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Conference leaders suffer defeats. September 25 round-up
Monday’s big game saw Lokomotiv beat Metallurg 4-1, with the home team scoring three goals from three shots in the third period to seal the verdict. Dynamo, the other conference leader, also suffered defeat, going down 2-3 at Sibir. There were goals aplenty in Nizhnekamsk, where Pontus Aberg had a hat-trick as Barys won 6-5 in overtime. SKA relied on its depth to edge Admiral and make it three wins in a row, while Traktor edged an overtime win at Lada thanks to Zac Fucale’s first KHL shut-out.
SKA’s fourth line has too much for Admiral
Admiral Vladivostok 1 SKA St. Petersburg 2 (1-0, 0-1, 0-1)
SKA posted a third successive victory after coming from behind to sink Admiral. The visitor continued with youngster Artemy Pleshkov in goal after his shut-out against Amur, while the Sailors hoped to finish its first home stand on a high after defeating Kunlun before losing to Dynamo Moscow.
The home team made a great start, with Tyler Graovac opening the scoring in the second minute. SKA had the better of the play at equal strength, but Admiral got further opportunities on the power play.
The key passage of the game arrived in the second period. SKA tied the scores in the 27th minute when Nikolai Polyakov got his first goal of the season, putting away the rebound from a Valentin Zykov shot. A couple of minutes later, Admiral thought it had the lead once again. However, a video review ruled that Daniil Gutik’s stick was high and the play was called back. The verdict also halted the young forward’s six-game productive streak.
The winning goal came midway through the third period, with SKA’s fourth line again making the breakthrough. Zykov was again the provider, setting up Zakhar Bardakov to make it 2-1. With four minutes to play, Admiral withdrew goalie Pavel Khomchenko, looking to capitalize on Alex Galchenyuk’s penalty. However, that did not deliver, and when Gutik was hit with a double minor, the home team’s chances were gone.
Sibir halts Dynamo’s winning run
Sibir Novosibirsk 3 Dynamo Moscow 2 (1-1, 2-1, 0-0)
Dynamo suffered a blow in the build-up to this game with news that Brennan Menell and Eric O’Dell were unavailable due to illness. The pair are key figures on the Blue-and-White power play, which was the most productive in the KHL to date.
However, there was no immediate sign of weakness on the visitor’s PP. Although Sibir had the early initiative, Timur Akhiyarov’s foul led to Maxim Dzhioshvili’s opening goal. The host responded in the first period, with Maxim Sushko tying the scores. Maxim’s father, Sergei, may have had mixed feelings about that: he is Dynamo’s GM.
In the second period, Dynamo came close to regaining the lead when Cedric Paquette fired one against the post. Then more penalties helped Dzhioshvili get his second of the game, again on the power play, and this time following a blast from Igor Ozhiganov.
However, Sibir found a way back. Stepping up the pace, the home team forced Dynamo into penalties. A five-on-three advantage was the perfect opportunity for the burgeoning Taylor Beck-Nikolai Prokhorkin partnership to fire: the latter finished off the play with a one timer. Sibir got ahead for the first time in the game moments before the second intermission. A quick counterattack saw Dinar Khamidullin claim the go-ahead goal after a series of deflections.
In the third period, Dynamo threw everything forward in a bid to save the game and extend its winning streak. However, neither equal strength nor power play could unlock the tying goal. Denis Kostin and his team-mates held on to secure Sibir’s fourth successive victory.
Freak goal helps Avto past Avangard
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 5 Avangard Omsk 1 (0-1, 3-0, 2-0)
The Motormen maintained their perfect home record, coming from behind to record a convincing victory over Avangard. However, the 5-1 scoreline did not entirely reflect the play: the visitor had the better of the first period, and even after falling behind in the second the Hawks might have recovered were it not for a freakish goal.
Avangard was the first to show, opening the scoring in the eighth minute when Denis Vengryzhanovsky redirected an instinctive shot from Valentin Pyanov. However, neither team looked entirely at its best in the first period: Avtomobilist was largely playing on the counterattack, while Avangard often looked disorganized as it tried to break into the attacking third.
Everything changed at the start of the second period. Avtomobilist scored 16 seconds into the frame when Anatoly Golyshev fed a precise pass through Damir Sharipzyanov’s legs to set up Stephane Da Costa at the back door. That put the home team on the front foot and midway through the frame a power play ended just as Brooks Macek was lining up his first goal of the season. A couple of minutes later, Sergei Zborovsky’s stretch pass sent Andrei Obidin clean through to score on Andrei Mishurov for 3-1.
Avto enjoyed much the better of the second period, but Avangard looked poised for a chance to recover at the start of the third. The visitor pulled its goalie on a delayed penalty but nobody read Semyon Chistyakov’s attempted pass from the corner. The Hawks watched in horror as the puck trickled down the ice into the empty net and, adding insult to injury, the goal was credited to Alexander Sevostyanov, who last touched the puck in the process of fouling Vladimir Tkachyov. Thus, the home defenseman celebrated his tally from the penalty box. To confirm that this really was not Avangard’s day, Obidin then got a second breakaway goal on the penalty kill to wrap up the win.
Fucale blanks Lada for OT win
Lada Togliatti 0 Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Zach Fucale got his first KHL shut-out as Traktor edged an OT verdict in Togliatti. The result snapped a three game skid for the visitor, while also halting Lada’s four-game winning streak.
In a quirk of the scheduling, this was the teams’ fourth meeting in less than a month. The previous three all finished as road wins and were characterized by a lack of scoring. The final instalment of the series took both trends to a logical conclusion: Traktor won on the road, but the only goal of the game came in OT.
For long spells, the teams battled it out in center ice. Although the first period brought 19 shots on goal, few of them were particularly threatening. Even when Traktor’s Sergei Telegin took a major penalty in the second period, there was little change. Lada’s PP labored but lacked a cutting edge, goalies Vladislav Podyapolsky and Zach Fucale did their jobs diligently, but rarely needed anything spectacular.
Increasingly, both teams seemed to be waiting for an error that never came. It was little surprise that the game reached overtime. In the extras, though, the pace picked up. Lada began on the power play and twice dinged the piping before forcing a big save out of Fucale. Then came the sucker punch: Traktor launched a counter and, out of nothing, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev potted the winning goal.
Aberg hits hat-trick in roller-coaster clash
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 5 Barys Astana 6 OT (2-1, 0-2, 3-2, 0-1)
Two teams outside of the playoff places would play cautious, nervy hockey, right? Err, no. This game was a barn-burner from start to finish, with Barys getting its first win in three games on Riley Barber’s overtime marker.
Both teams held the lead in a topsy-turvy battle in Nizhnekamsk. Neftekhimik, lifted by Saturday’s success against Avangard, made a confident start. Rafael Bikmullin put the home team in front and even though Pontus Aberg tied the scores right away, the Wolves regained the lead when Alexander Dergachyov converted the first power play of the game.
Penalties continued to influence events. In the second period, Barys had two PP chances and scored both of them. Aberg got his second, again assisted by Barber and David Sklenicka, then Kirill Savitsky made it 3-2 with a helper from new signing Rudolf Cerveny.
Neftekhimik stormed back at the start of the third. Dergachyov got his second of the game – and the fourth penalty of the evening generated a fourth power play goal. Twenty-two seconds later, Bikmullin made it 4-3 with his second of the night.
Aberg wasn’t impressed and made his point by completing a hat-trick to tie the game at 4-4. There was still time for the teams to trade late goals before the hooter sounded with the scoreboard reading 5-5. In the extras, Barber added to his three assists in regulation by grabbing the winner. That moves Barys up to ninth, one point outside the playoff places.
Kraskovsky double sinks Metallurg
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (0-0, 1-0, 3-1)
This game was settled by some impressive accuracy, particularly in the third period. The final stanza saw Lokomotiv restricted to just three shots on target – but all three found the net to wrap up a 4-1 win. The Railwaymen bounced back after losing to CSKA, while Magnitka suffered a second successive loss and missed the chance to move two points clear at the top of the overall standings.
It was not a game full of scoring chances. In the first period, neither goaltender was over-extended and it wasn’t a surprise to get to the intermission at 0-0. The second period brought the first penalties of the evening, but Metallurg failed to convert from three attempts. Then Robin Press took a hooking call and Lokomotiv scored on its first power play of the night through defenseman Rushan Rafikov.
Loko killed another penalty early in the third, then moved clear with quick goals from Maxim Beryozkin and Pavel Kraskovsky. After Kraskovsky’s effort, Ilya Nabokov came into the net in place of Artyom Zagidulin and, at the other end, another youngster marked his KHL debut with a goal. Mikhail Grass, 19, is registered with Yuzhny Ural of the VHL, but made the most of his opportunity today.
However, he could not trigger a fightback. Instead, Kraskovsky scored his second into an empty net to seal Loko’s win. Igor Nikitin’s team moves to third in the West on 14 points, two behind the leaders.
