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Zavarukhin celebrates new job in style. November 7 round-up
The KHL’s newest head coach, Alexei Zavarukhin, was confirmed in post last week. Today was his first game without the “interim” tag, and he led his team to a resounding 4-0 win over CSKA to stretch Traktor’s hot streak to six games. Elsewhere, Ak Bars moved to the top of the Eastern Conference with a 3-0 win at Barys, while Salavat Yulaev downed Sochi 3-1.
Ak Bars goes top in the East
Barys Astana 0 Ak Bars Kazan 3 (0-0, 0-2, 0-1)
These teams renewed acquaintance after Ak Bars defeated Barys 5-3 in Kazan on Saturday. On that occasion, Galym Mambetaliyev’s team blew a 3-0 lead. Today, Ak Bars took the verdict by a 3-0 scoreline.
Barys began the game looking to shake off the disappointment of its weekend loss. The home side pushed from the start and found itself up 9-0 on the shot count at one point. The Kazakhs were keen to shoot on sight, generating plenty of traffic in front of Timur Bilyalov’s net but failing to force a breakthrough despite some good work from Joey LaBate and Mikhail Rakhmanov. Bilyalov’s fine performance was the main reason the teams returned to the locker room without producing a goal in the opening stanza.
At the start of the second period, the visiting netminder almost undid all that good work when he lost side of Batyrlan Muratov’s shot. But gradually, Ak Bars began to pose more of an attacking threat and in the 33rd minute that led to Ilya Safonov breaking the deadlock. He won the puck in a battle on the slot and forced it past Eddie Pasquale on the backhand. Safonov then assisted on the second goal, dishing off the puck for Slava Voynov on the blue line. The defenseman’s shot was diverted into the net by Dmitry Kagarlitsky.
In the final frame, Barys tried to get back to what it was doing in the first. However, with a two-goal lead Ak Bars was well-placed to withstand the pressure and protect its advantage. The home team had its best chances on the power play, but still could not find the net. At the other end, counterattacking play caused problems. Dmitrij Jaskin’s breakaway brought him a penalty shot, but Pasquale made the save to keep the game alive. However, Ak Bars made the game safe after the goalie went to the bench, with Evgeny Svechnikov scoring into an empty net.
The win moves Ak Bars in front of Lada at the top of the Eastern Conference.
Salavat bounces back, Sochi slips to fifth loss
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 HC Sochi 1 (1-0, 1-0, 1-1)
Salavat Yulaev faced back-to-back games – and after seeing a big fightback fall short against Neftekhimik, Viktor Kozlov restored several players to the team after resting them on Monday. Grigory Panin, Nikolai Kulemin and Artyom Pimenov all returned, while Alexander Samonov got the start in goal after finishing the previous game.
The home team started well, looking to start this game the way it finished 24 hours earlier. On the second power play of the night, Josh Leivo was close to opening the scoring and on the very next play Alexander Sharov redirected a Nicolas Meloche shot past Mikhail Berdin to open the scoring. That left Berdin trailing against the club where he began his career, but his team-mates almost found a tying goal before the intermission. However, Artyom Nikolayev lacked the guile to complete the play successfully.
Next came the Yegor Suchkov show. Ufa’s 22-year-old forward has earned himself a bigger role on this season’s team and today he produced two goals to take the game away from Sochi. He increased the lead in the 28th minute, taking his time and waiting for Berdin to commit himself before firing home the second goal. Then, at the start of the third, Suchkov made it 3-1 after stripping an opponent of the puck.
Sochi did not give up and Danila Galenyuk pulled one goal back for the visitor. However, that was as good as it got, and the Leopards fell to a fifth successive loss.
Fucale blanks CSKA, Traktor celebrates six straight wins
CSKA Moscow 0 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 (0-2, 0-1, 0-1)
In his first game as Traktor’s permanent head coach, Alexei Zavarukhin celebrated with a memorable victory over the defending champion. Tuesday’s 4-0 success makes it six-in-a-row for Chelyabinsk’s new leader, a run of form that persuaded the club’s management to drop the “interim” tag before his job title.
His new-found job security clearly suits his players. They responded today with an impressive performance. Although CSKA had more than 20 minutes of attacking possession and made 81 attempts on Zac Fucale’s net, rock solid defense brought 25 blocked shots and just 28 efforts for the goalie to deal with. He stopped all of them, backstopping a big win.
At the other end, Traktor enjoyed an early stroke of fortune. Marsel Ibragimov couldn’t deal with a bouncing puck after a routine Traktor clearance, and Vitaly Kravtsov stole in to open the scoring in the fourth minute. It wasn’t long before the visitor’s first power play of the game brought a second goal when Vladimir Tkachyov put away the rebound after Ivan Fedotov struggled to deal with an Anton Burdasov shot.
At the start of the second period, another counterattack further undid CSKA. Maxim Marushev stormed down the wing to set up Nikita Soshnikov for an emphatic one-timer to make it 3-0. After that, the home team enjoyed more of the play but struggled to break down that hard-working Traktor defense.
Early in the third, the CSKA video coach saved his team from a fourth goal. Danil Yurtaikin thought he had scored on his former club, but a bench challenge established that Marushev had strayed offside in the build-up. However, Yurtaikin got his big moment in the last minute, potting an empty net goal to wrap up a great win.
