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CSKA blanks Spartak, SKA struggles against Avangard. November 2 round-up
Defending champion CSKA has not always looked at its best this season. Today’s 3-0 win over free-scoring, high-flying Spartak served as a reminder of the class available to Sergei Fedorov’s team. SKA is another Western powerhouse that isn’t performing, and a 3-5 loss at home to Avangard keeps the Petersburg team outside the playoff places. In the East, Lada suffered a 1-4 loss at home to Severstal, Barys snapped its skid with a shoot-out verdict at Avtomobilist and Salavat Yulaev won the Green Derby at home to Ak Bars. Elsewhere, there were victories for Torpedo and Dinamo Minsk on the road in OT, while Amur got the better of Sochi.
Shoot-out success gives Barys much-needed win
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 Barys Astana 3 SO (1-1, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Barys snapped a four-game losing streak with a shoot-out win in Yekaterinburg. Avtomobilist was unable to build on Tuesday’s shut-out against Kunlun and remains in a frustrating run of form.
Last time these teams met here, Barys soon found itself down 0-2 on the way to a 5-2 loss. Today, barely a week later, the visitor had learned. This was an improved performance from the start and midway through the first period Mikhail Rakhmanov opened the scoring with his second of the season.
That lead was short-lived: within a couple of shifts, Avtomobilist found a way back into the game and Andrei Obidin scored for the second time in three days to tie it up.
At the start of the second period, the home team appeared to be assuming control. However, Eddie Pasquale dealt well with the danger in the Barys net. He enjoyed good support from his defense, which routinely denied Avtomobilist the chance to get to any rebounds and worked hard to clean up in front of their goaltender. At the other end, Barys relied on counterattacks and got a reward in the 36th minute when Maxim Musorov took advantage of a miscommunication between the home players, jumped on a loose puck and forced home a second goal.
Once again, the lead was short lived. Early in the third, Stepan Khripunov set up Anatoly Golyshev to make it 2-2. Subsequently, Avtomobilist continued to press on Pasquale’s net and Barys found it harder to generate much in reply. Nonetheless, there was no further scoring. Overtime also produced few big chances, although late in the extras Pontus Aberg’s moment of skill saw him hit the post before Alexei Makeyev won possession but could not win his duel with Pasquale. That virtual penalty shot was a harbinger of the upcoming shoot-out, with Pasquale keeping his goal intact before Rakhmanov put the game out of Avto’s reach.
Green derby delight for Ufa
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Ak Bars Kazan 1 (0-0, 1-0, 2-1)
The season’s third Green Derby again finished with a home victory. Today’s game in Ufa saw Salavat Yulaev move ahead in the series thanks primarily to two goals from Ivan Drozdov.
Salavat Yulaev was able to name a more or less full-strength line-up against Ak Bars for the first time this season. After a long wait, Viktor Kozlov is able to call on two Canadian imports, Nicolas Meloche and Josh Leivo. Alongside Alexander Chmelevski, that makes a full quota of imports in Bashkortostan.
Ak Bars, meanwhile, brought Vadim Shipachyov and Alexander Radulov back to the team after they missed the win over SKA. However, Dmitry Kagarlitsky was unavailable for family reasons.
Shipachyov almost marked his return to action with the opening goal, but after bearing down on Alexander Samonov’s net his shot hit the post. Then Kirill Semyonov went close to a short-handed goal. That lapse aside, Salavat Yulaev generally looked good on the power play, but could not convert its chances.
That all changed in the 34th minute. Salavat Yulaev managed an extended spell of attacking pressure on the visitor’s net and Meloche set up Drozdov for a well-worked opening goal. It was a deserved reward after Pustozyorov and Vyacheslav Leshchenko went close in the previous couple of minutes.
Ak Bars was close to tying the scores at the start of the third when Dmitrij Jaskin got clear on the slot and fired in a shot that beat Samonov but went wide of the target. Almost immediately, Ufa responded with two goals in 20 seconds. Drozdov potted his second of the game, then Mikhail Naumenkov made it 3-0.
After building a strong lead, the host did a good job of closing out the game. With 24 seconds left, Jaskin grabbed a consolation goal to rob Samonov of his third shut-out of the season, but the damage was done long before that.
Motormen stumble after hitting the heights
Lada Togliatti 1 Severstal Cherepovets 4 (0-1, 1-3, 0-0)
After reaching the top of the Eastern Conference at the end of October, Lada was hoping for more of the same in November. However, Severstal arrived after a win in Minsk and was looking for a third successive victory to move into the top eight in the West.
And the visitor made an effective start to the game, taking the action to Lada and opening the scoring in the sixth minute. Danil Aimurzin was the scorer, extending his productive streak to six points in four games. The teams produced plenty of entertaining, fast-paced hockey, and even threw in a fight at the end of the opening frame when Lada’s Mikhail Fisenko squared up to Mark Barberio.
Lada seemed to be back on track at the start of the second period. Vladislav Syomin fired home a slapshot to tie the game. After that, though, things went awry for the home team and Severstal responded with a game-breaking run of three goals in six minutes. Alexander Skorenov got two of them, and Ruslan Abrosimov added another. The Steelmen simply had too much for the home team, reacting first to every loose puck and leaving Lada unable to get into its game. Not even a time-out from Oleg Bratash could improve things.
In the third period Severstal expected to face some defending. However, Lada struggled to create much danger and managed just two shots on goal in the session. With the visitor content to play on the counter, there was no change in the scoreline as Andrei Kozyrev’s team left with the points.
Wolves creep into playoff zone
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 1 (1-0, 1-0, 1-1)
Thursday’s victory moves Neftekhimik into the playoff places at the expense of Sibir. Both teams have enjoyed improved form of late, but it was the Wolves that found the cutting edge today.
Neftekhimik won this with a goal in each period. Artyom Serikov broke the deadlock, with the 22-year-old defenseman getting his second of the season in the 14th minute. Despite falling behind, Sibir had it fair share of the play in an opening stanza that was short on scoring chances.
In the middle frame, Neftekhimik struggled to get shots on Anton Krasotkin’s goal for a long time. However, it did not give many chances to Sibir and when the visitor ran into penalty trouble, Alexander Dergachyov took advantage on the power play.
An early goal for the visitor kept the game alive in the third period. Georgy Belousov made it a one-goal game in the 44th minute, and the outcome hung in the balance until the last seconds. However, with Krasotkin on the sidelines, Bulat Shafigullin found the empty net to wrap up the home win.
Anas’ penalty shot grabs OT win for Minsk
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1 Dinamo Minsk 2 OT (0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 0-1)
Dmitry Kvartalnov led Dinamo to a second overtime win of the season against his former club, Lokomotiv. This was a hard-fought battle, with nothing to separate the teams from long periods.
However, it was all decided 56 seconds into the extras. The action was end-to-end, and when Vadim Moroz skated away from Martin Gernat, the Slovak’s foul gave Dinamo a penalty shot. Sam Anas took the responsibility and finished the job, beating Daniil Isayev to win the game.
Isayev and his opposite number Dylan Ferguson performed well throughout the night. The latter stopped 33 shots to claim the W, and the pair kept the scoreboard blank until the 45th minute. Then, Yanni Kaldis gave Dinamo the lead after he forced a turnover when Lokomotiv tried to clear its zone.
Lokomotiv tied it up in the 52nd minute thanks to Geory Ivanov, but that goal owed everything to Yaroslav Likhachyov’s defense-splitting pass through the heart of the Minsk rearguard. A tie was a fair result after 60 minutes, but Dinamo was not about to let this one go in the extras.
Tigers too strong for Leopards
HC Sochi 1 Amur Khabarovsk 3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1)
Matvei Michkov moved to eight goals in 18 games for Sochi this season, but could not prevent the Leopards from suffering another loss. Amur edged the verdict beside the Black Sea, making it two wins from three and closing to within a point of the playoff places.
Alexei Volgin opened the scoring for the visitor after six minutes. That was the defenseman’s first of the season, and his first since joining Amur from Vityaz over the summer. Midway through the second period, Kirill Panyukov doubled the Tigers’ advantage.
Although it trailed, Sochi was not out of contention. The teams had a fairly even share of the attacking play, and the host outshot Amur 25-20 through 40 minutes. So when Michkov found the net in the 46th minute, it was a real lifeline for his team. After two well-matched stanzas, the final frame saw the Leopards seize the initiative. However, Igor Bobkov did well in the Amur net, making 15 saves in the period and 40 in the game. At the other end, chances were infrequent. However, Yegor Korshkov’s empty net goal sealed the win for the visitor.
Defending champ defeats this season’s pretender
Spartak Moscow 0 CSKA Moscow 3 (0-0, 0-2, 0-1)
This Moscow derby was something of a battle between old and new. CSKA arrived as defending KHL champion, with back-to-back Gagarin Cups in the trophy cabinet. Spartak, though, is the talk of the current season: the league’s top scorer was looking to return to the top of the standings ahead of Dynamo.
In the first period, Spartak lived up to its reputation. The Red-and-Whites had the better of the game, and CSKA struggled to generate any chances until it got on the power play. With the extra man, Sergei Plotnikov almost punished the home team, but instead it was Spartak that found the net first. Nikolai Goldobin thought he had his 21st goal of a productive season, but CSKA successfully challenged for offside and the teams went to the intermission goalless.
It wasn’t long before the defending champion make the most of its reprieve. In the 23rd minute, Yaroslav Dyblenko’s backhand feed sent the puck to the slot. Takhir Mingachyov battled hard to keep the play alive and set up Yegor Fateyev for the opening goal. Soon after, a power play for CSKA almost brought a short-handed goal for Maxim Tsyplakov. However, Ivan Fedotov made the save and Maxim Sorkin went to the other end to convert that man advantage.
After that, Spartak’s free-scoring forwards were hard to find. The home team struggled to generate much offense in the rest of the middle frame and, to make matters worse, had to kill a penalty at the start of the third.
The Red-and-Whites managed to do that, but could not find a way back into the game. There were chances for the home team, and Fedotov finished the night with 44 saves for one of his toughest shut-outs. However, the only additional goal came into an empty net at the other end as Konstantin Okulov completed a derby win.
Torpedo leaves it late
Kunlun Red Star 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 OT (2-0, 0-1, 0-1, 0-1)
Torpedo left it late to snatch a tying goal in Mytishchi, before finishing the job in the extras. It meant the visitor bounced back immediately from its defeat to Avangard, while KRS suffered a third straight reverse.
The first period belonged to the Dragons. Luke Lockhart opened the scoring midway through the session and Colin Campbell doubled that advantage late in the frame. A team that often finds itself down by a couple of goals before it can get into a game now had a different challenge – protecting a lead.
Torpedo, meanwhile, always poses an attacking threat. The visitor got the first power play of the game early in the second and rode that momentum after the teams returned to equal strength. Denis Yan made it 1-2 in the 26th minute and that’s how it stayed until the break.
In the third, the visitor stepped up the pressure in an increasingly desperate search for a tying goal. When it happened, there were just under three minutes left. Bobby Lynch’s well-placed feed to the back door was steered into the net by Kirill Voronin to save the game. Then, in OT, Maxim Letunov found the net inside a minute to make it three wins from three for Torpedo over Kunlun this season.
Captain’s hat-trick lifts Avangard over SKA
SKA St. Petersburg 2 Avangard Omsk 5 (1-2, 0-2, 2-1)
SKA’s unconvincing form continues. Today’s loss at home to Avangard makes it three defeats in a row for Roman Rotenberg’s team, which remains outside of the playoff places. For Avangard, today’s win makes it three from four and lifts the team ahead of Traktor and Avtomobilist in the Eastern standings.
Damir Sharipzyanov was the difference maker on the night. Avangard’s captain led by example, scoring a hat-trick. Not bad for a defenseman!
SKA made a good enough start. Pavel Dedunov was close to the opening goal when he redirected a shot from the wing, but Andrei Mishurov was alert in the visitor’s net. However, he could do nothing in the eighth minute when Stepan Starkov scored. He surged down the flank, fired in a shot then collected the rebound off team-mate Vasily Glotov to open the scoring.
The goal stung Avangard into life. Damir Sharipzyanov, who got the winner against Torpedo last time out, swiftly tied the scores. Moments later, Denis Vengryzhanovsky went close to making it 2-1, before late in the frame Reid Boucher put the Hawks ahead for the first time.
In the second period, Sharipzyanov completed his treble. Shortly after the intermission, he took a pass from Ryan Spooner and wired in a wrister from the point. Then he made it 4-1 in the 27th minute when he advanced from the blue line and used Maxim Fedotov as a screen for another goal-bound shot. In between those efforts, Avangard’s new signing Mark Verba underlined his pugnacious reputation with a fight against SKA’s Ivan Zinchenko.
Down 1-4, SKA sent Pavel Moisevich into the game to replace starting goalie Nikita Serebryakov. That had something of a calming effect: Avangard stopped scoring. However, it did little to open a way back into the game for the home team. Moisevich returned to the bench with seven minutes as Rotenberg gambled early on a sixth skater. Almost immediately, the home pressure brought a goal for Andrei Chivilyov, his first since joining the club from Neftekhimik.
Soon after that, a penalty for visiting D-man Bogdan Kiselevich gave SKA a power play chance. The home team played six-on-four, but lost possession and gave up a short-handed empty net goal for Ivan Nikolishin. That effectively ended the game, and was literally the end for home forward Zakhar Bardakov, who was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct after expressing his disappointment a little too forcefully.
That wasn’t quite the final word, however. A late penalty on Boucher brought a last-minute goal for Arseny Gritsyuk. However, the former Avangard man could derive little satisfaction against his former club as the Hawks took the verdict here.
