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Clinical Spartak shoots down Lokomotiv. February 12 round-up
Spartak returned to third place in the Western Conference after denying Lokomotiv the chance to go top of the standings. Second period goals from Ivan Morozov and Michal Cajkovsky put the Red-and-Whites in control as Alexei Zhamnov’s team recorded a fourth successive victory. Loko fell to a third straight loss, hitting its hopes of winning this year’s Continental Cup.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1 Spartak Moscow 5 (1-1, 0-2, 0-2)
The visitor wasted no time in getting ahead. In the first minute, Ilya Kovalchuk won the puck behind the net and set up Alexander Belyayev on the doorstep for the opening goal. Initially, Lokomotiv seemed unruffled by Spartak’s early pressure. The home team hung in there and tied the game in the fifth minute through Daniil Tesanov. Once again, the play came from behind the net, with Yaroslav Likhachyov getting the puck to the slot where Tesanov followed up after Sergeyev failed to convert.
After tying the first, Spartak took charge of things after the intermission. In the 24th minute, the visitor regained the lead when Yegor Filin forced a turnover and set up Morozov in front of Daniil Isayev’s net. Five minutes later, Cajkovsky extended the lead with a shot from the left point that found the top corner. Nikolai Goldobin’s assist adds to his club record points haul this season. Late in the frame, Daniil But was close to reducing the deficit but his shot crashed into the post with Andrei Kareyev beaten.
Loko had another big chance early in the third. Cajkovsky took a penalty and the home power play set up Martin Gernat with the goal apparently at his mercy and no defense in sight. However, the Slovak defenseman got his shot all wrong, and fired straight at Kareyev who gleefully made the save.
A couple of minutes later, with the Muscovites back at full strength, Shane Prince added to the cost of that failure. The Spartak press forced a turnover in the O zone and the puck went straight to the Canadian-born Belarusian for 4-1. The final word went to youngster Mikhail Maltsev, who converted another Goldobin feed late on. Spartak scored two goals on four shots in the third period and five on 20 all night to clinch a convincing win.
