Severstal blasts seven, Avangard wins nine-goal thriller

Monday saw action in two summer tournaments. In Omsk, Avangard bounced back from a 1-5 loss to Lokomotiv by scoring five on Neftekhimik in an OT win. Loko, meanwhile, was on the receiving end as Barys got its first win of the summer. In Petersburg, the Puchkov Tournament got underway with Severstal thrashing Sochi 7-1. There was no repeat of that goal glut in game two, as Sibir edged a 1-0 verdict over Sibir.

Blinov Cup

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1 Barys Astana 2 (1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

Barys recorded its first victory of the summer after edging a tight verdict over Lokomotiv. The Railwaymen began this tournament in Omsk with an impressive 5-1 win over host team Avangard, but could not build on that success in game two.

Lokomotiv started well enough. As early as the fourth minute, a well-worked attack saw Roman Bychkov draw goalie Eddie Pasquale out of position before setting up Alexander Volkov in front of an open net. At that point, it looked like Igor Nikitin’s team was on its way to adding to its pair of wins over Barys at the TANECO Cup in Kazan a couple of weeks ago.

However, Barys responded barely a minute later. Alexander Borisevich won an attacking face-off and Emil Nurgaliyev’s powerful one-timer flashed into the net.

However, that quick exchange of goals failed to trigger an avalanche of scoring. Instead, the teams struggled to generate good chances for long periods. It wasn’t until late in the third that Barys went ahead for the first time when David Sklenicka’s long-range effort took a series of deflections on its way past Sergei Murashov.

Avangard Omsk 5 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 4 OT (1-0, 0-1, 3-3, 1-0)

After allowing five goals yesterday, Avangard responded by scoring five today. But the Hawks still needed overtime to get past Neftekhimik and record a first win at their home tournament.

The home team got off to a good start, and went ahead midway through the first period when Libor Sulak scored on a 5-on-3 power play. However, both teams were regular visitors to the box and late in the second period Vladimir Bryukvin tied it up on another power play.

Then came a wild third period. Avangard quickly regained the lead through Igor Martynov, but a couple of quick markers saw Neftekhimik in front for the first time in the game. The teams then traded two more tallies, with Lukas Klok’s shorty putting the visitor up 4-3 with six minutes to play.

Avangard left it late to save itself. Martynov’s second of the game tied the scores on 57:37, just as goalie Andrei Mishurov was preparing to dash to the bench to make way for an extra attacker. That forced overtime, and Neftekhimik decided to start the extras with an empty net. Emil Garipov watched from the sidelines as Avangard quickly seized possession and Semyon Chistyakov shot into the unguarded target after just four seconds’ play.

Nikolai Puchkov Tournament

HC Sochi 1 Severstal Cherepovets 7 (0-1, 0-5, 1-1)

St. Petersburg’s summer tournament got underway with a convincing win for Severstal. The Steelmen had lost four pre-season games so far this summer, but today saw Andrei Kozyrev get his first win as head coach.

Severstal got off to a great start, with Adam Liska’s power play goal opening the scoring in the fourth minute. That was the only marker of the first period, but early in the second Daniil Vovchenko doubled the lead.

Then the floodgates opened, and Sochi allowed three goals in less than two minutes. Vovchenko made it 3-0, Kirill Pilipenko added a fourth and Timofei Davydov put the game out of reach by 32:34. That was the end of Maxim Tretyak’s time in goal; he was replaced with Nikita Tulinov.

The incoming goalie proved very much to the liking of Yegor Stepanov, who scored twice on Tulinov either side of the second intermission. Sochi belatedly managed to get on the scoreboard, snaffling a last-minute power play goal from Anton Sagadeyev to gain some small consolation from a difficult afternoon.

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 0 Sibir Novosibirsk 1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)

A solitary goal from Vladimir Butuzov and a shut-out from Denis Kostin got Sibir off to a winning start in its Puchkov campaign.

Both teams have featured sparingly in pre-season games so far this summer. Sibir’s only action to date was a shoot-out win at Dinamo Minsk, while Avtomobilist had one victory in three games at the Republic of Bashkortostan Cup.

Today’s game, which saw Sibir’s new import forward Andy Andreoff make his debut for David Nemirovsky’s team, was short on attacking incident. The only goal came midway through the second period, Butuzov scoring off an Ivan Klimovich assist. Klimovich, 19, was on the team alongside his 18-year-old brother Yegor. Ivan is looking to secure a more regular role on the first team after making his KHL debut last term, Yegor is still awaiting his first competitive action in senior hockey.

Elsewhere, the officials were kept busy in that middle frame by a serious of flashpoints. First, Andreoff marked his debut with a fight as he stepped in to avenge a boarding offense from Yegor Baranov. While both players were sitting out their major penalties, Sibir’s Alexei Yakovlev got a 5+game penalty for clipping. The Motormen were unable to cash in, however, with minors for Danil Romantsev and Stephane Da Costa wiping out much of the numerical advantage.

The final frame also brought a steady stream of minor penalties for both teams, but no further scoring. Avtomobilist continues tomorrow against tournament host SKA, which has yet to play so far.