Three more book playoff spots, Ak Bars leads in the East. February 1
Three more teams are confirmed for this season’s playoffs. Torpedo booked its spot with a big win at home to Salavat Yulaev, while defending champion CSKA also made certain thanks to victory over Kunlun Red Star. Lokomotiv joined them by collecting its fourth win of the season over table-topping SKA, a team long assured of it post-season berth. Earlier in the day, Avangard moved to fourth in the East with a shoot-out win at Admiral, while Amur enhanced its playoff hopes by defeating Sibir 3-0. That result opened the door for Ak Bars to climb to the top of the Eastern Conference and Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team did just that with a home win against Barys.
Hawks sink Sailors at last
Admiral Vladivostok 2 Avangard Omsk 3 SO (1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Avangard finally managed to sink Admiral. Yesterday’s meeting between the teams saw the Sailors get their third head-to-head win of the season. Today, though, the Hawks got some revenge with a shoot-out success.
Neither team made big changes ahead of the second of these back-to-back games. Familiarity did little to help the two defenses early on as the teams exchanged goals inside the first four minutes. Arseny Gritsyuk put Avangard ahead on the power play, but Anton Berlyov tied it up 23 seconds later.
However, the visitor continued to look the better side in the first period and it was no surprise when Vladimir Tkachyov restored Avangard’s lead after some extensive pressure on Nikita Serebryakov’s net.
The Hawks might have extended that lead early in the second period but failed to convert an early power play. After that, Admiral managed to get a grip on the game, penning the visitor into its zone for long periods and eventually forcing a penalty that Pavel Shen converted into the tying goal. Inspired, the home team went looking for more and only the crossbar denied Valery Orekhov the go-ahead goal seconds before the intermission.
The previous three games between these teams all went beyond the 60-minute mark, and this one was no exception. In the extras, Mikhail Kravets decided to play without a goalie for the first time this season. Playing four-on-three, Avangard dominated the additional five minutes but could not grab a winning goal. Instead it went to a shoot-out and, for a long time, Serebryakov and his opposite number Demchenko ruled the roost. However, on the final attempt, Reid Bouchercame up with the winning goal and Avangard moved into the top four in the East.
Tigers gain ground in playoff race
Amur Khabarovsk 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 0 (0-0, 2-0, 1-0)
A shut-out win against table-topping Sibir moves Amur level on points with eighth-placed Neftekhimik. More significantly, perhaps, the Tigers also have a game in hand on their playoff rival.
The first period was disrupted by frequent penalties and for a time the visitor looked the better team. However, towards the end of the session Amur came into the game and might have gone ahead when Jan Drozg and Nikita Grebyonkin had great chances to score in the space of a few seconds.
Sibir ran into penalty trouble, with Yegor Alanov taking a double minor for butt-ending at the end of the first period. The visitor killed that, then saw Alexander Sharov go to the box. Amur could not profit from its power plays, but shifted the momentum in its own favor and moved ahead when Grebyonkin’s feed set up a Sergei Dubakin with a one-timer in the 33rd minute. The home team then killed a penalty of its own before Yaroslav Likhachyov doubled the lead with a backhand shot.
In the third period, the visitor tried to get back into the game. However, the next goal went to Drozg, making it 3-0 for Amur. The Tigers still had work to do, killing a three-on-five situation before they could celebrate the win. Janis Kalnins finished with 27 saves to secure his shut-out.
Ak Bars goes top of the table
Ak Bars Kazan 2 Barys Astana 1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0)
Ak Bars took advantage of Sibir’s defeat to move to the top of the Eastern Conference. Today’s victory over Barys moves the Kazan team to 75 points, level with the Siberians. However, the tie-break favors Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s men, who continue their remarkable rise up the standings after languishing in sixth when Oleg Znarok left the club.
For long periods, this game was a battle of wills. Julius Hudacek in the Barys goal worked tirelessly to thwart the home offense as it searched for a go-ahead goal. In the second period, Ak Bars outshot Barys 12-2 and spent more than five times as long on the attack but could not solve the Slovak netminder.
Ironically, after all that pressure, the breakthrough came with a short-handed goal early in the third. Barys may have felt that Kirill Adamchuk’s trip to the box gave it a chance to relax a little, but Mikhail Glukhov proved the visitor wrong. He won the puck from Jeremy Bracco and set off down the ice with Artyom Lukoyanov in support. Glukhov opted to go it alone and fired past Hudacek to make it 2-1 and, ultimately, win the game.
Earlier, in a hard-fought first period, the teams traded goals. Ilya Safonov sent Dmitry Voronkov clean through on the Barys net for the opener in the 13th minute, but the visitor responded close to the intermission when Anton Sagadeyev tied the scores.
Thumping win sends Torpedo to post-season
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 5 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 (3-0, 2-1, 0-0)
Torpedo handed an emphatic defeat to Salavat Yulaev to remain clear in second in the Western Conference. Moreover, today’s win confirms a playoff spot for Igor Larionov’s team.
The host left Salavat Yulaev reeling with two goals in the first four minutes. Danil Veryayev opened the scoring, then almost immediately Torpedo doubled its lead when Artyom Mikheyev struck on the power play following Viktor Antipin’s foul.
However, that was not the end of the story. Torpedo ran into penalty trouble of its own. Ufa had three power plays in quick succession but could not make a breakthrough. Danil Bashkirov came closest, but was denied by Ivan Kulbakov’s glove save. The home PP was more effective and Kirill Voronin underlined that point just before the intermission when he converted the rebound from Andrei Belevich’s shot.
Beleaguered, and starting the second period on another PK, Salavat Yulaev changed goalie. However, Andrei Kareyev could not prevent Torpedo from going three-for-three on the power play as Bogdan Konyushkov made it 4-0. A minute later, Alexander Chmelevski sparked some unhappiness among the home players as he barged his way to the net following up his own shot. That led to a fight between Danil Alalykin and Gleb Ivanov and, once the dust had settled, Torpedo was back on the power play. By now, the script was pretty clear and Sergei Goncharuk was the latest home player to grab a PP tally.
The game remained open, and both teams created chances. Salavat Yulaev got on the board at last in the 27th minute through Yegor Suchkov, but that was to be the end of the scoring. In the closing stages, the visitor enjoyed more of the play but could not do anything about Torpedo’s commanding lead.
Loko picks up fourth victory over SKA
SKA St. Petersburg 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 (1-0, 0-2, 0-0)
Lokomotiv has developed a handy knack against SKA this season. In a year when the Petersburg team has been almost unstoppable, the Railwaymen have won four out of six games against the league leader.
Today’s win was built around some courageous defense, with goalie Daniil Isayev stopped 43 shots and his colleagues blocking a further 25 attempts. At the other end, Loko made its own luck to inch ahead in the second period and then held that slender lead until the final hooter.
The first period was all about the home team. SKA put Loko under pressure from the first face-off, despite conceding the first power play of the game within a couple of minutes. Lokomotiv could do little with that opportunity and found itself struggling thereafter. SKA’s first man advantage, by contrast, brought the opening goal for Marat Khusnutdinov midway through the session. He profited from an unexpected deflection when Damir Zhafyarov’s attempted pass for Dmitrij Jaskin bounced off course and gobbled up the loose puck to open the scoring.
The home team possibly deserved a bigger lead at the break after outshooting Loko 12-4. However, in a second period disrupted by a steady flow of penalties, Lokomotiv managed to turn the game around. There was an element of good fortune about the tying goal, with Georgy Ivanov firing the puck in from the boards and seeing young defenseman Grigory Gryaznov inadvertently swat the deflected attempt out of the air into his own net.
SKA continued to have far more shots, but Lokomotiv was now enjoying an even share of possession. And the visitor was able to parlay that into a 2-1 lead late in the frame when Mikhail Belyayev reacted fastest after Alexander Yelesin’s shot looped up off goalie Dmitry Nikolayev’s shoulder.
The home team completely dominated the final stanza. However, it could not turn that dominance into goals. Isayev stood firm in the Lokomotiv net and snuffed out SKA’s best chance in the 54th minute when Marat Khairullin failed to beat him with a penalty shot. After that, Lokomotiv visibly grew in confidence, believing that this was destined to be their night. And the victory also guarantees Igor Niktin’s team its playoff place.
Yip’s club record can’t stop CSKA
CSKA Moscow 7 Kunlun Red Star 4 (1-2, 3-1, 3-1)
CSKA joined Torpedo, SKA and Lokomotiv among the teams guaranteed a playoff spot after beating Kunlun Red Star. However, the defending champion had to work for this win against an opponent that has given it problems all season.
Today, Red Star jumped to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Colin Campbell and Brandon Yip. The latter moves to 40 points for the season, equally the club record set by Chad Rau in the Dragons’ inaugural KHL campaign.
However, CSKA rallied. Mikhail Grigorenko got one back on the power play, then right at the start of the second, Takhir Mingachyov tied the scores.
Red Star wasn’t finished yet, though. Midway through the second period, Jake Chelios restored the Dragons’ lead and reminded the Muscovites that nothing could be taken for granted. However, the home team did not need much time to learn that lesson: two goals in 90 seconds from Grigorenko, then Maxim Mamin, put CSKA ahead for the first time in the game.
Mingachyov joined Grigorenko on two goals for the game in the 47th minute, seemingly removing all doubt about the final scoreline. However, Kunlun had hit CSKA with a late comeback earlier in the season, and threatened to repeat that feat when Campbell made it 4-5 with five minutes to play. This time, though, there would be no late heroics. Pavel Karnaukhov immediately restored the two-goal advantage and Maxim Sorkin put it beyond doubt with a seventh goal for the home team.
