Kruchinin heads KHL scoring race. February 4 round-up
Torpedo’s Alexei Kruchinin got an assist on his team’s game-winner against Dinamo Minsk. That point moves him to 52 for the season, putting him one clear in the race to be the league’s leading scorer this term. In Saturday’s other game, Amur beat Avangard by the same 3-2 scoreline to return to the top eight in the East.
Tigers go back into top eight
Amur Khabarovsk 3 Avangard Omsk 2 (0-0, 0-2, 3-0)
The Tigers rallied from 0-2 to defeat Avangard and move back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. Vadim Yepanchintsev’s team now has a two-point lead over Neftekhimik and both have nine games to play. Today’s result also puts more pressure on Traktor and Barys. The bottom two remain in contention but have to make up five and six points respectively. In addition, Barys has played two games more than its immediate rivals.
Avangard, meanwhile, was looking for a win that would lift it to within a point of the Eastern Conference leaders. Initially, it seemed that the visitor would get exactly that. Although Mikhail Kravets sent out a surprising line-up, with Vladimir Tkachyov, Reid Boucher and Corban Knight all rested, the Hawks did not appear to miss their leading forwards.
The first period was even, and in the second frame Avangard opened a 2-0 lead. First, Ivan Miroshnichenko fired home a one-timer off Fyodor Malykhin’s feed. That represented a birthday goal for the youngster, who turns 19 today. The next celebration came four minutes later when Alexander Dergachyov fired home a second Avangard goal.
However, after allowing two goals in four minutes in the second period, Amur scored twice in a similar timeframe at the start of the third. Yakov Rylov joined the offense to reduce the deficit, then Alexander Sharov got his stick to a flying puck and steered into Alexei Melnichuk’s net. The officials reviewed the play for a high stick, but the goal was good.
After tying the scores, Amur went on to press for a winner. It took time and pressure to unpick the Hawks’ defense for a third time, but in the 55th minute Stanislav Bocharov squeezed in a goal on the wraparound to give the Tigers the verdict.
Kruchinin moves to top of scoring charts
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Dinamo Minsk 2 (1-0, 1-2, 1-0)
Torpedo returned to second place in the Western Conference after preventing Dinamo from improving its position in the playoff race. Igor Larionov’s team is now two points ahead of CSKA, but has played a game more. Dinamo remains eighth in the standings, three points ahead of Spartak, but the Red-and-Whites have a game in hand.
The game burst into life late in the first period. Torpedo took the lead in the 19th minute when Andrei Belevich fired home a one-timer from the face-off circle after Yu Sato won a loose puck on the boards. Within a minute, though, Dinamo had the puck in the net but a video review ruled that Cedric Paquette’s stick was too high when he redirected Sergei Sapego’s point shot.
Dinamo did get on the board in the second period, though, turning the game around with two goals in four minutes. Nikita Zorkin grabbed the tying goal, then had an assist as Joe Duszak struck on the power play to put the visitor in front in the 28th minute. However, Torpedo enjoyed the lion’s share of attacking possession in the middle frame and that pressure paid off when Anton Sizov tied the game at 2-2.
Right on the hooter, Dinamo’s Nick Merkley got into a fight with Danil Veryayev. The visitor edged that clash, but his ‘prize’ was an additional minor penalty alongside the fighting majors assessed to both players. Torpedo started the third period on the power play and Alexander Daryin made it 3-2 to the home team. Alexei Kruchinin’s assist on that play moves him to 52 (15+37) points for the season, putting him ahead of Taylor Beck in the KHL scoring race. Kruchinin has five points from his last four games.
