Opening win for Lada

In its first action since returning to the KHL, Lada picked up a victory over VHL outfit Neftyanik in the first of two warm-up games. Goals from Andrei Altybarmakyan and Sergei Shumakov proved sufficient for the win.

Lada Togliatti 2 Neftyanik Almetievsk 1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0)

Head coach Oleg Bratash named the two goalscorers in his first line for Friday’s game, with Nikita Anokhovsky completing the trio. Maxim Berezin and Maxim Mineyev combined as the first defensive pair, with Alexander Trushkov starting in goal.

It took some time for the teams to produce the opening goal. However, late in the session Lada got ahead. Power forward Mikhail Fisenko intercepted the puck on his own blue line and advanced unchallenged into Neftyanik territory before dishing off an inch-perfect pass for Andrei Altybarmakyan to finish off the breakaway. Early in the second, Sergei Shumakov doubled the lead with a well-placed effort underneath the crossbar.

Now the pace of the game picked up. That seemed to suit both teams, and we saw more scoring chances at both ends. However, there was only one further marker, potted at the end of the middle frame by Artyom Voronin to make it a one-goal game. The third period brought no further goals, even though Lada had to cope with a late penalty that left it defending a 4-on-6 situation for the final 30 seconds.