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Kovalchuk scores again, Avangard moves joint top in the East. December 26 round-up
Ilya Kovalchuk made it two goals in two games since returning to Spartak, but today he finished on the losing team after a shoot-out reverse at Torpedo. In the East, Avangard edged an OT win at Sibir and moves level on points with Metallurg. The Conference leader suffered a shock 1-5 drubbing at Lada. Lokomotiv got the better of Kunlun Red Star, Andrei Obidin hit a hat-trick as Avtomobilist beat Dinamo Minsk and there were good road wins for Traktor and Admiral.
Avangard claims derby win
Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Avangard Omsk 3 OT (1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)
Avangard had to do without leading scorer Vladimir Tkachyov for this Siberian derby, while the home team was missing its captain Nikolai Prokhorkin. The latter is widely expected to seal a deadline day move from Sibir to Avangard and did not play in this game. Nonetheless, both teams had men facing their former club. Tkachyov’s replacement on Avangard’s first line was ex-Sibir man Valentin Pyanov, while the home defense included Ziyat Paigin, quickly reacquainted with old colleagues after his recent move from Omsk.
Despite the absence of Tkachyov, Reid Boucher and Ryan Spooner created several good early chances. However, Sergei Dubakin got the first goal of the game to put Sibir ahead on the power play after seven minutes. It wasn’t long before Boucher and Spooner combined for the latter to tie the scores on a play that survived a bench challenge for offside. Sibir then faced a penalty kill, but sustained no further damage before the intermission.
The second period was a more cautious affair until the closing moments. Then, two goals in 11 seconds woke it up again. Sibir regained the lead when Andy Andreoff scored on the power play. However, the excitement seemed to distract the home team and Nikita Kholodilin made it 2-2 on the next shift.
Avangard started the third period with another penalty but this time the Hawks’ PK did its job. Later, the visitor got a power play chance of its own, but made little of it and the game moved to overtime. In the extras, Mikhail Kravets switched to four-on-three hockey and got his reward when Spooner set up Boucher for the winning goal.
Motormen run over conference leader
Lada Togliatti 5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (3-0, 1-1, 1-0)
Eastern Conference leader Metallurg suffered a heavy loss at Lada, enabling Avangard to draw level at the top of the table on 59 points.
This was a day when nothing went right for Magnitka, and head coach Andrei Razin admitted afterwards: “We were comprehensively beaten. Nothing worked out for us. Our penalty kill quickly allowed a goal, and we gifted two more at equal strength.”
Lada took control of the game in the first period. The first power play of the game, as Razin observed, led to a goal almost immediately: Denis Zernov was in the box for just eight seconds before Sergei Shumakov opened the scoring. Nikita Mikhailov doubled the lead after 15 minutes when the visiting defense granted him the freedom of the slot, then Ivan Romanov potted a second power play marker late in the frame.
That prompted a change of goalie, with Alexander Sudnitsin replacing Ilya Nabokov for Metallurg. However, Romanov quickly got his second of the night 17 seconds into the middle frame after yet another defensive error.
The only bright spot for the visitor came in the 27th minute when Nikita Mikhailis got a consolation goal. But this was very much Lada’s day and Troy Josephs completed the rout to snap an eight-game goalless run and deliver a perfect riposte to criticism from the coaching staff.
Kovi’s goal can’t save Spartak
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 Spartak Moscow 1 SO (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Ilya Kovalchuk was on the scoresheet again, but today he could not prevent Spartak from slipping to a shoot-out loss at Torpedo. Spartak’s high-profile signing now has two goals in two games on his return to competitive hockey and the Red-and-Whites move a point clear at the top of the standings after a 1-1 tie in regulation.
Torpedo arrived on the back of a good win over SKA, but that did not prevent Igor Larionov from making changes. Igor Larionov Jr returned to the team, as did Sergei Goncharuk. On the debit side, Nikolai Kovalenko missed out through injury.
Spartak had a couple of early chances but Pavel Poryadin could not take advantage. Then Mikhail Orlov put Torpedo ahead when he followed up a rebound from a Goncharuk shot. In response, the visitor slowly but surely moved the game into the home zone and eventually conjured a chance for Kovalchuk to tie the game in the 17th minute.
After the intermission, Torpedo took control of the play. Chances came, created by individual skill and teamwork, but the home team lack composure in front of the net and could not regain the lead. The pattern of play changed in the third period as Spartak focussed on puck possession and limited Torpedo to counterattacks. Nonetheless, there was no further scoring and the game went into overtime and then a shoot-out. After 65 minutes with just two goals, the netminders remained on top in that shoot-out. After 11 successive missed attempts, Vasily Atanasov finally found the net to give Torpedo the verdict.
Shabanov, Yarullin too good for Severstal
Severstal Cherepovets 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 5 (0-1, 1-1, 2-3)
Two goals from Albert Yarullin and three points for Maxim Shabanov earned Traktor a good win on the road at Severstal.
Shabanov’s impressive individual form continued, with the 23-year-old forward extending his productive run to four games. He also has 11 points from his last seven appearances. Today’s first contribution came midway through the first period with an assist as Yarullin opened the scoring. Then, in the 27th minute, Shabanov found the net himself to double Traktor’s lead.
Severstal has been consistently inconsistent this season, and after getting into difficulty the home team spotted a way out late in the middle frame. Alexander Skorenov grabbed a short-handed goal to half the deficit before the second intermission and it was very much ‘game on’ for the final stanza.
Traktor looked to quell any prospect of a fightback with Shabanov setting up Vladimir Tkachyov to make it 3-1 after 44 seconds of the third period. However, it was only after Timofei Davydov made it one-goal game once again that the visitor finally managed to finish the job. Barely a minute later, Yarullin got his second of the night and within another minute Charles Robinson added a fifth to leave Severstal with too much to do. The home team got a late consolation thanks to Danil Aimurzin, but Traktor left with the points to keep up its push for a top-four finish in the East.
Obidin’s treble downs Dinamo
Dinamo Minsk 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (0-0, 1-2, 0-2)
After winning three in a row either side of the international break, Dinamo suffered a third successive loss today. As a result, Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team remains eighth in the west, looking anxiously at the chasing back rather than optimistically towards the teams ahead.
Avtomobilist, meanwhile, has no such problems. This was a fourth win in five as Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team continues to push for a top-four position.
After a goalless first period, the visitor took charge at the start of the second. Anatoly Golyshev opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and it took just 22 seconds for Andrei Obidin to double the lead. Dinamo responded with a power play goal from Vadim Moroz late in the frame, but once in front, Avtomobilist rarely looked like relinquishing its lead.
There was more to come from Obidin, who added two more goals in the third period. That gave him a first career hat-trick and moves the 26-year-old to 10 goals and 14 points for the season.
Sorry Sochi suffers eighth straight loss
HC Sochi 3 Admiral Vladivostok 5 (1-2, 0-3, 2-0)
The Sailors arrived on the Black Sea and handed Sochi an eighth successive loss. Both teams are a little off the pace in the playoff race in their respective conferences, but Admiral is currently alternating wins and losses in a way that offers some hope of progress in the closing weeks of the season.
Progress today was fairly smooth for the visitor. Libor Sulak put Admiral in front on the power play early on, and Dmitry Buchelnikov doubled that lead after 10 minutes. Daniil Seroukh pulled a goal back for Sochi, but there was little evidence of a fightback to come.
Indeed, in the second period, Admiral took a firm grip of the game. Unanswered goals from Daniil Gutik and Yegor Morozov left Sochi looking forlorn. Then Sulak’s second of the game made it 5-1 before the second break and effectively ended the contest.
The Leopards managed to restore some pride in the final frame, with Kirill Rasskazov and Danil Avershin scoring in the last 10 minutes. That made the scoreline a little more respectable, but did little to change the final outcome.
Loko defeats Dragons for the fourth time
Kunlun Red Star 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 (0-1, 0-1, 1-0)
Lokomotiv recorded its fourth victory over Kunlun this season and is two points clear in third place in the West. The Railwaymen have been consistent this season, rarely getting drawn into losing runs. They’ve also been efficient, with six of their last nine victories coming by a single-goal margin.
Today, a goal in each of the first two periods was enough for Igor Nikitin’s team. However, the Dragons were the first to get the puck in the net when Colin Campbell struck after five minutes. Nikitin immediately challenged the play, citing goalie interference, and the video review ruled it out. Right away, Loko got on the power play. That didn’t bring the opening goal, but the momentum shift led to Nikita Cherepanov opening the scoring midway through the first.
If the visitor shaded the first period, it dominated the second. The shot count was 16-3 in Lokomotiv’s favor, but the only goal came when Sergei Andronov converted a power play in the 37th minute.
Down by two, Kunlun still believed. The home team made a lively start to the third period and Jason Fram pulled one back to open the door for the Dragons. However, Lokomotiv is used to closing out tight games and did a good job of seeing this one out to take the win.
