Spartak on top, CSKA loses in Kazan. October 22 round-up

Spartak Moscow is the outright leader of the KHL tonight after a 4-3 win at Admiral extends a club record winning streak to eight games. The Red-and-Whites move ahead of Metallurg by virtue of more victories in regulation after Magnitka went down at home to Avangard. Another heavyweight clash saw Ak Bars beat CSKA 4-1, the second time this season the defending champion lost to last year’s runner-up. Barys edged Kunlun in a shoot-out, Sibir won at Avtomobilist and Dinamo Minsk rallied from 0-2 to beat Salavat Yulaev in overtime.

Record-breaking Spartak moves to the summit

Admiral Vladivostok 3 Spartak Moscow 4 (2-2, 1-0, 0-2)

Spartak extended its club record winning streak to eight games and climbs to the top of the overall standings thanks to victory in Vladivostok.

While the Red-and-Whites arrived in good form, Admiral was looking to end a five-game skid. The previous outing saw the Sailors blow a 3-0 lead to lose at Neftekhimik and drop to the foot of the Eastern Conference.

Spartak’s season has been characterized by attacking hockey, albeit with a tendency to defensive lapses. Today, the latter was more visible early on. Admiral punished some wayward play with two goals in a minute as Alexander Gorshkov and Alexander Shevchenko found the target. However, the Sailors continue to struggle to hold onto a lead. The free-scoring Nikolai Goldobin pulled one back and Yegor Filin’s first KHL goal tied the game before the first intermission.

In the middle frame, Admiral again got in front. Giovanni Fiore made it 3-2 towards the end of the session. However, Spartak had shown plenty of attacking presence during the period and that inspired the visitor to assert itself in the third. The Muscovites went out looking for a goal and found it after 46 minutes when Alexander Pashnin emerged from behind the net to stuff the puck inside the near post. Then came a key moment: a penalty on Daniil Gutik gave Spartak a power play and Goldobin took advantage to score his second of the game on 48:06. In front for the first time, Goldobin’s team went on to close out an eighth successive victory, extending the club’s best ever run in KHL play.

Sibir sets record straight at Avtomobilist

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 Sibir Novosibirsk 3 (1-0, 0-2, 0-1)

After two heavy losses at home to Avtomobilist, Sibir got some revenge with a 3-1 win in Yekaterinburg.

There was good news and bad news for Avtomobilist. Curtis Valk returned to action, but Stephane Da Costa was unavailable after picking up an injury in the previous game. For Sibir, seeking a third straight win, David Nemirovsky gave 19-year-old defensive prospect Alexander Lukin a KHL debut.

In the earlier meetings between these two, Avtomobilist made a cautious start before taking control of the game. Today, as home team, the Motormen hit the throttle from the start, putting pressure on Anton Krasotkin’s net from the first moments. The fast start brought results and Stepan Khripunov claimed his first goal of the season after an effort from a tight angle deflected into the net off Nikolai Prokhorkin.

The pressure continued: Sergei Shirokov hit the post, Krasotkin pulled off some big saves and Sibir looked to be struggling to stay in the game. Only gradually did the visitor begin to spend time in the home zone, but Avtomobilist looked good value for its lead after 20 minutes.

In the second period, Avto again started strongly – helped by a too many men penalty on Sibir. However, this time Sibir managed to find a response. Prokhorkin atoned made up for his earlier misfortune: sharp-eyed, he pounced on a positional error in the defense and set up Georgy Belousov to score on his former club.

Then Yegor Klimovich embarked on a busy few minutes. His foul halted Alexei Byvaltsev’s rush on Krasotkin, but after serving his penalty he returned to the game to combine with Taylor Beck and set up brother Ivan Klimovich to make it 2-1.

The home team began the third period with greater energy, looking to retrieve the game. However, Avtomobilist struggled to create much danger for Krasotkin. When Pavel Voronkov took a penalty, Sibir quickly cashed in: Vladimir Butuzov’s perceptive cross-ice feed was met by a robust effort from Prokhorkin to make it 3-1. After that, Sibir was able to sit back and await Avto’s response. The home team, meanwhile, struggled to muster much. It finished 3-1, condemning the Motormen to a third successive home loss while Sibir celebrated a third win from its tricky three-game road trip.

Magnitka loses grip on top spot

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Avangard Omsk 4 OT (0-0, 2-2, 1-1, 0-1)

The Hawks bounced back from a couple of losses on the road against moderate opposition by battling to an OT verdict against the Eastern Conference leader. For Metallurg, this was a second successive loss and Andrei Razin’s team yielded the overall lead to Spartak.

The first period brought no goals, and relatively few chances. Metallurg led the shot count 7-4, but Ilya Proskuryakov had little difficulty in repelling the home team. When he was beaten, the post denied Nikita Mikhailis and neither team could make much of its power plays.

It said something about the nature of the game that the breakthrough came from a defensive player. Valery Orekhov unleashed a shot from the blue line in the 26^th minute to put Metallurg in front. However, the home team could not build on that: instead, one penalty gave Avangard momentum and a second saw Valentin Pyanov tie the game. The closing minutes of the second period were frantic. Yegor Yakovlev and Sergei Boikov exchanged goals to make it 2-2 at the break. Boykov’s effort, his first for Avangard, came with a slice of good fortune after a deflection wrong-footed young home goalie Ilya Nabokov.

Avangard got another power play at the start of the third, but could not score until the teams were back at full strength. Magnitka failed to clear its lines and Igor Martynov took advantage to put the Hawks ahead for the first time. However, Orekhov tied the scores to take the game to overtime after neither team tried to force the issue in the closing moments.

In overtime, Mikhail Kravets joined the band of coaches who opted to pull the goalie in favor of an extra skater. His plan paid off: Avangard pegged Metallurg into its own zone before Reid Boucher picked out the far corner to win the game.

Defending champ falls to beaten finalist again

Ak Bars Kazan 4 CSKA Moscow 1 (1-1, 1-0, 2-0)

These teams met in last season’s Gagarin Cup final, and again in the Opening Cup this season. While CSKA reeled off the victories at the end of the final series to lift the trophy from an unpromising position, Sergei Fedorov’s team has been unable to repeat that success in the new season. Ak Bars won 5-2 on opening day and followed that up with another convincing display in today’s return fixture.

Ak Bars made a fast start to this heavyweight clash: inside four minutes, Vadim Shipachyov prevented CSKA from clearing the puck down the boards and fired it to the net. Dmitrij Jaskin was in tune with his partner’s plan and got into position to redirect past Ivan Fedotov.

After that, CSKA stepped up the pace and went on to dominate much of the play. There was a reward 16 seconds before the hooter when Mikhail Grigorenko picked up the puck on the blue line, beat two opponents and advanced to score on Timur Bilyalov.

Grigorenko’s goal was the highlight of CSKA’s day. Although the visitor continued to have more of the play in the second period, it could not get in front. Instead, its efforts were undermined by penalties. The Ak Bars power play passed up its first chance, then scored on the second PP of the frame. Alexander Radulov found the net against one of his former clubs, thumping home a one-timer off Slava Voynov’s feed to restore Ak Bars’ lead.

Voynov was involved again as the home team extended his lead. The defenseman’s pass picked out Kirill Semyonov, whose finish left Fedotov no time. An unhappy day for the visiting goalie ended when he presented Artyom Galimov with a last-minute goal. Fedotov headed out of his net to field the puck, but his intended clearance went straight to Galimov’s stick for 4-1.

Barys edges shoot-out win

Kunlun Red Star 2 Barys Astana 3 SO (0-1, 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)

These two strugglers snapped losing streaks in their previous games, and went the distance in today’s encounter. Red Star came from behind twice to force a shoot-out, but failed to succeed in penalty shots for the first time this season.

The first period saw Barys take the lead on a David Sklenicka goal in the eighth minute. The Czech defenseman got on the end of a breakaway before beating Jeremy Smith with a backhand finish.

The Dragons could find little in response in the opening frame, but tied the scores early in the second. Nolan Moyle got his third of the season, winning a loose puck in center ice and advancing to score from between the hashmarks.

However, Barys responded with a goal on the first power play of the night. However, on this occasion the goal went to the shorthanded team as Mikhail Rakhmanov added to his first-period assist while Adil Beketayev sat for tripping.

In recent games, Red Star has shown greater resilience and that was in evidence again today. In the 54^th minute, the home team tied the scores once again when Devin Brosseau put away the rebound from a Ryan Merkley shot. That took the game to overtime, where Smith had to make five saves to keep Barys at bay. However, in the shoot-out it was visiting goalie Eddie Pasquale who came out on top. He was unbeaten, while Kirill Savitsky and Maxim Musorov found the net to secure back-to-back wins for the visitor.

Curran double sees Dinamo fight back

Dinamo Minsk 3 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 OT (0-2, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0)

Two streaks came to an end here, with Dinamo snapping a three-game skid at the price of Ufa’s five-game winning run. However, that outcome seemed unlikely in the early stages as the visitor jumped to a 2-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes.

Minsk lost out to lowly Kunlun in its previous game, and the sense of frustration around the Belarusian capital was only increased as Salavat Yulaev took early control of today’s game. Ivan Drozdov, who began his career with Dinamo, scored on his first club in the sixth minute and Gleb Kuzmin doubled the lead within 90 seconds.

After that fast start, though, the men in green struggled to generate much more. Indeed, Salavat’s goals came off just five shots at Alexei Kolosov in the home net. Dinamo could not reduce the deficit before the break, but did enough to stabilize the game.

The road back began midway through the second. Kodie Curran got Dinamo on the scoreboard as the home team started to take some control of the game. In the 48^th minute, it was 2-2 thanks to Alexander Volkov and when the home team killed a penalty shortly after, it began to feel like the game was slipping away from the visitor.

Despite that, Salavat Yulaev managed to get to overtime and secure one point for its efforts. The second point stayed in Minsk, though. Two minutes into the extras, Curran’s second of the game settled the outcome.