Underdogs bare their teeth. November 30 round-up
It was a day of high-flyers against basement dwellers – and the top dogs did not get it all their own way. Barys ended Metallurg’s 11-game winning streak with a 5-2 win in Kazakhstan, then Kunlun Red Star won 5-3 at home to Western Conference leader Spartak. Elsewhere, Ak Bars held on to beat Avtomobilist 3-2, Admiral edged Sibir in overtime, and Salavat Yulaev added to Lada’s run of losses.
Gorshkov stars as Sailors take the points
Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Admiral Vladivostok 3 OT (0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 0-1)
The home team welcomed back leading scorer Taylor Beck, who missed the last two games due to illness. He found himself on a line with the new Sibir sensation, 18-year-old Vladimir Mikhalyov, who has 3 (2+1) points from his first four KHL appearances.
However, it was Beck’s fellow Canadian Andy Andreoff who benefitted from his colleague’s return. The imports combined midway through the second period for Andreoff to open the scoring on the power play. That was the second PP chance of the game for Sibir, and a third soon followed. This time, though, Admiral held on – and soon tied the game after Maxim Chudinov got out of the box.
Sibir ran into problems of its own: an injury to starting goalie Anton Krasotkin brought Anton Khudobin off the bench, then Sergei Dubakin took a penalty. In the 36th minute, Alexander Gorshkov tied the game.
It turned into a good evening for Gorshkov. He picked up an assist at the start of the second as defenseman Evgeny Lisovets got to the slot to put the Sailors up 2-1. Sibir recovered thanks to a goal midway through the session from Artyom Mikheyev, but Gorshkov and his colleagues would not be denied. The visiting forward potted his second of the game in overtime to give Admiral a second successive win.
Struggling Barys stuns the Steelmen
Barys Astana 5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (1-0, 2-1, 2-1)
The shock of the day came in Kazakhstan, where Metallurg’s 11-game winning streak was unceremoniously halted by struggling Barys. The Kazakhs had just one success in their previous five games, and lost the services of forward Riley Barber recently when he moved to Ak Bars. Today, Kristian Khenkel made his debut for Barys after he was traded in the other direction.
He might have anticipated a baptism of fire, and Metallurg certainly started the game the stronger. However, the visitor could not open the scoring and when Danil Gololobov took a double minor midway through the first, Barys took advantage. The home team moved play down the ice, and Arkady Shestakov produced a smart one-timer to finish off a well-worked play.
Late in the first, Nikita Mikhailis went to the box on his return to his first club. Early in the second, Barys made it two from two on the power play when Danill Apalkov scored on his hometown team. After rallying from 0-3 to beat Neftekhimik last time, Magnitka was not too concerned at falling behind. Midway through the game, Dmitry Silantyev pulled a goal back on the wraparound and the visitor began thinking of another comeback win.
Today, though, the script was different. Barys restored its two-goal lead before the second intermission when Khenkel set up Emil Nurgaliyev for a shot that bounced off Yegor Yakovlev and wrongfooted goalie Ilya Nabokov.
There was no stopping the home team after that, as a disappointing run of four losses in five games was suddenly forgotten. Alikhan Omirbekov raced away from Luke Johnson to make it 4-1. Then when Metallurg got on the PP, Andrei Razin withdrew his goalie only to be hit with an empty-net goal from Adil Beketayev in the 50th minute. That effectively ended the contest, although there was time for Mikhailis to grab a consolation goal in the closing stages. Nonetheless, he finished on the losing side for the first time since Oct. 29.
Ufa adds to Lada’s woes
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 Lada Togliatti 2 (2-0, 2-1, 1-1)
Lada has hit a bump in the road after its strong start to the season. The Motormen, once out in front in the East, are now on a run of just one win in seven after a heavy loss in Ufa today.
The visitor responded to its shut-out loss in Kazan by reshuffling its lines. Oleg Bratash’s options are limited by an extensive injury list at present, but he brought back forward Alexei Ozhgikhin and defenseman Evgeny Kalabushkin while scratching import Mislav Rosandic.
Salavat Yulaev welcomed back Nicolas Meloche on defense, while Viktor Kozlov promoted Ivan Drozdov to the first line. Team captain Grigory Panin celebrated his 800th KHL appearance.
It didn’t take long for Drozdov to open the scoring, and that set the tone for the home team’s dominance of the first period. Danil Bashkirov added a second, while Lada’s forwards continued to struggle in front of goal.
Early in the second, the arena staff were called into action to replace the glass after a Meloche hit shattered a panel. That didn’t much disturb Salavat Yulaev, and Mikhail Naumenkov made it 3-0 almost as soon as the game restarted. That saw Alexander Trushkov take over Vladislav Podyapolsky’s role in net, but he was beaten by Drozdov’s second goal of the night.
Finally, Lada summoned up a response: Vladislav Chervonenko scored a good goal on Alexander Samonov just 11 seconds later. At the start of the third, Maxim Berezin potted a second for the visitor. For a moment, hopes of a recovery flickered into life. However, when home defenseman Alexei Vasilevsky made it 5-2 the game was all but done. Salavat Yulaev moves to within a point of Lada after reeling off a third straight win.
Motormen fall narrowly short
Ak Bars Kazan 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (2-0, 0-1, 1-1)
Ak Bars recorded a third successive victory, edging Avtomobilist by the odd goal in five. But the visitor had its chances, and came close to saving the game in a frantic finale in Kazan.
Avtomobilist had the better start, dominating the first 10 minutes or so. Ak Bars did not seem to have gained much confidence after its back-to-back wins and found itself working hard on defense to keep the scoreboard blank. Then came a counterattack, and Vadim Shipachyov gave the home team the lead against the run of play. Dmitry Kagarlitsky fired the puck into the danger zone, and Shipachyov did the rest from close range.
That gave the home team a boost, and the latter stages of the first period were more comfortable for Ak Bars. Just before the intermission, it was 2-0. Kirill Petrov won the puck on the boards, and Stanislav Galiyev redirected it past Evgeny Alikin at the far post.
After the intermission, Avtomobilist redoubled its effort. The visitor got some reward in the 26th minute when Stephane Da Costa’s no-look feed set up Alexei Makeyev for a shot from the circle that Timur Bilyalov could not stop.
The first power play of the game arrived in the 36th minute when Curtis Valk was cited for hooking. Ak Bars took advantage of a rare opportunity to exert some pressure on the visitor, but could not breach a well drilled Avto defense. And there was a great chance for Avtomobilist to tie the game just before the second intermission when Makeyev went through on goal, only for Bilyalov to make a huge pad save.
Late in the second period, Dmitrij Jaskin left the ice after suffering an injury when taking a face-off. His continued absence in the third did not prevent Ak Bars from matching Avtomobilist chance for chance. And the home team extended its lead in the 47th minute thanks to Kirill Semyonov. He robbed Sergei Zborovsky of the puck and advanced on Alikin’s net before deking the goalie to the floor and firing over him to make it 3-1.
That might have been the final word. However, Nikita Lyamkin took a penalty late in the game and Sergei Shirokov got Avtomobilist back to 2-3 with a power play tally on 56:15. The prompted the visitor to push forward in search of a game-saving third goal, but Ak Bars held on to take the win.
Dragons burn high-flying Spartak
Kunlun Red Star 5 Spartak Moscow 3 (2-0, 1-0, 2-3)
The second bottom vs top game of the day produced another upset win. Western Conference leader Spartak got back to winning form on Tuesday, but crashed again on the road at Kunlun.
The home team handed a debut to Tyler Graovac, traded to Admiral with Cliff Pu going the other way. There was also a return to action for Austin Wong, fit again after a long layoff.
KRS made a flying start to the game. An early Spartak penalty invited Ryan Merkley to open the scoring in the second minute. Then, midway through the first, Devin Brosseau raced clear from center ice and deftly beat Andrei Kareyev in the visitor’s net.
The Red-and-Whites improved a little late in the first period but could not sustain that in the second. Instead, the Dragons kept firing shots at Kareyev’s net and worked hard to ensure that the visitor’s possession generated little of note in front of Jeremy Smith. There was more joy for the home team in the 37th minute when Tyler Wong stole the puck on the blue line and advanced to set up Luke Lockhart between the hash marks.
Lockhart added a fourth in the final frame, beating back-up goalie Dmitry Nikolayev on a power play after Nikolai Goldobin sat for hooking. Goldobin, the KHL’s leading scorer, had an unusually quiet evening.
Spartak got on the scoresheet eventually. In the 48th minute, Pavel Poryadin made it 1-4. Then Daniel Usmanov added a second for the visitor, which still had nine minutes left to try to save the game. Salvation was very much on the cards when Maxim Tsyplakov struck on the power play, but in the final moments Spencer Foo found an empty net goal to seal the deal for Red Star.
