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CSKA bounces back, teen forward scores on debut. November 22 round-up
Three goals in three minutes were enough to see CSKA past Severstal in Wednesday’s KHL action. Earlier, Sibir’s 18-year-old forward Vladimir Mikhalyov celebrated a goal on his KHL debut, helping his team to a 5-2 win over Sochi. And Dinamo Minsk ended a four-game skid with a 4-1 win on the road at Avtomobilist.
Debut goal for Mikhalyov
Sibir Novosibirsk 5 HC Sochi 2 (2-0, 1-2, 2-0)
The big news around Sibir at the start of the week involved the signing of veteran goalie and 2014 World Champion Anton Khudobin, who joined the club from Sokol Krasnoyarsk of the VHL. However, the new face on Wednesday’s roster was an 18-year-old forward, Vladimir Mikhalyov. The teenager made his KHL debut today after leading the club’s juniors in scoring this season.
The youngster almost grabbed a goal on his first shift, but narrowly failed to get on to a defense-splitting pass early in the game. For a long time, that was the only incident of note, but late in the opening frame Sibir got ahead thanks to a pair of quick goals from Ivan Klimovich and Artyom Mikheyev. For Mikheyev, it was the end of a 10-game goal drought, while Klimovich’s effort again highlighted the prospects emerging through Sibir’s system.
Sochi, meanwhile, struggled to make an impression in the first period. The visitor managed just four shots at Anton Krasotkin’s net. Fyodor Kroshchinsky was the most prominent player for the visitor thanks to his fight with Andy Andreoff in the 18th minute.
However, the Leopards showed some fight in the second period. Midway through the session, Kirill Rasskazov pulled one back. Then, in the 33rd minute, Semyon Ibragimov tied the game. Artur Tyanulin then spurned a great chance to give Sochi the lead and, instead of going to the intermission up 3-2 the visitor found itself down 2-3. Sergei Dubakin’s power play goal restored Sibir’s lead, but only after a video review to confirm that the puck made it over the line.
Early in the third, Mikhalyov claimed his first KHL goal to mark a memorable debut. He got on the end of a swift counterattack and converted Vladimir Butuzov’s feed. That handed further punishment to Sochi, which was close to tying the game through Matvei Michkov seconds earlier. It also removed most remaining doubts about the outcome, and Alexei Yakovlev’s empty netter sealed the deal in some style. Sibir returns to the top eight in the East, Sochi is now five points adrift of the playoff spots in the West.
Minsk snaps losing streak
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 Dinamo Minsk 4 (0-2, 1-1, 0-1)
Dinamo snapped a four-game skid with an impressive win at Avtomobilist. The result lifts the Belarusians to seventh in the West, six points clear of Sochi and Vityaz immediately outside the playoff places. The Bison also saw a welcome return to form for their forwards, having managed just four goals in those four recent losses.
From the earliest moments, Dinamo worked hard to harry Avtomobilist into errors. The home team struggled to transition through center ice as a result of the visitor’s press, although Dinamo’s forwards were rarely able to test Evgeny Alikin at the other end. Towards the end of the session, though, the Belarusians made the breakthrough. Teenage forward Yegor Borikov opened the scoring when he redirected the puck following a face-off win. Then the Motormen against lost out on the draw at the other end and Kodie Curran’s stretch pass launched a counter that ended with Nick Merkley doubling the lead.
Rocked by those late goals, Avtomobilist raised its game at the start of the second period. Anatoly Golyshev had the puck in the net, but a bench challenge wiped that one out due to a foul on goalie Dylan Ferguson. The home team had a power play chance midway through the session, but it ended badly. Jesse Blacker fired a shot straight at Sergei Kuznetsov, who had the peace of mind to spot Roman Gorbunov emerging onto the ice and released his team-mate to calmly beat Alikin and make it 3-0.
Avtomobilist pulled one back in unusual circumstances. Brooks Macek thought he had scored when the puck bounced off his skate and into the net, but the whistle never came. Alexei Byvaltsev was first to react, with the Dinamo defense paused in anticipation of a decision from the officials. After a video review, the goal was given to Byvaltsev off a Macek assist and the Motormen were on the board at last.
In the closing minutes of the middle frame, Avto twice failed on the power play and that enabled Dinamo to get to the intermission and recover. Although the home team started the third well, it could not keep up the pressure and Daniil Sotishvili’s 48th-minute goal effectively ended the contest.
CSKA’s triple salvo makes the difference
Severstal Cherepovets 2 CSKA Moscow 3 (0-3, 1-1, 1-0)
Defeated by SKA last time out, CSKA bounced back to win at Severstal. A strong first-period performance laid the foundations, but the Steelmen rallied in the closing stages to make it an anxious finish.
Severstal made a promising start and earned the first power play of the game early on. However, once CSKA was back to full strength the visitor began to dominate. Three goals in three minutes midway through the first period proved decisive.
Andrei Svetlakov’s individual effort broke the deadlock in the 12th minute, then Darren Dietz doubled the lead when he fired home on a broken play. That prompted Severstal to swap goalies, but incoming netminder Konstantin Shostak lasted just 62 seconds before he was beaten by Fredrik Claesson as the defending champion took complete control.
At that time, CSKA had three goals from four shots. Severstal tried to respond with a counterattacking game. However, for much of the remainder of the first period, the Steelmen were unable to pose a significant threat to Alexander Sharychenkov in the Muscovites’ net.
It wasn’t until the 33rd minute that Severstal got off the mark. Danil Aimurzin saw his first shot charged down, but reacted quickly to regain possession and set up Timofei Davydov to make it 1-3. Soon after that, Shostak came up big to deny CSKA a fourth when the visitor got on a dangerous two-on-one breakaway.
For much of the third period, Severstal tried to find a way back into the game while CSKA held home offense at arm’s length. However, when Mikhail Grigorenko took a penalty in the 54th minute, the Steelmen took advantage to get back into contention. It took some time for Severstal to establish itself in the CSKA zone, but when Timur Mukhanov’s subtle feed got to Aimurzin on the slot, he steered the puck home with a backhand shot.
That meant the final moments were tense. CSKA repeatedly iced the puck as Severstal applied the pressure, but the home team could not find the play that would tie the game before the hooter.
