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Happy travels. January 23 round-up
It was a good day for road teams. Tuesday’s two games brought big wins for Avangard at Severstal, and Spartak at Dynamo. The latter result confirms Spartak’s playoff place with Maxim Tsyplakov collecting four goals.
Hawks bounce back at Severstal
Severstal Cherepovets 2 Avangard Omsk 6 (1-1, 0-2, 1-3)
Both these teams were looking to bounce back after seeing seven-game winning streaks end at the weekend. Severstal suffered a 2-3 loss at Eastern Conference leader Metallurg, while Avangard went down 4-1 at Western high-flyer Lokomotiv. However, it was the Hawks that bounced back stronger, powering to a comfortable win on the road in Cherepovets.
The visitor did not have everything its own way. Severstal grabbed an early lead when Danila Moiseyev advanced down the left and picked the perfect moment to set up Ivan Podshivalov for a goalbound shot from the center of the zone. Avangard responded well to that early setback, and probably deserved the 16th-minute equalizer delivered by Ivan Igumnov when he redirected Semyon Chistyakov’s shot.
In the second period, the Hawks took control. Tomas Jurco got the vital touch on a Damir Sharipzyanov slapshot to put the visitor in front in the 28th minute. Then Reid Boucher converted a penalty shot late in the frame, moving him to 38 goals for the season.
Early in the third, Boucher and Jurco combined for Ryan Spooner to add a fourth. By now the game was fast getting away from the home team, and Nikolai Prokhorkin accelerated Avangard’s victory charge with #5 midway through the final frame.
By now some of the home fans were leaving early, but those who remained at least saw Ruslan Abrosimov get a consolation goal for Severstal late on. However, this was very much Avangard’s day and the final word went to Valentin Pyanov as he made the final score 6-2.
Tsyplakov fires Spartak into playoffs
Dynamo Moscow 3 Spartak Moscow 6 (1-4, 0-2, 2-0)
Spartak secured its playoff place in fine style, romping to a convincing derby win at Dynamo. Previous meeting between these teams have been tight – the last three went to overtime and one of them served up a 15-goal thriller as the Red-and-Whites won 8-7. Today, though, there was little doubt about the outcome after Spartak rattling in four goals in nine first-period minutes.
Oddly enough, that saw the visitor come from behind. Dynamo got off to a great start when Dmitry Rashevsky opened the scoring after 55 seconds. After that, though, it was all Spartak and – mostly – all about Maxim Tsyplakov.
The 25-year-old is enjoying his best ever season, and by some margin. Today he potted four goals, moving to 41 (29+12) points for the campaign. That’s well ahead of his previous record of 25 points, established last season, and it’s entirely possible he could double that tally by the end of February. Today, he grabbed a short-handed goal to put Spartak in front after Shane Prince tied the game. Then he added a fourth midway through the first period a couple of minutes after Michal Cajkovsky’s effort chased Maxim Motorygin from the Dynamo net.
In the middle frame, Tsyplakov kept scoring. He completed a first career hat-trick in the 25th minute, then potted another shorthanded marker to make it 6-1 midway through the game. In total, he has 10 (8+2) points from his appearances against Dynamo this season, suggesting that this graduate from the Spartak academy fully absorbed the lesson about his club’s greatest historical rival.
Dynamo got a consolation goal at the start of the third. Even here, Tsyplakov had a part to play. He took a minor penalty for a high hit on Nikita Gusev and just as he returned to the game, Igor Ozhiganov found the net. Late in the game, Yegor Martynov potted a third for the home team but this remained very much Spartak’s, and Tsyplakov’s Day.
