Motormen, Minsk snap losing streaks. September 22 round-up

Avtomobilist ended a three-game skid with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Salavat Yulaev. Dinamo snapped a longer unsuccessful run, edging a 3-2 verdict at home to Vityaz to record a first win in six. Vityaz remains rooted to the foot of the standings after seven straight losses.

Razdyakonov’s first KHL goal gives Avto the win

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)

Evgeny Alikin’s first shut-out of the season and Vladislav Razdyakonov’s first KHL goal proved sufficient for Avtomobilist to defeat Salavat Yulaev for the second time this season.

The teams came into the game in contrasting form. Ufa had won three in a row, while the Motormen lost their last three outings. In response to that slump, Nikolai Zavarukhin made changes to his Avtomobilist team, bringing back Semyon Kizimov, Vladislav Leontyev and Alexander Sevostyanov and tweaking the components of his attacking lines.

Both teams were missing one of their regular defensemen: Pavel Koledov was suspended for the host, while Sergei Zborovsky was injured.

Much of the game proved to be something of an arm-wrestle. The first period, in particular, involved plenty of hard-hitting play but not much by way of scoring chances.

The second period saw Avtomobilist begin to create more, but when Sergei Shirokov and Danil Romantsev set up an odd man rush, Romantsev was unable to convert the chance. However, in the 28^th minute, the visitor made the breakthrough. It was a textbook play: a face-off win, move the puck quickly to the blue line for Leontiev to shoot and wait for Razdyakonov to apply the crucial touch in front of Alexander Samonov.

Ufa’s players found it hard to bring play out of their zone. Avto applied a strong press in center ice and carefully broke up any attempts from the home team to save the game. That hard work was rewarded as Alikin completed his shut-out – 29 saves – to snap a three-game skid.

Photoalbum

Dinamo edges win in battle of the strugglers

Dinamo Minsk 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 2 (1-1, 1-0, 1-1)

Both these teams were in worrying form. You have to go back to Sep. 6 to find the last win for either of them, and Vityaz had lost six in a row after edging a shoot-out verdict over Admiral. Dinamo was winless since Sep. 4, when it put seven unanswered goals past today’s opponent. Not surprisingly, the two teams occupied the last two places in the Western Conference ahead of today’s game.

After that seven-goal shocker on home ice, Vityaz had plenty to prove when it arrived in Minsk. The visitor began well enough and more than held its own in the first period. A power play goal in the 16^th minute saw Stanislav Yarovoi open the scoring, but Dinamo responded before the intermission thanks to Roman Gorbunov.

In the second period, though, Dinamo began to dominate the play. The Bison outshot Vityaz 17-5 and may feel that effort deserved more than a solitary goal. Sam Anas was the scorer in the 28^th minute, ending a three-game run without a point after making a bright start to the season.

Dinamo’s failure to turn more of those chances into goals came back to haunt the home team in the third period. Midway through the final frame, with Vityaz on the power play, Ilya Arkalov tied the scores. Now it was anyone’s game, but on 54:06 Derek Barach took a tripping major that cost the visitor dearly. Vladislav Kodola restored Dinamo’s lead, and the five-minute penalty had to be served in full, cancelling out the whole of a later minor penalty for the goalscorer.

Back at full strength in the last minute, Vityaz played the final seconds without a goalie but could not conjure a tying goal. Dinamo’s win lifts it up to eighth in the west – surprisingly above CSKA and SKA. Vityaz remains at the foot of the standings.