Advantage Severstal and Neftekhimik in playoff battles. January 31 round-up
Tuesday’s action was all about the playoff race. In the East, Traktor’s 2-1 win over Dynamo Moscow moved it back in contention after a run of defeats. However, Neftekhimik’s overtime verdict against Avtomobilist keeps it in pole position. Severstal was the big winner in the west, beating Metallurg to climb to seventh. Spartak’s surprise stumble at home to Sochi sees the Red-and-Whites drop out of the top eight.
Traktor reawakens its playoff dream
Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 Dynamo Moscow 1 (0-1, 2-0, 0-0)
After a run of one win in six games, culminating in a 0-6 drubbing in Kazan, Traktor needed something to kickstart its playoff push. Today, at home to Dynamo, Anvar Gatiyatulin’s team managed to grab a vital victory and move to within a point of Amur and Barys.
The teams began cautiously and the opening frame produced just four shots on target. However, it did produce a goal when Alexander Skorenov put Dynamo ahead in the 17th minute after winning his battle on the slot.
After the intermission, Dynamo had more of the puck but Traktor began to create better looks at Konstantin Volkov’s net. One early effort dinged the piping, then midway through the session Nikita Tertyshny grabbed the tying goal. It wasn’t long before a power play saw Maxim Shabanov put the home team in front, converting a great pass from Alexei Byvaltsev.
In the third, the home team played the situation and steadily stifled the game. Dynamo kept searching for an equalizer but struggled to make an impression on a disciplined home defense. Thus, Traktor held on to secure a victory that reignites its playoff hopes.
Valuable victory for playoff chasing Neftekhimik
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 OT (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0)
An entertaining game in Nizhnekamsk saw Neftekhimik open a two-point gap over the chasing pack in its race for a playoff spot. The home team clawed back a two-goal deficit to win in overtime.
The first period was evenly matched, and it was no surprise that the teams reached the intermission deadlocked at 1-1. Neftekhimik scored first through Andrei Belozyorov in the 13th minute, but Sergei Shirokov tied it up a couple of minutes later.
In the middle frame, Avtomobilist began to take control of the game and deservedly moved in front on a Daniil Tarasov goal midway through the session. Then the visitor potted the first power play tally of the evening through Denis Barantsev. That brought an immediate response from Neftekhimik, and Rafael Bikmullin’s effort made it 2-3 at the second break.
The home team urgently needs points to strengthen its playoff push, and grabbed a tying goal midway through the third period. Semyon Kizimov capitalized on a broken play to fire home from the right-hand circle and a bench challenge from the Motormen, claiming offside in the build-up, was overruled by the officials. However, the home team was unable to make much of the delay of game penalty assessed on the visiting bench; a tripping call on Anthony Camara soon cancelled out that advantage.
Kisimov’s goal was enough to take the game to overtime, and in the extras Neftekhimik secured a second, vital point. The home team got a power play after Stephane Da Costa was called for tripping, but it wasn’t until the final second of play that Kirill Vorobyov potted the winner.
Cherepovets moves back to the top eight
Severstal Cherepovets 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (2-0, 2-0, 0-1)
Severstal returned to the top eight in the West after spoiling Ilya Vorobyov’s 500th KHL game as head coach. The Gagarin Cup winning coach has worked behind the bench in Magnitogorsk and at SKA, but saw little to enjoy in his visit to Cherepovets. The home team took an early stranglehold on the game and secured a fourth win in five games, while Magnitka suffered a fifth loss in sixth as its uneven run continues.
Ruslan Abrosimov opened the scoring in the fourth minute, punishing Grigory Dronov after he took the first penalty of the game. That was the start of a good day for the 21-year-old, who added assists on his team’s next three goals.
Pavel Denisov extended the lead in the 15th minute, then two goals early in the second took the game away from Metallurg. Makar Khabarov was on target for the second game in a row to make it 3-0 before David Dumbadze added a fourth. Dumbadze scored past Eddie Pasquale, who had been in the game for just 82 seconds after replacing starting goalie Vasily Koshechkin.
Metallurg pulled a goal back in the third through Dronov, who scored on the power play midway through the session. However, this was merely a consolation effort as the visitor suffered a second loss of the season against Severstal.
Rare Sochi success pushes Spartak out of the top eight
Spartak Moscow 3 HC Sochi 4 (0-3, 3-0, 0-1)
Spartak rallied from 0-3 but was unable to finish the job. While the Red-and-Whites dropped vital points in their push for a playoff spot, rock-bottom Sochi, enjoyed a day to remember in a difficult season, snapping a five-game losing streak.
The first period saw some of Sochi’s best hockey of the season. For a three-minute spell, the Leopards were irresistible, scoring three unanswered goals on Spartak. Fyodor Kroshchinsky opened the scoring in the 13th minute, before assisting on a marker from Sergei Kosovets. Matvei Michkov had an assist on that play as well and within a minute he potted number three to put Sochi in control early on.
That lead was no fluke. Spartak was pegged back throughout the first period, and the visitor topped the shot count 20-5 as it dominated the play.
However, the home team’s problems were partly due to a pair of game penalties. In separate incidents, Joey Keane and Alexei Krasikov were ejected from the play, leaving Spartak to play much of the opening frame on the PK.
In the middle frame, Spartak cleaned up its act and took not a single penalty. That helped the Red-and-Whites to turn the game around. Fyodor Svechkov began the fightback in the 25th minute, than a power play goal from Andrei Loktionov threatened to put the skids under Sochi. The visitor barely survived another penalty before Alexander Khokhlachyov got the tying goal in the 35th minute. Interim head coach Dmitry Kokorev called a time-out and the teams made it to the interval locked at 3-3.
Few would have bet against an eventual home victory at that stage. However, Sochi, had other ideas. The visitor came out and scored early in the third, Ivan Didkovsky getting his first KHL goal in only his eighth appearance. Spartak responded by dominating the closing stages but could not find a way past Mikhail Berdin in the visitor’s net. As a result, the home team drops out of the playoff places, overtaking by Severstal.
