Sibir opens new arena with win. September 7 round-up
The big game of the day was in Novosibirsk, where Sibir’s new arena hosted its first KHL action. The visit of Barys proved a tense affair, with the host prevailing in a shoot-out. Elsewhere, Avangard inflicted a first loss of the season on Avtomobilist and Metallurg won on the road at Dynamo.
Happy housewarming for Sibir
Sibir Novosibirsk 1 Barys Astana 0 SO (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Sibir played its first game at the club’s new 10,000-seater arena in Novosibirsk – and celebrated the occasion with a victory. True, it was a hard-fought verdict over Barys, with neither team able to score over 65 minutes of play. But the host, with goalie Anton Krasotkin in impressive form, managed the first-night nerves to claim a shoot-out victory.
For many in attendance, this was not a first sight of the club’s new home. The arena had already hosted a u18 exhibition game between Russia and Belarus, as well as a pre-season junior tournament. But this was the first KHL game on the new ice and, as such, it was a special day for David Nemirovsky’s team.
Sibir’s GM Kirill Fastovsky admitted that the sense of occasion was a test for the players. “The teams were very cautious, there weren’t many big scoring chances,” he said. “Nobody wanted to take a risk and everybody was very constrained, especially our players. Only a couple of players were able to play their true game, the others were trembling – even the imports.”
The opening of the new arena was not the only big event of the day. Here, as at Thursday’s other KHL games in Omsk and Moscow, there was a moment to remember the air disaster of Sep. 7, 2011, when Lokomotiv’s team jet crashed on take-off ahead of the team’s season opener in Minsk. A small section of the arena was left vacant, the empty seats decorated with Lokomotiv jerseys in tribute to those who died.
For a historic occasion, the visit of Barys had both historic and recent significance. The Kazakh team is coached by Andrei Skabelka, whose 2015 run to the Eastern Conference final with Sibir remains the club’s best ever result. It was already the rivals’ second encounter of the season, meanwhile: a few days ago, Sibir went to Astana and won in overtime after trailing 0-3 during the game.
While that game was high scoring, this was quite the opposite. The teams traded frequent penalties, but only occasional chances. The first period saw a few attempts ding the piping, but no goals. The second began with Barys’ Batylan Muratov squandering a good opportunity in a two-on-one break, before Nikolai Prokhorkin’s misplaced pass wasted a similar situation for the home team.
In the end, nobody could claim the honor of the first KHL goal in the new arena. Sibir had a final, glorious opportunity late on, but not even a five-on-three power play could settle the outcome in the host’s favor.
Happily, most of the 10,418 fans in the building (100 short of a sell-out, due to the Lokomotiv memorial sector) got the result they were hoping for. In the shoot-out, Taylor Beck delivered the win for Sibir. But the most memorable performances of the day came from the goalies: Sibir’s Anton Krasotkin made 34 saves, his opposite number Andrei Shutov stopped 26 attempts.
Avtomobilist fightback falls short
Avangard Omsk 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 OT (0-0, 2-1, 0-1, 1-0)
While most of the league has had a busy start to the season, Avangard had plenty of time to prepare. After the team’s opening game on Sep. 2 against Sibir, Mikhail Kravets’ team had five days’ rest before returning to action at home to Avtomobilist.
That lack of action might have explained why the Hawks looked a little sluggish in the first period compared with the visitor. The Motormen had better control of the puck and asked more questions of Vasily Demchenko in the home net. However, the opening frame ended goalless.
In the second period, Avangard made the breakthrough. Kirill Panyukov opened the scoring in the 27th minute, and three minutes later Reid Boucher’s one-timer converted Mikhail Gulyayev’s feed to double the advantage. Avto hit back late in the frame: a power play saw plenty of shooting chances for Brooks Macek and Stephane Da Costa, and while there were no goals there was renewed momentum for the visitin offense. That helped Curtis Valk find the net in the 39th minute amid a flurry of activity around Demchenko’s net.
Valk popped up with another big goal 77 seconds before the hooter. The circumstances somewhat resembled the Motormen’s first goal, with Demchenko facing a fusillade and Valk finding the finishing touch.
With three seconds left in regulation, Nikita Tryamkin took a penalty that handed Avangard the initiative in OT. During the extras, the home time withdrew goalie Demchenko and played 5-on-3, only to find the shorthanded visitor in obdurate mood. Tryamkin left the box and immediately had a glorious chance to win it but inexplicably fired wide of the empty net. Avangard heeded the warning, restored Demchenko at the next break in play, and was relieved to see Ivan Igumnov pot the winning goal.
Mikhailis leads Metallurg to win
Dynamo Moscow 3 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 (0-1, 2-2, 1-2)
Two goals from Nikita Mikhailis helped Metallurg to victory at Dynamo. Andrei Razin’s team recorded its second win in the capital after defeating CSKA on Tuesday. Dynamo, meanwhile, slipped to a second loss in its first three games.
Mikhailis, a summer signing from Barys, opened the scoring late in the first period. After Grigory Dronov’s long pass turned defense into attack, Mikhailis exchanged passes with Danila Yurov before sweeping a shot into the net from out near the right-hand boards.
That was a deserved reward for Magnitka after the visitor had the better of the first period. And at the start of the second, Mikhailis was involved again as his team doubled its lead. This time he kept Andrei Mironov’s attempted clearance in the Dynamo zone, setting up Dronov for the second of the night. Dynamo responded through Jordan Weal, but Mikhailis quickly potted his second of the game to restore that two-goal lead.
In the middle frame, Dynamo posed more of an offensive threat and Dmitry Rashevsky made it 2-3 before the intermission. However, early in the third Nikita Grebyonkin scored his first goal since returning to Metallurg following his loan spell at Amur last season. That prompted Alexei Kudashov to replace starting goalie Maxim Motorygin, who enjoyed a victory over Amur on his debut, with the more experience Ilya Konovalov.
The Blue-and-Whites also stepped up on offense. Weal and Gusev combined to create a power play goal for Eric O’Dell midway through the third. However, that was as close as it got. A last-minute empty net goal from Grebyonkin secured the points for Metallurg.
