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Spartak’s hot streak halted at Sibir. October 26 round-up
League leader Spartak saw its club record winning streak end, while Sibir’s 4-3 success against the Muscovites improves its unbeaten run to four games. Thursday’s early action saw two games go to shoot-outs, with CSKA edging Amur and Vityaz winning a basement clash at Admiral. Avangard goalie Ilya Proskuryakov’s 33rd KHL shut-out helped secure a 1-0 win over Salavat Yulaev in Omsk.
CSKA survives fightback
Amur Khabarovsk 2 CSKA Moscow 3 SO (0-2, 1-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Young CSKA goalie Dmitry Gamzin backstopped the defending champion to a shoot-out win at Amur. The 20-year-old stopped every one of the Tigers’ post-game attempts to secure the victory after the home team recovered from 0-2 to force a tie in regulation.
Gamzin’s appearance for the second time this season was one of several changes that Sergei Fedorov made following an OT loss at Admiral last time out. Konstantin Okulov was a notable absentee and there were changes throughout the attacking lines. Amur, meanwhile, welcomed back Jan Drozg and moved Alexander Khokhlachyov to the top line.
Defeated in its last two games, Amur made an aggressive start to this one. However, after enduring a storm in the first 10 minutes, CSKA responded with two goals. Marcel Ibragimov’s point shot bounced off the post and dropped kindly for Mikhail Grigorenko to put the visitor ahead. Then Anton Slepyshev converted a power play in the 17th minute.
In the second period, Amur got an early power play and Dmitry Shevchenko found the net from close range after winning a battle with Nikita Nesterov on the slot. The goal arrived just as Nikolai Makarov left the box, and it brought Yakov Rylov an assist in his 700th KHL regular season game.
The next big moment came early in the third when Amur tied it up with a shorty. Drozg went to the box, from where he saw Evgeny Grachyov chase down a puck behind the CSKA net before dishing off a pass for Kirill Kapustin to make it 2-2. Kapustin is become something of a short-handed specialist: this was his fourth goal on the PK this season, repeating his feat against Spartak two days earlier.
Kapustin’s short-handed success might explain why the home team took further penalties in the closing stages. CSKA’s power play was somewhat underpowered and neither team could find a winner inside 60 minutes. The visitor refrained from its oft-seen trick of playing with an empty net in OT, and the game went on to a shoot-out. Here, Gamzin stopped all-comers while Grigorenko was the only player to take his chance and win the game for the Muscovites.
Vityaz gets verdict in basement battle
Admiral Vladivostok 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 4 SO (0-1, 1-0, 2-2, 0-0, 0-1)
This game saw the East’s basement team entertain its equivalent from the West. Both teams arrived on 14 points, although both also had recent cause for encouragement. Vityaz had two wins in its last three games as new head coach Dmitry Ryabykin got off the mark, while Admiral snapped a long losing streak with a battling OT win over CSKA last time out.
Vityaz was first to show, grabbing an early goal when Ruslan Pedan’s speculative shot took a deflection off a home player and beat Sergei Ivanov. Subsequently, the Sailors created chances to reply and generally had the better of the first period without getting back on level terms.
The tying goal arrived early in the third. Giovanni Fiore found his shooting lane blocked and picked out a pass for Anton Berlyov to finish. Fiore then had a solo rush that fell short but just as Admiral looked to be taking control, a penalty on Leonid Metalnikov handed the initiative back to Vityaz.
That momentum carried over to the third period. Filat Zotov’s first KHL goal put the visitor back in front early in the frame before Ivan Savchik’s power play goal made it 3-1. Admiral responded quickly: Fiore hit the post before Evgeny Lisovets made it 2-3 and the pressure on the Vityaz net intensified. In the 58th minute, just as Maxim Dorozhko was hoping he could see out the game, Pavel Shen’s backhander tied the game and sent us all the way to a shoot-out. But Admiral could not finish the job, despite scoring twice in the shoot-out, and Vitaly Popov ultimately secured the points for Vityaz.
Sibir snaps Spartak’s streak
Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Spartak Moscow 3 (1-2, 0-0, 3-1)
Spartak’s streak is over. After a club record nine successive wins, the Red-and-Whites cooled down in Novosibirsk. The home team managed to quiet the in-form Goldobin-Poryadin-Morozov troika (that those three managed just one assist as Ivan Morozov contributed to a last-minute consolation goal) and rallied with three goals in the final frame to stretch its own winning streak to four games.
As KHL leader, Spartak arrived full of confidence. After 66 seconds, Maxim Tsyplakov opened the scoring, intercepting the puck on the blue line and advancing to score with a backhand shot. However, Sibir did not roll over, despite losing Nikolai Prokhorkin for a check to the head in the eighth minute. Vladimir Butuzov had a decent chance to tie the game, before Alexei Yakovlev’s end-to-end effort did indeed make it 1-1 in the 16th minute. Nonetheless, the visitor took a lead to the first intermission thanks to Yegor Savikov’s effort late in the frame.
Spartak almost increased its lead at the start of the second period when Michal Cajkovsky hit the crossbar. Gradually, though, Sibir managed to gain a greater share of the play although there was no further scoring in the middle frame.
Things changed at the start of the third. Sibir got a rare power play chance and Yegor Alanov took advantage to tie the scores. Then, in the 48th minute, Fyodor Gordeyev produced a spectacular coast-to-coast effort, blazing past Rushan Rukavishnikov on his way to giving Spartak a 3-2 lead. Shane Prince missed a good chance to make it 3-3, and was punished when Nikita Shashkov gave Sibir a two-goal cushion. Desperate to preserve its unbeaten run, Spartak pressed until the final seconds, but could only manage a late Cajkovsky goal to reduce the arrears with 14 seconds to play.
Kholodilin strike gives Hawks the edge
Avangard Omsk 1 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
The Hawks began their latest home stand with a win, edging Salavat Yulaev thanks to a solitary goal from Nikita Kholodilin. Ilya Prokuryakov stopped 22 shots for his second shut-out of the season as the visitor struggled to generate much offense throughout the game.
While Avangard celebrates its second win in three games (and in between, took a point from an overtime loss in Kazan), Salavat Yulaev slipped to a second loss in three after its five-game hot streak came to an end. The teams are now level on 27 points and occupy fifth and sixth places in the Eastern Conference.
There wasn’t much between the teams in the first period. Avangard played a more enterprising game, befitting its status as the host. However, Ufa’s defense was rigorous and permitted few scoring opportunities on Alexander Samonov. A shot count of 9-7 in the Hawks’ favor rather encapsulated the opening stanza.
The second period also produced few scoring chances, and the two goalies dealt with everything that they faced. As frustrations grew, they bubbled over midway through the session and visiting forward Evgeny Timkin dropped the gloves for a fight with Roman Abrosimov. In keeping with the evening’s general theme, this too proved inconclusive.
As the third period progressed we finally had a breakthrough. Avangard got set up in the Salavat Yulaev zone and fed Semyon Chistyakov for a point shot. Nikita Kholodilin was waiting on the slot to apply the redirect and the deadlock was broken in the 53rd minute. That was a second career goal for the 21-year-old forward.
Almost immediately, Ufa was agonizingly close to tying the scores. Alexander Chmelevski’s shot beat Ilya Proskuryakov, but bounced to safety off the crossbar. In the closing stages, Ufa continued to press for a game-saving goal. However, a well-drilled home defense protected Proskuryakov and helped the goalie post his 33rd KHL career shut-out.
