Spartak celebrates important win. February 20 round-up
The key game of the day was in Moscow, where Spartak knew that only victory would do as it battles for a playoff spot. Late goals saw the Red-and-Whites defeat Metallurg and close to within a point of Dinamo Minsk in the race for eighth place. In the Eastern playoff battle, Neftekhimik failed to secure some breathing space when it lost 1-3 at home to Sochi. Elsewhere, CSKA scored eight on Torpedo to return to second place in the Western Conference, while Avangard had too much for Barys and Severstal took a 3-2 verdict at Vityaz.
Hawks prove too strong for Barys
Avangard Omsk 4 Barys Astana 3 (1-0, 2-2, 1-1)
Avangard is still battling for the highest possible finishing position in a competitive Eastern Conference, and faced a tough examination against the section’s basement club, Barys. Although the home team tried to dictate the tempo from the start, this game turned into a tougher battle than the league standings might suggest.
It didn’t take long for Avangard to get in front. Anton Belov earned an early power play for his team, and Alexei Bereglazov converted the chance after three minutes. Having taken the lead, the home team continued to press for more, but the opening frame finished with the score at 1-0.
Sergei Tolchinsky spurned a great chance to double the lead early in the second period, but Ivan Telegin did make it 2-0 on an odd-man rush midway through the session. After that, though, Barys hit back hard. Anton Sagadeyev scored twice to tie the game. Suddenly, everything was in the balance, but Arseny Gritsyuk put the Hawks back in front just before the intermission.
There was a surprise in the third period, when Avangard goalie Vasily Demchenko remained on the bench and Andrei Mishurov took over between the piping. Barys was unable to take advantage of the change, and Gritsyuk released Alex Broadhurst who shrugged off the attentions of a defenseman to make it 4-2.
That might have been the end of the story, but Barys kept battling and pulled a goal back just over three minutes from time. Jesse Graham set up Kirill Savitsky to make it a one-goal game, but that was as close as the visitor got to saving the game.
Sochi deals a blow to Neftekhimik playoff hopes
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 HC Sochi 3 (1-0, 0-2, 0-1)
Neftekhimik missed the chance to boost its playoff hopes, suffering a surprise loss at home to Sochi. The visitor, destined to finish bottom of the regular season standings, had nothing to play for. However, the Leopards rallied after losing an early goal and pulled off a victory that gives renewed hope to Amur and Traktor as they try to chase the final playoff spot in the East.
It all started well enough for the Wolves. The home team dominated the first period, and got ahead midway through the session on a goal from Andrei Belozyorov. At that point, given the tournament situation and the initial advantage for the home team, it was hard to see anything other than a Neftekhimik victory.
Sochi, though, had other ideas. The visitor began the second period on the power play, and Dmitry Zavgorodny was able to tie the game in the 22nd minute. For long periods, the teams produced some evenly matched play and even when Neftekhimik began to build up momentum again, Sochi’s defense held firm. Better still for the visitor, Matvei Michkov got the go-ahead goal just before the intermission.
The home team began the third period like a train, determined to power back into the game. Once again, though, Sochi held on and extended the lead when Danila Galenyuk made it 3-1 in the 52nd minute. That was too much for Neftekhimik to recover, with visiting goalie Mikhail Berdin excelling as he made 61 saves to deny the home team.
Severstal profits from major penalty
Vityaz Moscow Region 2 Severstal Cherepovets 3 (0-1, 2-0, 0-2)
Both of these teams punched their playoff tickets last week, so there was little riding on tonight’s game. That did not prevent an entertaining encounter, with Severstal edging the verdict thanks to two goals in the third period.
In the opening frame there was little to choose between the teams – and relatively few clear cut chances – but Severstal inched ahead when Alexander Zhabreyev’s wrister brought the only goal of the session.
The middle frame saw Vityaz raise its game and the home team began to dictate longer passages of play. That brought a turnaround in the scores, with Tyler Graovac advancing to tie it up, then Alexei Volgin firing a point shot beyond Dmitry Shugayev.
However, late in the second period Yaroslav Busygin made hit to the head of Severstal’s Ruslan Abrosimov. That was assessed a major penalty, and the extended power play turned the game around once again. After the break Severstal made the most of its advantage, scoring twice to take a 3-2 lead.
First, Abrosimov scored the tying goal to extract maximum punishment for the foul he suffered. Then, seconds after Vityaz returned to full strength, Andrei Churkin’s point shot was tipped into the net by Adam Liska to make it 3-2. After that, the Steelmen had to kill one more penalty but otherwise did a good job of stifling the home offense to secure the win.
Loktionov’s double leads Spartak to vital victory
Spartak Moscow 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (1-1, 0-0, 3-1)
The Red-and-Whites got a huge boost for their playoff hopes after beating Metallurg. The victory means there is just one point between Spartak and eighth-placed Dinamo Minsk. Both teams have two games left this season.
However, this was far from plain sailing for the Muscovites, who had to come from behind and only got the winning goal with five minutes left to play. Metallurg, battling it out for a good position in the East, went in front midway through the first period when Phillipe Maillet opened the scoring on a counterattack. However, Spartak responded late in the frame thanks to Andrei Loktionov, who scored a short-handed goal after Maxim Tsyplakov forced a turnover. Moments earlier, Nikolai Goldobin fired in a shot that clipped the Spartak post: had that found the net, the game and possibly Spartak’s season might have been very different.
Magnitka rang the iron twice more in the second period. The teams were evenly matched, but neither could find a goal.
The scoring stepped up a notch midway through the final stanza. Shane Prince put Spartak in front for the first time in the 51st minute, redirecting Alexander Khokhlachyov’s feed. Goldobin had a quick reply for Metallurg, but within a minute Khokhlachyov restored Spartak’s lead. With two more points, the forward also remains in contention to finish top scorer in the regular season. Then Spartak had a goal called back after a bench challenge denied Loktionov an empty net goal. However, Metallurg could not make the most of that reprieve. Almost immediately, another shooting chance saw Loktionov get his second of the game to seal a vital win for his team.
Fedorov overpowers old team-mate
CSKA Moscow 8 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 (3-1, 2-0, 3-2)
CSKA returned to second place in the Western Conference with a high-scoring win over Torpedo. This was the fourth edition of the ‘Russian Five’ rivalry between Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov, and Fedorov’s Muscovites collected their second win in that series.
Oddly enough, Torpedo opened the scoring in this game. Nikolai Kovalenko struck in the fifth minute and for a time the game seemed likely to live up to its billing as a clash between two high-flying teams. However, CSKA scored twice in the 13th minute to turn the game around. Maxim Mamin and Konstantin Okulov put the home team in front, and Sergei Plotnikov consolidated the lead with a third goal after 14 minutes.
Despite that flurry of goals, Torpedo kept faith with starting goalie Adam Huska. However, he was beaten again at the start of the second period – Okulov’s second – and Torpedo could not find any response. Pavel Karnaukhov scored two more, Mamin got his second of the night and Mikhail Grigorenko was also on the mark as the score moved to 8-1.
Torpedo managed to make things a little more respectable in the closing stages, with Kenny Agostino underlining his return to fitness with a first goal since Sep. 30. Then Vasily Atanasov made the final score 8-3 but did little to undermine the impression of a powerful CSKA display.
