Ufa bounces back, Metallurg loses tournament opener

The tournament action continues in Bashkortostan with Avtomobilist proving too strong for Metallurg before Salavat Yulaev downed Neftekhimik. Both games finished with the same 4-2 scoreline. In other games, there were victories for Dynamo Moscow and Torpedo in their first pre-season games, with Avangard edging past Vityaz in Friday’s other action.

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (1-2, 1-0, 2-0)

Magnitka flew into Ufa a day after playing Vityaz in Minsk, and immediately jumped back into action against Avtomobilist. The Motormen were also playing back-to-back, but did not have to travel after Thursday’s 1-4 loss to Neftekhimik in the opening game of the tournament.

At first, there wasn’t too much sign of travel sickness hampering Metallurg. Even after Andrei Obidin put Avto ahead midway through the first period, Yegor Yakovlev tied the scores on the next shift. However, Stephane Da Costa gave Avtomobilist the lead at the intermission, outwitting Ilya Nabokov to score from close range.

In the second period, Metallurg found a response. One dangerous counter was repelled by Evgeny Alikin, but the Avtomobilist goalie had no answer to Luke Johnson’s shorthanded effort.

However, the final frame saw Magnitka tire and Avto take control. Brooks Macek restored the Motormen’s lead and Vladimir Kuznetsov made it safe with an empty-netter.

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 4 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 (1-0, 3-2, 0-0)

After losing the opening game of its home tournament to Severstal, Salavat Yulaev responded with a much-improved performance against Neftekhimik. Viktor Kozlov rested his imports for this game and saw an all-Russian roster take the win.

Gleb Kuzmin opened the scoring midway through the first period, converting the home team’s first power play of the game. That was the only goal of the opening session, but right after the intermission Yegor Suchkov doubled the advantage.

After that, the teams traded pairs of goals. Vyacheslav Leshchenko scored on his former club to bring Neftekhimik back into the game, but a couple of minutes later Maxim Zagrebin restored Ufa’s two-goal lead. The pattern repeated in the 36th minute. Nikita Khoruzhev’s second tally in two games brought the Wolves into contention, but Ildan Gazimov produced an instant riposte to make it 4-2. There was no further scoring in the third as Salavat secured its first win of the summer.

After two days of tournament action, four teams are tied with one win apiece. Of these, only Severstal has an unbeaten record. Metallurg, the other team in the competition with just one game played, is still seeking its first victory. Severstal can improve its position tomorrow when it faces Avtomobilist, while Magnitka will look to get off the mark against Neftekhimik.

Warm-up games

Vityaz Moscow Region 1 Avangard Omsk 2 (1-0, 0-1, 0-1)

This was the third pre-season game for both these teams, and each had a win and a loss from their previous outings. Today, the Hawks came from behind to secure another win thanks to Mark Verba’s goal in the final frame.

The teams were evenly matched at the start, and both had scoring chances. Vityaz goalie Maxim Dorozhko lived dangerously when the puck slipped behind his back, but no Omsk player could apply the finishing touch. At the other end, Ilya Proskuryakov did well to deny Yegor Morozov. However, he was beaten soon afterwards when a four-on-three power play helped Dmitry Buchelnikov open the scoring.

Avangard tied it up early in the second through Yegor Manin. However, the middle frame brought more Vityaz pressure. Twice, the Moscow Region team hit the piping; the second time, the players believed they had scored but a review ruled it out. It took time for Avangard to reassert itself but eventually the Hawks came through the storm in time for Verba to claim a deflected winner in the 47th minute.

Dinamo Minsk 1 Dynamo Moscow 3 (0-2, 1-1, 0-0)

Last season’s regular season champion, Dynamo, headed to Minsk for its first pre-season action. Alexei Kudashov was close to a full-strength roster, with only defenseman Brennan Menell, forward Nikita Gusev and new goalie Hunter Miska unavailable. The latter is joining the team shortly, but is currently with his family following the birth of his son.

For Minsk, Dmitry Kvartalnov continued to tweak his line-up in the fourth pre-season game. He found space for three imports, Sam Anas, Xavier Oullet and Josh Brooks.

With more recent game time, Minsk made the brighter start. However, a freak bounce gifted Pavel Kudryavtsev with an empty net to open the scoring for Dynamo and everything changed after that. A minute later, Artyom Sergeyev led a counter-attack that doubled the lead.

In the second period, Anas pulled one back for the home team but Igor Ozhiganov restored a two-goal cushion that remained in place until the end.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 Unison Moscow 1 OT (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 1-0)

This was Torpedo’s first pre-season game and the opposition was unfamiliar to many. Unison is a newcomer to the VHL and this was its first encounter with a KHL opponent.

The home team opted to check out many of its new additions in a game that was all about giving ice time to as many players as possible. They made every effort to impress in the first period, dominating the game and forcing Unison into regular fouls. However, the visitor hung tough to kill four penalties and keep the game goalless through 20 minutes.

Then came the plot twist. The Torpedo defense had not been overworked, and surprisingly allowed Ivan Kozlov to open the scoring at the start of the middle frame. That inspired Unison to dig in deeper and Igor Larionov was persuaded to reshuffle his lines in a bid to save the game in the third. A new combination of Dmitry Kagarlitsky and Maxim Letunov found the target: the former got behind the net to set up his partner.

Victory had to wait until overtime, though. Vasily Atanasov jumped out of the penalty box in time to grab a breakaway goal.