Big wins for SKA and Salavat Yulaev

Monday saw both SKA and Salavat Yulaev play their first games at the Puchkov Tournament and the Blinov Cup respectively. And the similarities didn’t end there as both teams enjoyed 5-2 victories.

Blinov Cup

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 (1-0, 1-0, 3-2)

The day after Rodion Amirov’s funeral service took place at Arena Ufa, Salavat Yulaev travelled to Omsk and made a winning start to its Blinov Cup campaign. These are emotional times for hockey in Ufa, and Amirov’s club produced a powerful performance in difficult circumstances.

Viktor Kozlov named a roster close to his strongest, while Neftekhimik made a couple of changes to the team that lost a nine-goal battle against Avangard. Raul Yakupov was added to the offense, while his cousin Nail moved to the first line. Andrei Tikhomirov took over between the piping.

Salavat Yulaev took the lead on an early penalty. Evgeny Mityakin sat for holding, and Ivan Drozdov opened the scoring after five minutes. Ufa might have extended that lead in the opening frame, but had to wait until late in the second before making it 2-0 through Yegor Suchkov.

However, Neftekhimik hit back in the third. Anthony Camara converted a power play midway through the final frame, then Sergei Kuptsov tied it up on 57:04 with another PP effort. Suddenly, overtime beckoned.

But Ufa was not about to let this one slip away. It took just 39 seconds for Alexander Chmelevski to restore the lead, and he added an empty net goal in the last minute. Alexei Pustozyorov found the net between those two tallies to give the final score a convincing look.

Puchkov Tournament

SKA St. Petersburg 5 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (4-0, 0-2, 1-0)

Host club SKA made its first appearance at the Puchkov Tournament – and got off to a flying start. A roster stacked with newcomers powered to a 4-0 lead in the first period, effectively deciding the outcome in 20 minutes.

Among those new arrivals, there was action for defensemen Artyom Sergeyev, Sergei Sapego and Maxim Fedotov. Home fans also got a first look at forwards Brendan Leipsic, Ilya Fedotov and Pavel Dedunov in SKA colors. There was also an appearance from Sergei Tolchinsky, who had a goal and an assist in that opening frame.

SKA jumped into an early lead with Stanislav Galimov opening the scoring in the fourth minute. A power play saw Tolchinsky assisted Alexander Nikishin to make it 2-0, then he added the third himself. Late in the stanza, Matvei Michkov made it 4-0.

Avtomobilist had suffered a 1-0 reverse in its opening game. Today, at last, it managed to get on the scoresheet in the second period. After 3:57 of the middle frame Maxim Denezhkin pulled one back, scoring on former Avto goalie Johan Mattsson. Later, Nikita Blednov made it 2-4 and raised faint hopes of a comeback.

However, SKA was in no mood to relinquish its grip. At the start of the final frame, Marat Khusnutdinov potted a fifth for the home team and that completed the scoring.