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Ufa, Loko go goal crazy. October 13 round-up
Friday brought some big wins in the KHL. Salavat Yulaev led the way, scoring eight on Vityaz with Josh Leivo on target twice. Lokomotiv wasn’t far behind, enjoying a 6-0 road win at Barys. Avangard’s 3-0 victory over Dynamo Moscow was also noteworthy, not least because of the 0-6 reverse the Hawks suffered in the capital earlier this season. Elsewhere, a Metallurg team led by youngsters won 4-2 at Sibir, SKA dug deep to outlast Dinamo Minsk and Avtomobilist beat Traktor in a clash of coaching cousins.
Trust in youth pays off for Razin
Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 (1-1, 0-2, 1-1)
Back-to-back losses saw Metallurg loosen its grip on top spot in the East. While the Steelmen stuttered, Ak Bars moved level on points. Today, though, Andrei Razin’s team got back on track with a 4-2 win at Sibir. For the home team there is little relief: this was a fifth straight loss and David Nemirovsky’s men are just one point clear of ninth placed Amur.
After defeat in Omsk last time out, Razin turned to youth. Goalie Ilya Nabokov, 20, made only his fourth KHL start, while the first line of Grebyonkin, Grass and Yurov did not feature a single player older than 20.
Nemirovsky also made changes and the most telling of those proved to be the return of Pavel Gogolev. He opened the scoring in the 15th minute, placing his wrister under the crossbar. At the other end, Metallurg’s pressing forced errors from the home defense. That brought a tying goal late in the first frame when Timur Akhiyarov casually presented Pavel Akolzin with the puck in a scoring position.
After the intermission, Sibir led the shot count but fell behind on the scoreboard. Akolzin coolly potted his second of the night early in the frame, then Alexander Petunin added a third on the power play.
In the final frame, Akhiyarov atoned for his error on Magnitka’s first goal and made it 2-3 in the 54th minute. However, any hopes of a storming finish were undermined towards the end when Yurov’s empty net goal sealed the result for Metallurg.
Avangard Omsk 3 Dynamo Moscow 0 (0-0, 3-0, 0-0)
In late September, Dynamo thrashed Avangard 6-0 in Moscow. Today, the Hawks exacted some revenge for that loss, blanking the Blue-and-Whites in Omsk. Building on Wednesday’s 4-1 success against Metallurg, the home team moves to 20 points and joins a group of four teams in a tie for fourth place.
The first period was something of an arm wrestle, with scoring chances less common than battles for possession. In the middle frame, though, Avangard got its offense into gear to open a 3-0 lead. The Hawks raised the tempo from the opening face-off, and went ahead in the 25th minute through Mikhail Gulyayev. A great combination from Vladimir Tkachyov and Ivan Nikolishin set up Gulyayev on the slot, and he beat Volkov from close range.
Then came two goals in 61 seconds. Reid Boucher’s power play tally extended the lead, then Igor Martynov steered Valentin Pyanov’s feed into the net. That saw Volkov leave the game as Ilya Konovalov took over between the piping.
Konovalov finished without a goal against him. However, this was largely due to the disappearance of Avangard as an offensive force in the final frame. The home team managed just one shot on goal, while Ilya Proskuryakov repelled 13 attempts at the other end to complete his shut-out.
Barys Astana 0 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 6 (0-1, 0-1, 0-4)
Loko maintained its position as overall KHL leader with a thumping win in Astana. The Railwaymen handed Barys a first loss since the departure of Andrei Skabelka as head coach, maintaining a good historical record against the Kazakhs: of 28 games played, Loko has 19 wins.
Young Daniil But set the visitor on the way to the latest of those successes. After an even start to the game, Barys goalie Eddie Pasquale’s misplaced clearance presented But with his second goal of the season. Pasquale, up against his former club, produced a big save to deny Martin Gernat. At the other end, Ivan Bocharov was less frequently involved as Barys managed just five shots on goal.
Loko came close to extending its lead early in the second, with Gernat and Yaroslav Likhachyov both going close. Barys struggled to keep hold of the puck, but gradually began to create chances of its own and Rudolf Cerveny threatened a tying goal. His miss was swiftly punished at the other end by Pavel Kraskovsky, who doubled the lead in the 33rd minute.
Kraskovsky was on target again at the start of the third, converting the first power play of the game. That was a hammer blow to home hopes: another PP saw Maxim Shalunov make it 4-0, and the closing stages brought further tallies for But and Daniil Tesanov.
Avto wins in clash of the cousins
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 (2-1, 0-0, 0-0)
For the first time in KHL hockey, we saw a game between two teams coached by cousins. Avtomobilist’s Nikolai Zavarukhin faced Traktor’s interim head coach Alexei Zavarukhin in what was very much a family affair.
The honors went to Nikolai and the home team. Alexei’s Traktor made a bright start, but failed to make the most of its early opportunities. That brought an almost inevitable punishment: Albert Yarullin was called for the game’s first penalty on 9:11 and Alexander Sevostyanov opened the scoring on the power play. That was Sevostyanov’s second of the season, and his point shot was a more conscious effort than his first, which came when Avangard put the puck into its own empty net on a delayed penalty call.
Yarullin atoned for his penalty to tie the game in the 15th minute, but it wasn’t long before Avtomobilist was back in front. The home team’s fourth line deployed a solid forecheck, building a platform for Maxim Osipov to score from the same spot as Sevostyanov.
Somewhat surprisingly, that proved to be the end of the scoring. If Avtomobilist looked to raise the tempo in the middle frame – without extending its lead – the final stanza was a textbook display of game management to close out a win with minimal fuss. Blocking up center ice and keeping Traktor firmly to the perimeter, Nikolai gave his cousin little chance of finding a way back into this family battle.
Leivo, Chmelevski spark a rout of Vityaz
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 8 Vityaz Moscow Region 1 (3-0, 4-0, 1-1)
Vityaz continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Two weeks ago, a 1-9 loss at CSKA brought an end to Alexander Zavyalov’s brief tenure as head coach. Today, his replacement Dmitry Ryabykin suffered a similarly crushing reverse in Ufa. It was his third defeat in three games behind the bench and leaves the team four points adrift at the foot of the Western Conference.
For Salavat Yulaev, meanwhile, things are improving. The team’s indifferent start to the season had been causing concern in Ufa, but today’s big win makes it three in a row, and four out of five, for Viktor Kozlov’s players. There was further encouragement as recent signing Josh Leivo scored twice – his first goals in the KHL. Alexander Chmelevski also potted a double for the home team.
The game was quickly under Salavat’s control. Alexander Sharov opened the scoring in the third minute, then Leivo converted the first power play of the evening. Another PP saw Chmelevski on target late in the first period to chase starting goalie Maxim Dorozhko from the net.
On the hooter, Alexander Yaremchuk took a double minor for high sticks, and Vityaz soon suffered again as Chmelevski got his second of the game. The visitor finally managed to kill a penalty, but the home PP was back on target midway through the game as Leivo made it 5-0. By way of variety, Ufa then added a shorthanded tally from Ivan Drozdov and finished the middle frame with Vladislav Yefremov potting the seventh.
Job done, the only remaining question was ‘how many?’ Vityaz got a consolation goal through Ruslan Pedan early in the third, but Vyacheslav Leshchenko finished the job with a fifth power play tally of the night as Salavat Yulaev ran rampant.
Revenge win for SKA
SKA St. Petersburg 3 Dinamo Minsk 2 (1-1, 2-1, 0-0)
Despite trailing twice, SKA recovered to snap Dinamo’s four-game winning streak. Artyom Sergeyev’s tally midway through the second period was decisive, while recent signing Borna Rendulic found the net once again for his new club.
The first period saw Dinamo grab the early initiative. The visitor caught SKA cold, outshooting the home team 10-4 through 13 minutes. More importantly, Roman Gorbunov got one of those efforts past Nikita Serebryakov to open the scoring and punish Nikita Kamalov’s wayward pass across his own zone.
However, that effort was undone when Andrei Stas took his team’s first penalty of the game. Borna Rendulic made it two goals in two games since arriving from Sochi, converting the power play and putting the teams level at the intermission.
In the middle frame, the pattern of play was similar. Dinamo again had the better start to proceedings and again scored first. This time, Yanni Kaldis converted a considered feed from Sergei Kuznetsov after Kodie Curran’s point shot was pushed away by Serebryakov.
Once again, SKA’s response came on the power play. This time, though, it took barely 90 seconds before Sergei Tolchinsky punished a foul from Vadim Moroz. Then the home team got in front for the first time in the 33rd minute. Rendulic was involved again, as was ex-Minsk forward Vladimir Alistrov, as both assisted on Artyom Sergeyev’s marker.
In the third period, Dinamo remained the livelier attacking force. This time, though, SKA knew it could afford to soak up the pressure and protect its lead. And the home team did that successfully enough, keeping the Belarusians at bay to complete a 3-2 win. SKA avenged its recent 2-4 loss in Minsk and edges in front of the Bison by virtue of more wins in regulation.
