SKA snaps the skid. September 20 round-up
After five successive losses, SKA got back on track with victory at home to Severstal. However, Dinamo Minsk slipped to its fifth loss in a row at home to Lokomotiv. And Vityaz is even worse off, losing six in a row as Torpedo returned to the top of the Western conference. KHL leader Metallurg kept up its good start to the season with a shoot-out verdict against Avtomobilist, while Salavat Yulaev blew a 2-0 lead before defeating Neftekhimik 4-2.
Magnitka edges Motormen again
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 SO (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
For the second time in three days, Metallurg hosted Avtomobilist. And for the second time, the Steelmen took the win. Avto responded to Monday’s loss by swapping goalies, with Vladimir Galkin replacing Evgeny Alikin.
Galkin found himself under pressure from the start, but kept Magnitka at bay. His best moment in the early stages was a glove save to deny Denis Zernov. As Metallurg ran into penalty trouble, Avtomobilist got into the game. And this was more than just a momentum shift: Alexei Byvaltsev scored on his hometown team for the second game in a row.
However, the home team has a specialist of its own for this match-up. Robin Press produced three assists in the previous meeting and today he promptly got the tying goal with a point shot.
After trading early goals, the teams would not score again in regulation. Avtomobilist enjoyed some dominance at the start of the second period, but could not beat Artyom Zagidulin. Later, Galkin did well to stop a Grigory Dronov effort. It was also noticeable that the visiting defense was far more consistent than in the preceding 2-4 loss, with Galkin getting more assistance from his colleagues than Alikin did.
Long before the start of OT, both teams adopted a risk-averse approach and it was no great surprise that the game went to the extras. Avtomobilist was unable to take advantage of a power play in overtime, and the shoot-out was decided by Dronov’s successful attempt.
Ufa survives third-period wobble
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 4 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 (1-0, 1-0, 2-2)
Eastern Conference basement club Neftekhimik travelled to Ufa looking to atone for a club record 0-8 loss in Astana. In response, the coaching staff looked to a new goaltender: 25-year-old Filipp Dolganov was called up from the farm club to make his KHL debut.
Salavat Yulaev won its last two games, but opted to freshen up its team. Nikolai Kulemin, who did not feature in pre-season, made his first appearance of the campaign after fully recovering from injury. Evgeny Timkin and Nikita Zorkin were among the other players given a chance, while goalie Ilya Ezhov got his first action since Sep. 6.
Kulemin celebrated his return to action with the opening goal, a power play effort in the 14th minute. Early in the second period, young defenseman Alexander Komarov doubled the home lead and it looked like this could be another long night for Neftekhimik.
However, Ufa did not build on that advantage, and paid the price at the start of the third. A five-on-three power play saw Neftekhimik get some time on the attack and led to Andrei Belozyorov reducing the deficit. Another power play saw an increasingly confident visitor tie the game through Danil Sherstobitov.
After doing the hard work to get back into the game, Neftekhimik blew it when Mikhail Sidorov shot the puck off the ice. The delay of game penalty saw Pavel Koledov restore the home lead on his 29th birthday. Koledov’s day had an unhappy end when he was ejected from the game for boarding, but his team-mates ensured that he could unwrap a W in the locker room when young forward Matvei Babenko put his first KHL goal into an empty net late on.
Loko adds to Minsk woes
Dinamo Minsk 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (0-2, 0-1, 1-1)
Dmitry Kvartalnov’s Dinamo Minsk is finding life tough at the moment. This game brought a fifth successive loss for the Belarusians, and for the second time this season Kvartalnov lost out against one of his former clubs.
Lokomotiv, meanwhile, is going nicely. A fourth straight win, six out of the last seven and up to third in the West as Igor Nikitin’s team continues a good start to the season. Youngster Yaroslav Likhachyov has played a big role in that run of form: the 22-year-old scored today to stretch his hot streak to four games. He also had an assist as Maxim Shalunov netted after 30 seconds to give the Railwaymen a perfect start.
Daniil Tesanov doubled the advantage as Loko made the most of its first period chances. Dinamo had more possession and got more shots on goal, but struggled to stretch Ivan Bocharov in the visitor’s net. When Likhachyov added a third on the power play early in the middle frame, it already looked like a long way back for the Bison.
There was some consolation in the final frame with a goal delivered by Dinamo’s North American imports. Kodie Curran and Sam Anas assisted, Gemel Smith pulled one back. However, Alexander Polunin’s empty-netter extinguished any lingering home hopes.
Torpedo returns to Western summit
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 1 (1-0, 0-0, 2-1)
The formbook pointed to a comfortable home victory and Torpedo delivered. However, Igor Larionov’s men took their time over finishing off struggling Vityaz, which remains rooted to the foot of the KHL standings.
After losing five in a row, Vityaz needed a solid start here. Instead, it got an early penalty and a power play goal from Maxim Letunov. The Torpedo forward is flying right now: that’s his fifth goal in four games.
It was also a handy boost for Torpedo, which lost both games on its recent road trip and lost the lead in the West to Dynamo Moscow. Back in Nizhny Novgorod, where it won four in a row, things should have got easier – but this was not a game that would be done in the early stages.
Vityaz hung around. Alexander Zavyalov’s team did not offer much offensive threat, but it worked hard to subdue the host. Torpedo could not generate the kind of attacking fluency that brought 18 goals in its first four on home ice and the game remained poised at 1-0 until well into the third period.
It was something of a relief for the home fans when Vladislav Firstov added a second midway through the final stanza. Vityaz still had a chance to cause some alarm when Ivan Savchik got a late goal back, but Bogdan Konyushkov’s empty-netter ensured there would be no grandstand finish.
SKA leaves it late to see off Severstal
SKA St. Petersburg 4 Severstal Cherepovets 1 (1-1, 1-0, 2-0)
After a run of five losses, SKA demanded a response. Head coach Roman Rotenberg stripped Marat Khairullin of the captaincy and entrusted Alexander Kadeikin with the role. Khairullin wore the ‘A’ tonight. That wasn’t the only change. Artemy Pleshkov, SKA’s 20-year-old goaltending prospect, got his first gametime of the season, while Mikhail Pashnin replaced Nikita Kamalov on defense. On offense, Kadeikin was promoted to the first line, while Vasily Glotov returned to the team.
With SKA in need of a confidence boost, the opening stages could hardly have been better. A penalty on Severstal’s Danil Aimurzin gave the home team an instant power play. Sergei Tolchinsky, the player fouled in the initial incident, conjured the best chance on the PP when he burst down the left and fired in the puck for Kadeikin to test Dmitry Shugayev in the visitor’s net.
Shugayev passed that test, but was beaten in the seventh minute when a defense lapse enabled Vladimir Alistrov to storm through the center, get away from Mark Barberio and open the scoring.
However, Alistrov was also instrumental in Severstal’s tying goal. His ambitious pass out of defense went astray and dropped for Ilya Ivantsov to beat Pleshkov at the second attempt. SKA’s early momentum took a battering and the teams traded scoring opportunities in the latter part of the opening frame.
The action remained fairly even for much of the second period, but gradually SKA began to apply more pressure. Shugayev was called upon for another couple of big saves before, in the 38th minute, the home team went back in front. Valentin Zykov, who scored in the previous game against Sibir, was on target again, producing a one-timer to convert Nikolai Polyakov’s breakaway.
However, there were still signs of nerves in Petersburg. Tolchinsky took a penalty late in the third, and Severstal started strongly in the final frame. SKA had barely got back to full strength before the puck was in Pleshkov’s net again. Stepanov was the scorer, but a video review came to the rescue, ruling that he had impeded the goalie with his stick in the process.
SKA made the most of that reprieve by extending its lead. Severstal fluffed another power play chance and with the teams back at full strength, Alexander Nikishin made it 3-1 in the 51st minute, converting a three-on-one rush. A minute later, Zykov got his second of the night after Shugayev wandered into danger and lost the puck to Polyakov.
Those late goals took the game away from Severstal and gave SKA the win. Usually, this would be a routine victory for one of the league’s powerhouses; today, though, it felt more significant as the team looks to turn the corner.
