Ufa, Loko both climb to second in their respective Conferences. February 15
Salavat Yulaev jumped to second place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-1 win at Avangard. In the West, Lokomotiv also climbed to second thanks to victory at CSKA. Barys saw its playoff hopes come to an end with defeat at home to Dinamo Minsk, while in Magnitogorsk, Ilya Khokhlov returned to haunt his former club, hitting a hat-trick as Neftekhimik beat Metallurg.
Kartayev double lifts Ufa to second
Avangard Omsk 1 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1)
The East has been tight all season, and this game underlined the point. Salavat Yulaev started the day in sixth place, albeit level on points with its opponent, Avangard. Victory in Omsk lifted the men in green to second, level on points with Sibir and four behind table-topping Ak Bars. With four games left, Ufa could yet finish ahead of the rest. However, Viktor Kozlov’s team has played once more than its immediate rivals.
Vladislav Kartayev was the difference maker in today’s game. He potted the opening goal midway through the first period when he was first to the rebound from Shakir Mukhamadullin’s shot. A few minutes later, Kartayev was in the thick of it again, bearing down on Vasily Demchenko’s net. This time, the goalie stopped his shot and Stepan Sannikov could only fire the rebound against the post.
In the 33rd minute, Kartayev struck again. This time, Nikolai Kulemin was the architect, battling on the boards before heading to the net and setting up his colleague for a finish to the top corner. Once again, Salavat Yulaev came close to extending its lead shortly after the goal. This time, Alexander Chmelevski dinged the crossbar.
For much of the third period, Salavat Yulaev’s game management was irreproachable. The visitor did well to keep Avangard at arm’s length for long spells, and only cracked in the closing stages. Once Demchenko left the game, the home team’s six skaters pulled a goal back through Reid Boucher. There were still 72 seconds left, but a second attempt to play without a goalie went awry and Kulemin wrapped it up with an empty net goal.
Dinamo enhances playoff prospects, Barys’ hopes end
Barys Astana 2 Dinamo Minsk 5 (0-0, 1-3, 1-2)
Both these teams had an urgent need for points. Barys, six points adrift of eighth place in the East, knew that anything less than victory could end its push for post season. Dinamo, meanwhile, was eager to hold on to eighth in the West and increase the gap to playoff-chasing Spartak.
In the early exchanges, neither team could find an opening. Barys had a greater quantity of shots, but Dinamo’s efforts were of higher quality. Even so, the game remained goalless at the first intermission.
At the start of the second, the first power play of the evening saw Ryan Spooner put the visitor ahead. That inspired Dinamo to push for more, and the Belarusians hit the post before Nick Merkley doubled the lead with a fine solo effort. In the previous game in Astana, Barys fell three behind before starting a fightback, and that story unfolded again here. A five-on-three power play saw Roman Gorbunov extend the Bison’s lead before Minsk coughed up the puck when trying to clear its lines and Mikhail Rakhmanov set up Nikita Mikhailis to put Barys on the board.
Early in the third, Linden Vey cut the deficit to a single goal. However, just as in the game against SKA, the Barys comeback fell short. Spooner’s second of the game offered some breathing space for Dinamo, then Gorbunov wrapped it up with an empty-netter. Defeat means the Kazakhs can no longer make the top eight, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Khokhlov sinks former club
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 4 (1-1, 1-2, 0-1)
This was a day to remember for Ilya Khokhlov. The Neftekhimik forward returned to his former club and potted a hat-trick. That led his new team to a vital victory, edging the Wolves back into eighth place in the Eastern Conference, albeit by the narrowest of margins.
Khokhlov, who left Severstal for Magnitogorsk in the summer, only to move on again during the season, opened the scoring in the eighth minute. The hybrid icing rule played into Neftekhimik’s favor, enabling Vyacheslav Leshchenko to get the puck off the boards to the center, where Khokhlov was waiting to shoot past Eddie Pasquale. Khokhlov has now scored in his last four games against Metallurg, representing three different clubs in that time.
The home team tied it up on the hooter through Yegor Yakovlev. Magnitka went in front midway through the second period when a Neftekhimik counterattack broke down and the Steelmen got a three-on-one rush. Andrei Chibisov applied the finish to that play.
Neftekhimik hit back right away. Rafael Bikmullin used a home defenseman to conceal his shot from Pasquale until it was too late for the goalie to react. Just 30 seconds later, the Wolves were back in front Khokhlov was the scorer once again, although this time he had to endure a video review after a bench challenge from Ilya Vorobyov.
By any metric, over the first two periods Magnitka enjoyed almost twice as much attacking play as Neftekhimik. However, it could not sustain that momentum into the third. There were fewer chances for either team, but Khokhlov still found time to complete his hat-trick and lead his colleagues to an important win against his most recent employer.
Loko returns to second in the West
CSKA Moscow 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (0-1, 1-0, 0-3)
The big game at the top of the Western Conference saw Lokomotiv move back into second place thanks to a good win at CSKA. In defeat, the Muscovites blew their chance to climb the table and Sergei Fedorov’s defending champion now lies fourth, perhaps nervously watching the gap to fifth-placed Dynamo.
Lokomotiv is finishing the regular season strongly. Today was a fifth successive victory and the Railwaymen have allowed just two goals in that time. CSKA got one of those today, with Mikhail Grigorenko tying the scores midway through the second period. However, that wasn’t enough as Loko proved more clinical in front of goal in the third period to take a convincing margin from a game that was largely even.
The visitor opened the scoring the ninth minute when Maxim Shalunov scored on his former club. Grigorenko’s reply ensured the scores were level going into the third, but after that Lokomotiv took control. Alexander Polunin restored the lead 45 seconds after the restart and CSKA’s hopes took another blow almost immediately when Pavel Karnaukhov was ejected from the game.
That major penalty brought another goal, with Ivan Chekhovich making it 3-1 and Shalunov picking up an assist. Then, in the closing moments, Rushan Rafikov added a fourth to put the game beyond reach.
