove to stop a seemingly certain goal after Chebykin shot at a wide open net.
The Pasquale show continued into the third period. However, Pavel Shen managed to change the script with five minutes left. He beat the Canadian to take the action into overtime.
Once again, Pasquale came up big in the extras, denying Anton Berlyov in yet another solo rush. However, the Sailors had the final say. In the shoot-out, Pasquale finally succumbed, defeated by Daniil Gutik’s decisive effort.
Kovalenko gives Torpedo OT verdict
HC Sochi 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 OT (0-0, 1-2, 1-0, 0-1)
These two teams could hardly have arrived in more contrasting moods. Torpedo was looking for a win today to consolidate its position in the top four in the west. Sochi, meanwhile, was desperate to end a 20-game skid that set an unwanted KHL record for consecutive losses.
The teams met in their first game of 2023, back on Jan. 3. On that occasion, Torpedo eased to a 5-2 victory. Indeed, the visitor has taken at least a point from every game this year, winning three before losing to Severstal in a shoot-out last time out.
Since that loss, Sochi had shown some signs of promise. Away at CSKA, the Leopards fought bravely before going down 0-2. It might have been very different had Matvei Michkov converted a penalty shot late in the game with the score still at 1-1. Sochi also pushed Vityaz hard in Tuesday’s 2-3 loss.
Nonetheless, the first period here went according to the form book. Torpedo was on top throughout, helped by a trio of power plays. The only thing missing was a goal, and Mikhail Orlov soon put that right when he gave the visitor a 23rd-minute lead. That was shortlived, though. Donat Stalnov, once a Torpedo prospect, scored on his former club for the second time in two meetings to level the scores on 24:00.
The second period was more evenly contested, but Sochi could not prevent Torpedo regaining the lead thanks to Denis Yan late in the frame. However, Sergei Svetlov’s men took the positives from their performance and continued to give the visitor plenty to think about. With five minutes to play, Sergei Popov got the goal that sent us to overtime.
Was the long skid about to come to an end? Not this time. Nikolai Kovalenko needed just 60 seconds to give Torpedo the verdict. Sochi gains a welcome point – its first since Dec. 25 – but that eagerly awaited win remains elusive.
