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Eastern drama, Western leaders on form. February 2 round-up
There was drama in the big game in the Eastern Conference. Metallurg tied its home game with Avangard in the final second before winning in OT to extend its lead at the top of the standings. The key playoff battle also went the distance as Sibir and Amur tied 3-3 before the home team won in a shoot-out. The top four in the West all won: SKA beat CSKA for the sixth time this season, Lokomotiv blanked Vityaz, Spartak shut-out Avtomobilist and Dynamo edged an overtime verdict at Torpedo. Also in the West, Severstal secured its playoff spot with a 4-2 success against Dinamo Minsk. Admiral beat Kunlun Red Star 5-3.
Sibir earns vital win, keeps playoff dream alive
Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Amur Khabarovsk 3 SO (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
This was a big battle in the race for the Eastern playoffs. Sibir and Amur came into the game in ninth and tenth place, respectively six and four points behind Neftekhimik. Neither team was in the greatest of form, either. Sibir lost its previous three, while Amur’s unlikely 7-6 win over Metallurg on Monday snapped a nine-game skid. With so much at stake, it’s no surprise that this turned into an enthralling game.
There was no time to wait at the start of the game. Sibir opened the scoring after 45 seconds thanks to Andy Andreoff, who came off the right-hand boards to shoot past Igor Bobkov while Taylor Beck provided the screen. However, the Tigers reacted well and created some good chances before tying the game midway through the opening stanza thanks to Viktor Baldayev.
In the middle frame, Amur opened a 3-1 lead. In the 24th minute, Baldayev’s stretch pass released Yegor Korshkov to make it 2-1. Then came a power play goal from Yefim Gurkin after a too many men infringement by Sibir.
The home team responded quickly: Ivan Klimovich pulled a goal back a couple of minutes later when he redirected Yegor Alanov’s shot as it flew across the slot. Then, at the start of the third, Alanov scored himself, rattling home a shot from the middle of the zone.
The teams were unable to settle the issue in regulation, although Baldayev had the puck in the net once again midway through the session. However, the defenseman was denied a second goal when a video review showed that he used his hand to stuff the puck over the line.
In overtime, Sibir twice hit the piping before Gurkin’s rush was halted by Krasotkin. It all added up to a shoot-out, where Mikhail Nazarov managed the only successful attempt and secured the win for Sibir.
Late salvation for Metallurg
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Avangard Omsk 3 OT (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0)
The top two in the Eastern Conference produced fireworks when they went head-to-head on Friday. Metallurg’s overtime win sees Andrei Razin’s team extend its lead at the top of the standings, but Avangard was just 0.1 seconds away from victory in this one.
At the start of the game Metallurg looked lively, firing in plenty of early shots. Avangard was happy to play on the counter, the more so after Ryan Spooner was allowed to advance and open the scoring midway through the session. Magnitka came up with a rapid response, though, and Igor Geraskin tied the scores after the Hawks coughed up possession behind their net.
This was Geraskin’s first game against Avangard since he left Omsk for Magnitogorsk and he would finish with a contribution to all four of his new team’s goals. At the start of the second period he helped create a marker for Daniil Vovchenko, but Avangard responded immediately when Ivan Igumnov tied the game at 2-2. Then, late in the session, the visitor took the lead for a second time when Semyon Chistyakov’s shot took a deflection off Denis Zernov’s stick and beat home goalie Ilya Nabokov.
This time, there was no quick reply. Avangard’s Reid Boucher came close to making it 4-2 and the visitor held its lead to the intermission. After the break, Metallurg continued to have more of the puck and Robin Press hit the crossbar. The pressure continued to build before Danila Yurov grabbed a dramatic tying goal in the last second, taking the action to overtime.
According to its tradition, Avangard played the extras without a goalie. This time, though, the gamble did not pay off. Metallurg got possession and Yurov fired into the empty net from the point to take the win.
Steelmen secure playoff spot
Severstal Cherepovets 4 Dinamo Minsk 2 (0-1, 2-1, 2-0)
Severstal confirmed its playoff spot after coming from 0-2 to beat Dinamo Minsk. That means seven of the eight available spots in the West are now full, with Dinamo almost certain to clinch the last berth in the coming days.
The Belarusians got off to a good start here when leading scorer Sam Anas opened the scoring in the fourth minute. The American got his 20th goal of the season a couple of days after signing a two-year extension to his contract in Minsk. Early in the second,Nick Merkleymade it 2-0.
However, that scoreline did not reflect the balance of play. Severstal had far more of the puck in the opening stanza but needed time to find a way past Alexei Kolosov. In the 23rd minute, Nikita Rozhkov came up with the answer. Then, after killing the first penalty of the game, the home team tied the scores in the 39th minute thanks to Kirill Pilipenko.
Severstal took it away from Dinamo in the third. Nikita Sedov put the home team ahead in the 46th minute, then Danil Aimurzin made it 4-2 with seven minutes to play. That completed the scoring and ensured that the Steelmen would be back in the playoffs this season.
Loko eases past goalshy Vityaz
Vityaz Moscow Region 0 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 (0-2, 0-0, 0-0)
The lowest scorer in this year’s KHL was blanked for the second game in a row, falling to a 0-2 loss at home to Lokomotiv. It’s the sixth time Dmitry Ryabykin’s team has failed to find the net this season, leaving it with 116 goals, the poorest return in the competition.
For Lokomotiv, victory keeps up the pressure on SKA at the top of the Western Conference. The Railwaymen briefly held top spot after this result, but SKA’s result at CSKA saw the Petersburg team return to the summit half an hour later.
Loko got this one done early. Rushan Rafikov’s power play goal broke the deadlock in the seventh minute and Daniil Tesanov doubled the lead when he converted a penalty shot two seconds before the intermission.
Igor Nikitin’s team was good value for that lead, outshooting Vityaz 15-7 through 20 minutes and having almost double the attacking possession. In the second period, though, Vityaz was more competitive. Three power plays helped the home team to an equal share of the play, although it was noticeable that scoring chances effectively evaporated. The teams shared just 11 shots on goal in the middle frame.
Any home hopes of a revival in the third were carefully supressed by Lokomotiv’s solid defense. There were just six more efforts for Alexei Melnichuk to deal with in the Loko net as the 25-year-old secured his first shut-out since leaving SKA at the end of the 2019-2020 season.
Weal leads Dynamo to victory
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 1 Dynamo Moscow 2 OT (0-1, 0-0, 1-0, 0-1)
Jordan Weal had a goal and an assist to give Dynamo an overtime verdict at Torpedo. Weal potted the winner 27 seconds before the end of the extras, keeping the Blue-and-Whites in third and ending a two-game wobble for Alexei Kudashov’s men.
Weal’s winner came from a three-on-two rush. Daniil Pylenkov surged into the zone down the right and swung a cross-ice pass for the Canadian forward to beat Ivan Kulbakov and settle the outcome.
The visitor just about deserved to take two points after having slightly the better of the game. The teams were well matched, but Dynamo had a small advantage in both shots and attacking possession through 60 minutes.
In the first period, Dynamo broke the deadlock midway through on a goal from Andrei Pribylsky. Weal got the puck back to Brennan Menell at the center point and he moved it on for his defensive colleague to join the play on the left. Pribylsky stepped forward and launched a powerful shot from the circle to open the scoring.
That lead remained intact until the 44th minute when Bobby Lynch drew Torpedo level. A Dynamo attack broke down, Torpedo won possession on their own blue line and as Lynch moved into the danger zone nobody was able to close him down. The American forward fired home from the face-off circle to take the game to the extras.
Gutik, Buchelnikov, foil Graovac’s revenge
Kunlun Red Star 3 Admiral Vladivostok 5 (1-1, 2-2, 0-2)
In 20 games for Admiral, Tyler Graovac had four points. In 40 minutes against Admiral, the Canadian forward had three points. However, that wasn’t enough for him to finish on the winning side against his former club as the Sailors put clear water between themselves and Barys at the foot of the Eastern Conference.
Graovac scored twice on the power play today and, in between, assisted on a Jake Chelios goal. However, a lively encounter in Mytishchi saw Admiral find a pair of its own two-goal heroes in the shape of Daniil Gutik and Dmitry Buchelnikov. Gutik put the visitor in front early in the game, then potted a PP marker of his own to make it 3-2 in the 29th minute.
Graovac cancelled that one out before the second intermission, but the Sailors began the third period on the power play and Buchelnikov made it 4-3 on 40:24. The same player finished it off with an empty-net goal, halting the Dragons’ three-game winning streak.
SKA completes ‘sweep’ of Moscow rival
CSKA Moscow 1 SKA St. Petersburg 2 (0-1, 1-0, 0-1)
Games between these two are typically battles that shape the outcome of the season. Usually, the two are battling for top spot in the West, or vying deep in the playoffs. There’s rarely much to choose between them.
This year, things are a bit different. SKA won each of the five previous meetings, including a 5-1 thrashing a week ago. And while the Petersburg team was on top of the pile going into today’s game, CSKA languishes in sixth place and looks some distance from the team that won back-to-back Gagarin Cups.
The early stages of Friday’s game suggested the Muscovites might face another hammering. SKA needed less than five minutes to get in front: Mikhail Vorobyov exchanging passes with Sergei Tolchinsky before firing over Ivan Fedotov’s glove from the left-hand circle.
After going behind, the home team looked to brute force its way back into the game. Every shift saw CSKA looking to lay big hits on the opposition, with SKA happy to respond in kind. There were some anxious moments for visiting goalie Nikita Serebryakov, most notably when Vitaly Abramov got round him but ran out of space before he could slide the puck into the open net. At the other end, Alex Galchenyuk almost doubled the lead right on the hooter, but Fedotov’s pads denied him after Arseny Gritsyuk’s feed opened the CSKA defense.
In the 26th minute, CSKA tied the game when a spell of pressure resulted in Mikhail Grigorenko’s shot deflected off Maxim Mamin and beat Serebryakov. However, it was striking that the play was largely constructed on the perimeter: Darren Dietz going behind the net then sending the puck back up the boards to Maxim Sorkin, who in turn sent it on to Grigorenko in a deep position. And, for much of the frame, the home team struggled to get good looks at Serebryakov’s net. SKA dominated the play, outshooting its host 23-6.
SKA eventually got back in front in the 52nd minute with a swift and deadly counterattack. Another effort from the outside saw Serebryakov deny Konstantin Okulov. Artyom Zemchyonok picked up the puck in his own zone and set Marat Khairullin away down the left. When the forward reached the blue line, he held up play to give Zemchyonok time to join the rush, then set up his team-mate at the back door to make it 2-1. That proved to be the winner: SKA completed its sixth win in six games against CSKA.
Rare shut-out earns Spartak the spoils
Spartak Moscow 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 0 (0-0, 3-0, 0-0)
A first shut-out since Sep. 12 keeps Spartak on course for a top-four finish in the Western Conference. This was only the second time in the campaign that the Red-and-Whites did not allow a goal, and it left Avtomobilist unable to respond to a rush of three goals midway through the game.
Spartak had much the better of the first period, outshooting Avto 11-3. However, Vladimir Galkin did well to keep his team in the game and, when he was beaten by Dmitry Vishnevsky in the 16th minute, the post came to his rescue.
That Vishnevsky chance came on the first power play of the evening. The next one saw the visitor reduced to three skaters, and Ivan Morozov took advantage to open the scoring midway through the second period. That opened the floodgates, and Spartak scored three goals in five minutes. Alexander Pashin raced onto a Michal Cajkovsky pass to double the lead, then set up Nikita Susuyev to make it 3-0 at the second break.
That five-minute spell put the brakes on Avtomobilist’s hopes of returning to the top four in the East. In the third period the visitor tried to find a way back but encountered a resilient Spartak defense. The Red-and-Whites are not always noted for solidity at the back, however exciting their offense can be. Today, though, they limited the Motormen to 23 shots at Andrei Kareyev, who celebrated his first shut-out of the season. Avto’s cause was undermined by three penalties in the third period, which disrupted any attacking momentum.
