Two big surprises. September 6 round-up
Wednesday was a day of unexpected results. HC Sochi sensationally defeated Ak Bars 3-1 in Kazan to record a first win of the season. Then Torpedo handed SKA a first defeat, edging a 4-3 verdict. Elsewhere, Alexander Chmelevski’s hat-trick brought Salavat Yulaev victory at Lada, Loko got its first win thanks to a late show from Artur Kayumov and two players potted their first KHL goals to lift Kunlun Red Star over Dinamo Minsk.
Chmelevski scores hat-trick on Lada
Lada Togliatti 2 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 (0-1, 0-1, 2-3)
Lada’s tough return to the KHL continues. The Motormen suffered a third successive home loss, although it’s worth remembering that the opposition to date – Traktor, SKA and now Salavat – has included some of the league’s stronger teams.
Today, in a pacy first period, Lada made a good start. In the early moments, the visiting players had little chance to settle into their game and it took a good save from Ilya Ezhov to deny Georgy Solyannikov an opening goal. However, missed chances against cost the league’s new newcomer: at the other end, Alexander Chmelevski punished that wastefulness with the opening goal.
That was the first of a hat-trick from Chmelevski, who extended the lead late in the second period. However, his third goal proved the most important, arriving within a minute of Lada finding the net. That goal went to Canadian forward Troy Josephs, who claimed his first for his new club. At the time, it offered a way back for the home team, but Salavat Yulaev quickly closed that door.
After Chmelevski made it 3-1, Alexei Pustozyorov soon added a fourth. On 51:11, Vyacheslav Leshchenko made it 5-1, completing a spurt of three goals in as many minutes to end any doubt about the outcome. A second goal for Josephs, this time on the power play, was limited consolation for Lada.
Stepanov double leads Severstal to victory
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 Severstal Cherepovets 5 (1-4, 1-0, 1-1)
A fast start saw Severstal overcome Neftekhimik to make it two wins from three this season. The home team suffered its second defeat in Nizhnekamsk after failing to compete in the opening frame.
The Steelmen were up by inside 13 minutes, effectively settling the game early. Yegor Stepanov opened the scoring on 2:31, then Pavel Denisov doubled the lead to chase starting goalie Emil Garipov from the net. Andrei Tikhomirov fared little better when he came into the game, as Mikhail Ilyin quickly made it 3-0 before Stepanov got his second of the day on the power play on 12:40.
However, the opening game here saw a huge fightback as Dinamo Minsk recovered from three goals down to win in overtime. The Wolves briefly hinted that they might match that. Mikhail Nazarov pulled one back in the first period, and soon after the intermission Anthony Camara made it 2-4. Would Severstal start to wobble?
Not enough. Neftekhimik could not build on that momentum and the next goal had to wait until midway through the third. Vasily Tokranov was the scorer, extending the visitor’s lead. Bulat Shafigullin conjured a late response for the home team, but there was no way back.
Shock win for Sochi in Kazan
Ak Bars Kazan 1 HC Sochi 3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1)
Sochi delivered the first big shock result of the new season. Last year’s whipping boy went to the 2023 runner-up and came away with a 3-1 victory. It was a first win for Dmitry Kokorev after he was elevated from interim head coach, and the exalted status of the opposition made it all the sweeter.
Sochi stunned Ak Bars early in the game. The home team took an early too many men penalty, but before the visiting power play could do much, another infringement left the teams playing four-on-four. When Kazan returned to full strength, a goal soon followed – but it was a shorthanded effort from Ildar Shiksatdarov. He picked up a loose puck in his own zone, advanced down the ice and took advantage of some slightly passive defense from Dmitry Yudin to shoot home the opening goal.
Subsequently, there was much hard work from the Leopards, but three successful penalty kills preserved that lead until the first intermission.
However, the middle frame began with another PP for Ak Bars and this time the host tied the game. It didn’t take long for Vadim Shipachyov to exchange passes with Nikita Lyamkin and angle a shot past Mikhail Berdin. Now, surely, Kazan’s greater class would take the game away from a Sochi team that lost its opening two games of the season.
Except the next goal also went to the visitor. Sochi maintained its pressing game, Nikita Feoktistov dumped the puck behind the net for Timur Khafizov and he emerged to score on the wraparound. Moreover, by the end of the second period, Sochi led the shot count, had an even share of time on attack and forced Ak Bars to block more than its fair share of efforts.
In the third period, Ak Bars stepped up its offense. However, despite outshooting the opposition 14-3, there was no way past Berdin. Frustration crept in, and the game was disrupted by frequent penalties for both teams. And the only goal of the stanza went to Sochi’s Borna Rendulic, extending the lead to 3-1 and sealing the points for the visitor.
Torpedo shoots down unbeaten SKA
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 SKA St. Petersburg 3 (1-1, 1-0, 2-2)
SKA suffered its first defeat of the season, losing out by the odd goal in seven to Torpedo. The teams traded four goals in a frantic finale, but the home team managed to close out a nerve-jangling win.
The start was fairly frenetic as well. SKA went ahead inside five minutes through Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov, only for Torpedo youngster Vasily Atanasov to tie it up within a minute.
The home team went on to have the better of the first period, but ran into penalty trouble as the intermission approached and faced a spell of three-on-five at the start of the middle frame. After surviving that, Torpedo moved ahead on Vladislav Firstov’s goal. His powerful one-timer from inside the circle was too good for Johan Mattsson, making it 2-1 in the 24th minute.
Torpedo remained good value for that lead, posing plenty of questions of the SKA defense and resolutely shutting down the visitor’s firepower. However, it remained 2-1 until the 52nd minute. Then Atanasov produced a masterclass, grabbing a loose puck on the blue line, blasting past two defensemen and dishing off an instinctive pass to his left where Kirill Voronin was all alone to make it 3-1.
Given the low-scoring game up to that point, it was tempting to assume the deal was done. Instead, the negotiations were just beginning. With a little over three minutes to play, Vasily Glotov handed SKA a lifeline, possibly helped by a deflection off Sizov. Revitalized, the visitor continued to press and called a time-out. However, Alex Galchenyuk’s error gifted possession to Torpedo and Nikolai Kovalenko squeezed the puck into the empty net from a tight angle.
The game still wasn’t done. The final two minutes saw a rash of penalties and SKA playing 5-on-3 without a goalie. That brought some success: Alexander Nikishin made it 4-3 with 26 seconds left. However, the clock ran out to seal Torpedo’s win.
Kayumov snatches victory for Loko
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 OT (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 1-0)
After a disappointing season opener, Lokomotiv bounced back to edge an overtime verdict against Traktor. However, Igor Nikitin’s team left it late to save this game, and grabbed a winner with 25 seconds left in the extras.
Things started well enough for the Railwaymen and, midway through the first period, a misplaced pass from visiting defenseman Rob Hamilton sent the puck straight to Yegor Averin. Loko’s long-serving forward made no mistake, unwrapping the gift to put his team in front.
However, Traktor managed to turn a tight game around on two goals from Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. The 22-year-old former Torpedo man got his first marker for his new club in the second period, converting a five-on-three power play. Then, in the third, he got another, assisted by Vitaly Kravtsov once again, to give Traktor the lead with four minutes to go.
It looked like it might be the winner, especially when the home team saw young forward Yaroslav Likhachyov sent to the box for tripping. But Artur Kayumov had other ideas. Likhachyov stepped out of the box in time to collect the puck behind the Traktor net. He got it out in front, and Kayumov fired home his feed to tie the game.
Then in overtime, Kayumov did it again. Rushan Rafikov’s shot from the left circle cannoned into Alexei Melnichuk’s pad and bounced for the Lokomotiv man, who duly potted his second of the night to win the game late on.
First win for Vityaz, first point for Admiral
Vityaz Moscow Region 2 Admiral Vladivostok 1 SO (1-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
Between them, these teams had lost their first three games. Vityaz, in particular, suffered an ugly 0-7 reverse against Dinamo Minsk in its previous outing. However, the home team recovered from that to edge a shoot-out verdict.
Vladimir Galuzin had the decisive attempt in the shoot-out, earning Alexander Zavyalov his first win as a KHL head coach.
Vityaz had a point to prove after the Dinamo debacle and Ivan Savchik’s goal on 79 seconds did much to rebuild any fragile confidence on the team. It was the 23-year-old’s first in the KHL after he stepped up to the big league this season.
However, it wasn’t enough to win the game. Admiral replied midway through the third period thanks to Alexander Gorshkov and that ensured both teams collected their first point of the campaign.
Overtime produced one big moment when Dmitry Shikin denied Giovanni Fiore on a one-on-one. Then, in the shoot-out, Shikin again came up strongly to keep Admiral’s forwards at a safe enough distance. At the other end, the Sailors put in shoot-out specialist Pavel Khomchenko ahead of Nikita Serebryakov, but that gamble did not pay off.
Zhamnov’s Spartak defeats Amur
Spartak Moscow 5 Amur Khabarovsk 3 (1-0, 1-1, 3-2)
In an entertaining game in Moscow, Spartak led 2-0 and 3-1, but needed goals in the last 10 minutes to subdue the Tigers.
Alexander Pashin’s power play goal put the home team in front, and late in the second period Matvei Zaseda doubled the advantage. Almost immediately, though, a short-handed goal from Kirill Kapustin put Amur back in the game.
In the third, penalties came quickly. Nikolai Goldobin made it 3-1 on the power play, but a five-on-three situation saw Amur reply quickly with markers from Cameron Lee and Evgeny Grachyov. That tied the game at 3-3 with 10 to play.
Again, the home PP made the difference. This time, Maxim Tsyplakov was the scorer, making it 4-3 on 51:08. And Tsyplakov added an assist as Ansel Galimov’s empty-netter completed the scoring.
Former Spartak captain Alexander Khokhlachyov, surprisingly traded to Amur on the eve on the season, did not play in this game.
Wong, Moyle get first KHL goals
Kunlun Red Star 4 Dinamo Minsk 3 (1-1, 2-0, 1-2)
Austin Wong’s first KHL goal was enough to maintain Kunlun’s winning start to the season, while condemning Dinamo to its first loss.
Wong, whose older brother Tyler is well-known to the Dragons, potted his team’s fourth goal in the 49th minute. Devin Brosseau assisted, adding to the goal and helper he had earlier in the game. Brosseau extends his hot streak to three games and has 5 (3+2) from a strong opening to his season.
Under new head coach Dmitry Kvartalnov, Dinamo had picked up two wins that were impressive for different reasons. After a fightback in Nizhnekamsk and a blow-out at Vityaz, the Bison opened the scoring here through Vitaly Pinchuk. However, Brosseau tied the scores before the first intermission.
The middle frame belonged to the home team. Kyle Wood struck on the power play midway through the session, then Nolan Moyle got his first since joining the Dragons over the summer to make it 3-1.
Dinamo responded through Nick Merkley in the third, but Wong’s marker restored Red Star’s two goal lead. That was vital: Sam Anas pulled a late goal back for Dinamo, but the home team held on to take a third successive win.
