Lada lifts cup in Kazakhstan

The first trophy of the summer goes to Togliatti after Lada wrapped up a successful trip to Astana with a 2-1 win over Team Kazakhstan. Barys took third place thanks to an overtime success against Amur. In Ufa, Salavat Yulaev beat Metallurg to maintain its hopes of winning the Republic of Bashkortostan Cup. With a game each to play, Salavat and Avtomobilist share the lead with Severstal, victors over Neftekhimik today.

President of Kazakhstan Cup

Final

Team Kazakhstan 1 Lada Togliatti 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0)

The first tournament final of the summer was a repeat of the opening game in Astana. On Aug. 14, Lada thrashed the Kazakhs 7-1. Sunday’s rematch was a much closer affair.

Lada opened the scoring on a first-period power play. Good work on the blue line from Nikita Mikhailov enabled Dmitry Kugryshev to develop the play and fire the puck to the slot. Troy Josephs got the finishing touch.

Early in the second, Alikhan Asetov brought Team Kazakhstan level, claiming his second goal of the tournament in the process. But that was merely a blip for Lada. When Maxim Mukhametov sat for tripping, another power play goal saw Denis Barantsev restore the lead. With no further scoring in the third period, Lada held on to lift the cup.

Third place game

Barys Astana 3 Amur Khabarovsk 2 OT (1-1, 0-1, 1-0, 1-0)

Ahead of the grand final, Barys took on Amur in the third-place playoff. The Tigers were still seeking a first win in the tournament, and produced a strong start to the game. However, despite outshooting Barys 11-2 the teams went to the intermission locked at 1-1.

Amur got in front on a power play goal midway through the session, only to see the goal whistled off following a challenge from the Barys bench. Two minutes later, though, the visitor went ahead when Artur Gizdatullin’s redirect opened the scoring legitimately. Although Barys rarely threatened a goal, it converted one of those two shots on target: Wade Ellison tied it up 90 seconds before the break.

After the intermission, Amur continued to impress. However, it wasn’t until late in the frame that possession brought another goal. Alex Broadhurst set up Devin Brosseau to make it 2-1; earlier the pair were involved in that disallowed goal.

Finally, Barys began to show its teeth in the third. It took less than five minutes for Aslan Zhuslupbekov to tie the scores. Later, Amur had to kill a penalty to take the game to overtime. In the extras, Amur opted to swap goalie Dmitry Lozebnikov for a fourth skater, but lost possession and handed Connor Smith an empty-net goal. Under new KHL rules, that would cost the Tigers a point in regular season play; here, though, it had little impact in a winner-takes-all situation.

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Severstal Cherepovets 2 (0-0, 0-0, 1-2)

Neftekhimik finished its four-game schedule in Ufa with another loss, leaving the Wolves rooted to the foot of the standings with two points. Severstal, meanwhile, picked up a second victory and shares top spot with Avtomobilist and Salavat Yulaev ahead of tomorrow’s deciding games.

Goalscorers Alexei Kruchinin and Danil Aimurzin were missing for the Steelmen, but that didn’t prevent them from having the better of a goalless first period. The middle frame also produced no scoring, although Neftekhimik did well to disrupt Severstal’s attempts to bring play out of its zone.

The breakthrough came in the third, with Severstal grabbed two power play goals through Mikhail Ilyin and Adam Liska. That was enough to win the game, despite Andrei Belozyorov pulling one back for Neftekhimik.

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (2-0, 0-0, 1-1)

This clash between the home team and the current Gagarin Cup holder generated a sell-out crowd in Ufa – an impressive feat for a pre-season game. Most of those in attendance went home encouraged by a successful afternoon for Salavat Yulaev, which can now go on and win the tournament tomorrow with victory over Avtomobilist.

Both teams went with strong line-ups, and Metallurg included Danil Bashkirov, who began his career with Salavat Yulaev. He contributed to a lively start from Magnitka and thought he had seen his new team take the lead when Luke Johnson stuffed a close-range effort past Alexander Samonov. The video showed it differently, though: Johnson used his foot and the goal was ruled out.

Revived by that let-off, Ufa improved. Defenseman Yaroslav Tsulygin opened the scoring, then the home power play enabled Alexander Chmelevski to double the lead.

The middle frame was evenly matched. However, neither team could find a goal and the most significant incident saw Metallurg forward Alexander Petunin pick up a major penalty for kneeing.

Magnikta killed that penalty and sought a way back into the game. Vladislav Yeryomenko’s goal offered a life line, but after Ilya Nabokov went to the bench late on, Josh Leivo scored into an empty net to seal the win.