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Gusev matches Mozyakin’s record. February 22 round-up
Nikita Gusev’s 85th point of the season saw him tie Sergei Mozyakin for the most productive single season in KHL history. He converted a penalty shot in Dynamo’s 3-2 win over Severstal, helping the Muscovites go to the top of the overall KHL standings. There was a change of leadership in the East as well, with Metallurg benefitting from Avangard’s home loss against Lada. The Steelmen beat Amur 3-0. Traktor had an identical scoreline against Vityaz, with Albert Yarullin reaching 200 career points. Elsewhere, there were victories for CSKA and Avtomobilist.
Lada’s fightback snaps losing run
Avangard Omsk 2 Lada Togliatti 3 OT (1-0, 1-0, 0-2, 0-1)
Lada ended a seven-game losing streak after recovering from 0-2 to defeat Avangard in overtime. A home loss for the Hawks cost them top spot in the Eastern Conference, with Metallurg returning to the summit thanks to its victory over Amur.
However, for much of this game the home team seemed set to stay on top. A strong first period saw Damir Zhafyarov convert the first power play of the evening to open the scoring in the seventh minute. Avangard continued to dominate the play and created more opportunities but could not add to that lead.
That began to look costly after the break. The tempo noticeably dropped and for long spells there was little meaningful action in the game. It looked as though 20 minutes might drift by without a goal, but gradually the teams came to life. In the 34th minute, Lada showed some attacking intent at last. Ivan Romanov went close from the slot, another effort dinged the piping, then the visitor got its first power play of the game. After killing that penalty, Avangard got another power play of its own, and duly doubled the lead. Vladimir Tkachyov was the scorer, bringing the puck all the way through Lada’s defense before beating Alexander Trushkov in the visitor’s net.
However, Lada did not give up. Andrei Altybarmakyan pulled a goal back in the 46th minute, bringing the game back to life. Then Artyom Ivanyuzhenkov tied it up in the 53rd, with his team riding the momentum from an earlier power play.
Neither team could win it in regulation, and Avangard looked to force the pace in overtime by withdrawing goalie Pavel Khomchenko in favor of an extra skater. At one end, Reid Boucher went close. At the other, Lada’s Pavel Kulikov sent the puck into the empty net from center ice.
Avto eases past Barys
Barys Astana 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (1-2, 0-1, 0-1)
Avtomobilist enjoyed a comfortable victory at Barys, leaving the Kazakh team marooned at the foot of the Eastern Conference. The visitor could afford to rest Curtis Valk, whose two years in Astana saw him gain Kazakh citizenship before he moved to the Urals, replacing him with Danil Romantsev on the second line.
For all Barys’s problems this season, the home team grabbed an early lead. Within the first minute, Joey LaBate inspired the home attack to the opening goal, dishing off a feed for Arkady Shestakov to beat Evgeny Alikin.
However, Avtomobilist replied with a goal from its first shot on goal: Stephane Da Costa forced a turnover on the blue line, Anatoly Golyshev set up Alexei Makeyev and he scored from a great position. And, before the game was 10 minutes old, Maxim Osipov had the visitor ahead after a seemingly routine shot unexpectedly flipped up off the ice and looped over Eddie Pasquale’s shoulder.
In the middle frame, the initiative frequently changed hands. However, goals were hard to come by until the 37th minute when Artyom Kashtanov made it 3-1. At that point, it felt like Barys would struggle to get back into the game, and that was how it proved. The home team was unable to make much of an impression in the third and Alexander Sevostyanov’s goal four minutes from the end secured a convincing road win for the Motormen.
Won in 93 seconds
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Amur Khabarovsk 0 (0-0, 3-0, 0-0)
A goal rush in the second period set Metallurg on the way to a victory that sent it back to the top of the Eastern Conference. The three goals in this game came within 93 seconds, and Danila Yurov broke a KHL record that dates back to 2012. At the other end, Ilya Nabokov made 29 saves to complete his shut-out.
Amur, already secure in the playoffs, had an early chance to get ahead here with a power play in the third minute. However, that opportunity came to nothing and Metallurg soon assumed a measure of control over the game. Despite outshooting the Tigers 13-7, though, the home team could not make a breakthrough in the opening frame.
Indeed, it wasn’t until late in the second that we saw our first goal. Again, Metallurg was penalized at the start of the session and Nabokov had to work hard to keep the scores level. On one occasion, only the piping saved the Steelmen. Gradually, again, Magnitka got on top and Yegor Yakovlev hit the post at the other end. And, on the third home power play of the night, Robin Press opened the scoring with a wrist shot. The next goal went to Alexander Petunin, with Press and Danila Yurov picking up assists. That saw Yurov get to 48 points for the season, beating Vladimir Tarasenko’s record points haul for a U21 player in the KHL.
Another 26 seconds went by and Pavel Akolzin added a third. That prompted Amur to replace Igor Bobkov with Dmitry Lozebnikov. He completed the game without allowing any more goals, while the home team closed out Nabokov’s shut-out in relatively uneventful third period.
Yarullin reaches career landmark
Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0)
A routine home win for Traktor was memorable because of Albert Yarullin’s 200th KHL point. The veteran defenseman assisted on the third goal, taking his career tally to 51 goals and 149 helpers. That helped condemn Vityaz to yet another defeat, leaving Dmitry Ryabykin’s team rooted to the foot of the KHL standings a point behind Barys.
Traktor made a fast start, and Danil Yurtaikin opened the scoring in the third minute after a great feed from behind the net. The home team continued to dominate the first period and increased its lead close to the intermission when Jack Rodewald finished off another well-worked move. Charles Robinson collected an assist, extending his productive streak to four games.
The second period saw Vityaz pose more of an attacking through, but Zach Fucale rose to the challenge to protect that two-goal lead. Late in the frame, Nikita Tertyshny made it 3-0 and Yarullin brought up his personal landmark. The 30-year-old defenseman played the bulk of his career at Ak Bars, with short spells at Atlant and Neftekhimik before joining Traktor in 2021-2022.
After that, the game was largely done. The third period was less intense, with the main question being about Fucale’s shut-out. The home goalie made 23 saves to achieve precisely that.
Dynamo on top, Gusev on top
Dynamo Moscow 3 Severstal Cherepovets 2 (0-1, 1-0, 2-1)
Nikita Gusev matched Sergei Mozyakin’s scoring record, moving to 85 points this season with a successful penalty shot at the start of the third period. That helped Dynamo grab a victory that puts it on top of the KHL standings with two games to play.
Severstal saw its five-game winning streak come to an end but had some questions for the Blue-and-Whites before succumbing. The visitor opened the scoring late in the first period, with David Dumbadze grabbing a shorthanded goal. That was only Severstal’s third shot of the game, while the home forwards created and wasted chance after chance.
In the second period, Yegor Rimashevsky tied the game in the 27th minute, but Dynamo could not maintain its earlier dominance. However, at the start of the third, Gusev raced clear only to be fouled by Mark Barberio. That gave the home forward a penalty shot, and his second chance saw him fire a shot past Alexander Samoilov to match Mozyakin’s record.
The goal also put Dynamo up for the first time in the game, and a power play goal from Maxim Dzhioshvili increased that lead in the 53rd minute. Severstal kept battling, and former Dynamo man Kirill Pilipenko pulled one back late in the game on the power play. There was more late drama when Samoilov went back to the bench and Pavel Kudryavtsev fired against the post of the empty net before the hooter sealed Dynamo’s return to the summit.
CSKA survives Sibir fightback
CSKA Moscow 4 Sibir Novosibirsk 3 OT (2-0, 1-1, 0-2, 1-0)
After leading 3-0, CSKA found itself dragged back to overtime by Sibir. However, the defending champion rallied to claim the win.
The opening goal came in the fourth minute on a delayed penalty. Vladislav Kamenev opened the scoring. Ten minutes later, another Sibir foul brought a CSKA power play and Anton Slepyshev doubled the lead. Konstantin Okulov assisted on both of those, then scored himself in the second period to make it 3-0.
Then Sibir began its fightback. Pavel Gogolev got one back in the 30th minute. But the game turned early in the third with two goals in two minutes for the visitor. Georgy Belousov made it 2-3, then on 45:10 Trevor Murphy’s power play goal tied the scores.
From then on, neither team really managed to create the chances to grab a winner in regulation. By the end of the third period, the foes traded just 11 shots on goal in a cautious conclusion. Overtime proved livelier, and Kamenev’s second of the night proved decisive with 36 seconds left.
