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Wins for both sets of ‘Motormen’. January 15 round-up
Monday’s two KHL games saw Lada and Avtomobilist driving to success. Lada won 3-0 on the road at Barys, and Avto came from behind to defeat CSKA 3-2 on home ice.
Lada too good for struggling Barys
Barys Astana 0 Lada Togliatti 3 (0-1, 0-2, 0-0)
Barys suffered a fourth successive loss and remains at the foot of the Eastern Conference after failing to trouble Lada in Monday’s game. The visitor arrived in Kazakhstan after snapping a five-game skid of its own and used the same line-up that won in Yekaterinburg. Barys made more changes, including a return to action for Pontus Aberg. His first game of the year was also his 100th in the KHL.
Despite its recent struggles, Barys made a promising start to the game. It took more than 10 minutes for Lada to get a shot at Andrei Shutov’s net and there was only one effort of any kind from the visitor. However, the first shot on target gave Lada the opening goal, scored by Nikita Popugayev.
The home team did not go all-out in the second period, and instead approached its task methodically. That was intended to prevent the risk of counterattacks, yet Andrei Altybarmakyan managed to score on a quick move despite a strong defensive presence. Maxim Berezin’s assist on that play extended his productive streak to five games.
After that, Barys twice failed to capitalize on power plays. The next shift at equal strength saw Lada punish that wastefulness. Troy Josephs got down the wing and fired past Shutov to open a commanding lead.
At the start of the third period Barys pushed everything forward in search of a goal. However, Vladislav Podyapolsky and his defense kept the puck at a safe distance. After penalties disrupted the flow of the game, Barys found the clock playing against it and by the time the teams were back at full strength, the host had just four minutes left to save the game. That was never likely to be enough and Lada celebrated the win while Podyapolsky enjoyed a 25-save shut-out.
Motormen hand CSKA second loss in a row
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 CSKA Moscow 2 (1-2, 0-0, 2-0)
After derby defeat against Dynamo, CSKA suffered another reverse on the road at Avtomobilist. The defending champion blew a lead in the third period, allowing two goals in three minutes as the home team stayed ahead of Lada in fourth in the East.
The Motormen handed a KHL debut to Kirill Tyutyayev. He began his career with his hometown team and played a big role in the juniors’ 2019 Kharlamov Cup success before moving to North America. After time in the AHL and ECHL, the 23-year-old returned home last month to resume his career in Russia.
This game had a slow start but warmed up midway through the first period. The opening goal came out of nothing: home forward Yegor Alexeyev blocked a point shot, but inadvertently sent the puck straight to Vladislav Kamenev on the slot for a simple finish.
After that, CSKA looked to pin Avto in its own end and the home team struggled to get over the halfway line. Once again, though, a goal came from nothing to tie the scores. Avtomobilist created space for Brooks Macek to score from his preferred position in the left-hand circle. However, the visitor regained the lead 90 seconds later through Konstantin Okulov and took that lead to the first intermission.
The second period went for a long time without a break in play as the teams exchanged attacks with pace and fluency. However, neither side could find the net.
At the start of the second period, the Muscovites ceded the initiative to Avtomobilist, but in doing so made sure that the home team struggled to capitalize on the change in attacking momentum. Gradually, though, the Motormen found ways to unpick the visiting defense. Stepan Khripunov battled well behind the net and set up Andrei Obidin to tie the game in the 54th minute. Then Anatoly Golyshev earned his team a power play and, after patiently exploring a well-drilled CSKA PK, Avtomobilist got the winner through Denis Barantsev.
