Lada enjoys CSKA success, Goldobin stars for Spartak. September 21 round-up
CSKA lost in Togliatti for the first time since 2009, going down 1-3 to a Lada team that could be the most impressive we’ve seen in the KHL era. In the day’s early action, Dynamo Moscow won in Khabarovsk to return to the Western Conference summit while Admiral won its home opener against Kunlun Red Star. Sibir celebrated a first regulation-time win at its new arena, edging past Avangard amid a flurry of late goals. It was a similar story for Sochi, who overturned a 2-3 deficit in the last 10 minutes to beat Traktor. Spartak’s Nikolai Goldobin had five assists in a 6-3 win over Barys.
Six-in-a-row as Dynamo hits the top
Amur Khabarovsk 1 Dynamo Moscow 2 OT (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)
Dynamo returned to the top of the Western Conference after edging an OT verdict on the road. For the second time in three days, Amur got ahead but was pegged back in regulation and fell in the extras.
After home head coach Andrei Martemyanov shuffled his lines following the shoot-out loss to Kunlun, Stanislav Bocharov was promoted to the second line. He found those new surroundings to his liking, opening the scoring after seven minutes. Dynamo was five seconds away from killing its first penalty of the game when Bocharov struck.
Although there was no shortage of attacking endeavor, that goal was the only marker in the first period. Early in the second, Dynamo tied the scores when a neat combination between Nikita Gusev and Daniil Pylenkov set up Jordan Weal to score.
That made the score 1-1, and it stayed that way until the end of regulation. For the third game running, Amur shared two goals with the opposition and went into the extras. In the two previous games, it went all the way to a shoot-out, but today Cedric Paquette got the winner for Dynamo after 80 seconds. That makes six successive wins for Alexei Kudashov’s team and lifts it back in front of Torpedo in the Western standings.
Sailors sink Dragons
Admiral Vladivostok 3 Kunlun Red Star 1 (2-0, 0-1, 1-0)
The Sailors won their home opener, picking up only a second victory of the season at the expense of KRS. The Dragons snapped a three-game losing streak with Tuesday’s shoot-out success at Amur, but could not build on that in game two of the Far East trip.
Admiral got an immediate lift from returning to its home arena, and jumped to a 2-0 lead inside six minutes. Alexander Shevchenko opened the scoring before Daniil Gutik doubled the lead.
In recent games, Kunlun has struggled for offense and today was no exception. There was little attacking threat from the visitor in the first period, and only slightly more menace on the counterattack in the second. Nonetheless, one of those breakaways saw Brandon Yip reduce the deficit midway through the game.
It might have been 2-2 early in the third, but Nikita Serebryakov pulled off a big stop to deny Tyler Wong. And Admiral made the game safe in the 54th minute thanks to Tyler Graovac.
Gordeyev, Andreoff pick the right moments to open their accounts
Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Avangard Omsk 3 (1-1, 2-1, 1-1)
The opening stand at Sibir’s new arena was not the happy housewarming David Nemirovsky’s team hoped for. A tense shoot-out win over Barys in game one was followed by a heavy loss to Avtomobilist and a further defeat against Amur. Today, though, against the Siberian team’s biggest rival, things started to go right.
That’s not to say there weren’t anxious moments. Avangard took the lead after 62 seconds through Igor Geraskin. Given recent history on this ice, Sibir could be forgiven for getting a sinking feeling. The Hawks took the momentum and looked the likelier team to score again, with only Anton Krasotkin keeping it to a one-goal game.
Thus it was an opportune moment for Andy Andreoff to get his first goal in the KHL. The Canadian had struggled to reproduce the kind of form that had him among the AHL’s leading scorers last year, but broke his duck today in his eight game for Sibir. His first came on the power play, converting Taylor Beck’s feed to the slot to tie the scores before the first intermission.
After the break, Sibir came out and showed the kind of attacking play we’ve come to expect from Nemirovsky’s teams. And Andreoff was on target again to give his team the lead in the 26th minute. Soon after, Nikita Yefremov added a third and the new arena’s first derby seemed to be heading for a convincing home win.
But there was drama to come. Reid Boucher offered a hint of it with a power play goal late in the second. That kept the game very much alive, and set the stage for high drama in the 59th minute. On 58:24, Ryan Spooner thought he’d saved at least a point for Avangard when he tied the game at 3-3. Was the curse of the new home about to strike again for Sibir?
No. On 58:58, Fyodor Gordeyev got the puck on the blue line and fired in a shot. Heavy traffic in front of Vasily Demchenko took away the goalie’s view and the 24-year-old defenseman claimed his first goal of the season. It could hardly have been more important: a game-winner in a Siberian derby, sealing Sibir’s first regulation-time win in its new home.
Lada ends 14-year wait to beat CSKA
Lada Togliatti 3 CSKA Moscow 1 (0-0, 2-1, 1-0)
This was Lada’s most impressive result so far following its return to the KHL. The Motormen defeated CSKA in Togliatti for the first time in 14 years, and it left the defending champion on an uncomfortable run of four losses in its last five games.
For Lada, meanwhile, the formbook looks very different. Today’s success makes it five wins from six and lifts the team to third in the Eastern Conference. Even when Togliatti was last in the KHL, it rarely reached such heights.
This was a deserved victory as well. Although the first period produced no goals, it offered plenty of evidence that the home team was capable of matching its star-studded opponent. The teams were level in shots on goal (14 apiece), and the Muscovites had only a small advantage in terms of attacking possession.
At the start of the middle frame, CSKA began to step up the pace and started to look better value for its status as favorite. However, it took until the 34th minute to get the opening goal when Maxim Mamin reacted fastest after a set of crazy bounces had the puck pinging around in front of Vladislav Podyapolsky’s net.
The response was swift, and effective. Dmitry Kugryshev earned a penalty shot and converted it himself to tie the scores. That was also his first goal in a six-game productive streak (1+7). Another 23 seconds went by and Lada had the lead. Troy Josephs stretched his hot run to seven games (6+3) with a helper as Danila Moiseyev struck on the power play.
CSKA tried to get back into the game in the third, but could not break through. At the other end, Lada added a third through Andrei Altybarmakyan in the 47th minute, building an advantage that it calmly protected to the end.
Michkov scores twice to keep Sochi on song
HC Sochi 4 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 (0-1, 1-1, 3-1)
Sochi is fast turning into one of the stories of the season. Today’s win over Traktor made it five in a row for the Leopards and Dmitry Kokorev’s team is up to fourth in the Western Conference. After a season spent stuck in the basement in 2022-2023, this is a huge step forward for the Black Sea boys.
Against Traktor, the home team was boosted by Matvei Michkov’s first goal since returning on loan from SKA. But, in an entertaining game, Sochi left it late to snatch victory after trailing three times during the game.
Traktor started well and Yegor Fateyev opened the scoring after 96 seconds. That was the only goal of the first period and it separated the teams until the midway point. Sergei Popov tied it up on the power play, but in the 40th minute Nikita Tertyshny restored Traktor’s lead, also on the PP.
Michkov got his first of the season at the start of the final frame, and that was the prelude to a dramatic conclusion. A short-handed effort from Alexander Sharov restored Traktor’s lead, but by now Sochi was looking the more effective attacking force. In the final 10 minutes, the host turned the game around. Kirill Rasskazov tied it up then, in the closing seconds, Michkov struck again to keep Sochi riding high.
Five-point Goldobin sinks Barys
Spartak Moscow 6 Barys Astana 3 (2-1, 2-1, 2-1)
Barys arrived in Moscow enjoying a mini-revival. Back-to-back wins changed the atmosphere in the Kazakh camp after a slow start to the season. However, in the capital, Nikolai Goldobin was the man to halt that progress. He had five assists in the game, consolidating his position in the KHL scoring race and orchestrating a return to form after two losses.
Spartak’s power play unit impressed in the first period. The home team had two chance and scored them both. Goldobin was involved on both occasion as first Michal Cajkovsky then Pavel Poryadin put the Red-and-Whites in charge. A late goal for Ansar Shaikhmeddenov kept Barys interested.
The middle frame saw Goldobin complete a hat-trick of helpers as Yegor Savikov made it 3-1. Then the teams traded late goals, with Alexander Pashnin’s effort proving to be the only Spartak score that didn’t feature Goldobin.
The main man was back at it in the third, moving to 14 (8+5) points for the season with assists for Andrei Loktionov and Shane Prince. Joey LaBate added a consolation effort on the power play for Barys, but this was very much Spartak’s night.
