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Anas gives Minsk a surprise win at SKA. January 22 round-up
Dinamo Minsk grabbed an overtime victory in St. Petersburg thanks to a last-gasp goal from Sam Anas. He snapped a 1-1 tie, having previously seen a tally disallowed during the extras. Elsewhere, Sochi won in a shoot-out at Lada, Avtomobilist downed Barys in Kazakhstan and Traktor was too strong for Sibir.
Motormen too strong for Barys
Barys Astana 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (0-1, 0-0, 2-2)
Avtomobilist flew to Kazakhstan without captain Sergei Shirokov. That prompted a reshuffle of the attacking lines, with Stephane Da Costa taking Shirokov’s place alongside Curtis Valk and Brooks Macek, while Anatoly Golyshev went to the third line. Barys, meanwhile, changed up every combination after the defeat against CSKA.
It took some time for the game to settle into any rhythm. While there were few pauses in the play, scoring chances were similarly scarce. Avtomobilist saw more of the puck but could not take advantage of that possession. Nonetheless, the visitor got the opening goal in the 16th minute through Stepan Khripunov.
At the start of the second the teams briefly indulged in a shoot-on-sight policy, but after a few minutes things returned to their first-period torpor. It wasn’t until the final frame that the game grew animated. Barys had a breakaway chance on the PK, then the Avto imports threatened at the other end. Valk hit the post and Nikita Boyarkin denied Da Costa. Then came a goal from nothing: Pontus Aberg fired in a hopeful shot and profited from a deflection off Alexander Sevostyanov to tie the game.
Avtomobilist responded by putting its foot to the floor. The visitor got a power play and, for the first time, established itself in Barys territory. Macek’s smart feed set up Valk in a perfect position to restore the lead. Four minutes later, Golyshev made it 3-1 and took the game away from Barys. The home team had time to pull one back through Kristian Khenkel, but could not save the game.
Double blast sinks Sibir
Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 1 (2-0, 0-1, 1-0)
Sibir suffered a fourth loss to Traktor this season, missing the chance to move closer to the top eight in the East. The home team moves to fifth in the standings after a second win in a row.
The teams began the game cautiously and it took some time for either goalie to be tested. However, in the last minute, Traktor took control with two goals in 15 seconds. First, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev found the net while Sergei Kalinin screened Denis Kostin. Then Anton Burdasov doubled the lead with a shot from a negative angle.
Sibir made a good start to the second period, scoring a power play goal through Georgy Belousov. Andy Andreoff’s assist extended his productive streak to five games (3+4). With the game very much back in the balance, the early defensive hockey returned as both teams fretted about the potential consequences of giving up the next goal.
That was very much the theme of the final frame as well. Traktor sought to protect its lead, defending in depth to keep Sibir to the perimeter. Intermittent counterattacks brought their reward in the 51st minute when Vitaly Kravtsov looked set to pass, only to unleash a magnificent shot past Kostin.
Sochi gets second win in three games
Lada Togliatti 3 HC Sochi 4 SO (1-1, 0-1, 2-1, 0-0, 0-1)
Despite blowing a 3-1 lead, Sochi managed to grab a shoot-out win over Lada. That’s two victories in three games for the Leopards, representing a big upswing after a 15-game skid. For Lada, meanwhile, a second loss in three outings sees Oleg Bratash’s team drop to sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Sochi showed few ill-effects from a 1-6 loss at Traktor in the previous game and took an early lead thanks to Amir Garayev. Midway through the first period, Troy Josephs tied the scores and it remained level until the intermission.
Gleb Koryagin restored Sochi’s lead at the start of the second, and in the 47th minute Michal Kristof extended the visitor’s advantage. However, Lada began the fightback right away: Vladislav Chervonenko pulled a goal back within a 90 seconds, then Josephs got his second of the game to take us to overtime.
Josephs also found the net in the shoot-out, but Sochi proved more efficient. Daniil Seroukh potted the decisive effort.
Anas sinks SKA
SKA St. Petersburg 1 Dinamo Minsk 2 OT (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1)
A Sam Anas goal in the last seconds of overtime saw Dinamo snatch a dramatic victory in St. Petersburg. The American forward punished Alexander Nikishin’s foul to grab a power play winner for the Belarusians.
That was the second time Anas had the puck in the net during the extras. Earlier in the session he sped into the SKA zone, eased past his marker and played the puck to the slot, where it was deflected into the net. However, a video review hauled him back for offside and SKA stayed in the game.
Earlier, SKA had the game’s first power play chance when Vyacheslav Osnovin went to the box in the third minute, but Dinamo was undaunted and Daniil Sotishvili had a decent chance for a short-handed goal. Later, the visitor got a PP of its own but the opening frame finished goalless.
Not only were there no goals, there weren’t many chances. The teams shared just 11 shots on goal in the first period and didn’t exactly catch fire at the start of the second. However, midway through the session, SKA committed a couple of fouls in quick succession. Dinamo seized the initiative and even though the home team managed kill the penalties, Roman Gorbunov put the visitor ahead just four seconds after Nikita Kamalov returned to the game and brought his team back to full strength.
That was the only goal of the middle frame, with SKA still struggling to unpick the Dinamo defense. However, midway through the third the home team got on the power play and Alex Galchenyuk collected his 13th of the season. Soon after that, Ilya Shinkevich took a double minor for high sticks, but Minsk held on. Dinamo had one last chance to win it in regulation when Vasily Glotov sat for tripping with two minutes left. The visitor could not make the extra man count, and managed just three shots on goal in the entire third period. The teams remained deadlocked and the game went into overtime.
