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Boucher’s double gives Avangard the edge. January 8 round-up
Free-scoring Reid Boucher moves to 34 goals for the season after scoring twice in Avangard’s OT win at Admiral. In Monday’s other action, Amur beat Sibir 4-0 and moves to within a point of a playoff spot.
Tigers close on top-eight spot
Amur Khabarovsk 4 Sibir Novosibirsk 0 (1-0, 2-0, 1-0)
This was a big win for Amur, lifting the Tigers to ninth in the Eastern Conference and just one point behind Sibir. Moreover, today’s host has two games in hand as it looks to break into a playoff spot. That makes for anxious times for the visitor, which has lost four of its last five despite replacing David Nemirovsky with interim head coach Sergei Krivokrasov.
Today Sibir got an early power play chance, but failed to make the most of it. Although the visitor had more attacking possession and more than matched Amur for goal attempts, there was a lack of precision in front of Igor Bobkov’s net. Of 17 shots, only two troubled the Amur goalie in the first period. The Tigers were more effective, and got in front in the 15th minute when Stanislav Bocharov converted the rebound from a Yegor Korshkov shot.
The visiting power play came up short again early in the second, before Amur got a chance to demonstrate how to cash in on a man advantage. Korshkov made it 2-0, and late in the frame another PP saw Evgeny Grachyov add a third.
At the start of the final frame, Nikita Shashkov’s deflected effort hit the post. Subsequently there were few chances at either end as Amur looked to close out the win. With five minutes to play, Krivokrasov called a time-out and withdrew goalie Anton Krasotkin. That didn’t help, and Kirill Slepets wrapped up the win with an empty-net goal.
Boucher’s double sinks Admiral
Admiral Vladivostok 1 Avangard Omsk 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Don’t make plans to do something right after a game between these two teams. Today, Admiral and Avangard went to overtime for the ninth head-to-head game in a row. It ended with the visitor taking the verdict, building on Saturday’s win over Lada and handing the Sailors a fifth successive loss.
Avangard handed a debut to Slovak forward Tomas Jurco – previously seen in the KHL with Barys and Kunlun – and gave former Admiral goalie Pavel Khomchenko the start. He saw a lot of his former colleagues in the opening stages as the home team got into the game quickly. Kirill Petkov was the most active Admiral forward, but neither he nor his team-mates could make the breakthrough.
At the other end, Jurco looked effective on Nikolai Prokhorkin’s line, with Damir Zhafyarov on the other wing. However, Avangard’s scoring this season has been dominated by its first line, and the opening goal went to Reid Boucher, his 33rd of the campaign.
In the second period, Avangard looked way placed to consolidate its lead. However, the visitor began causing itself problems. A too many men penalty was followed by Bogdan Kiselevich’s mystifying decision to knock an opponent’s stick from his hand in an unthreatening situation. Admiral had a two-man advantage for 70 seconds, and took advantage thanks to Petkov.
Chances continued to come at both ends but the game remained deadlocked. As the third period progressed, Omsk grew more cautious and the game was destined to go to OT. In the extras, Khomchenko went to the bench, Avangard played four-on-three and Boucher potted the winner in the 63rd minute.
