Kuznetsov pots debut goal for SKA

Two summer competitions got underway on Tuesday, but the big news came from the on-going Puchkov Tournament where Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal since joining SKA. That helped his new club to victory over Severstal and means the Petersburg team can win its home tournament with victory in Thursday’s concluding game against Russia U23s. Elsewhere, Metallurg and Traktor made winning starts at their home tournaments.

Romazan Memorial

Magnitka 1 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0)

Magnitka is the new VHL team in Magnitorsk, part of the Metallurg organization. Today it found itself the newest team in the oldest pre-season tournament in Russia, the 33rd edition of the Romazan Memorial.

Neftekhimik provided the opposition and, as the KHL outfit, was expected to win. However, Magnitka has shown some decent form in other pre-season games and gave the Wolves plenty to think about. It wasn’t until late in the first period that Neftekhimik got ahead: Dmitry Sokolov found the corner of the net to convert the first power play of the game.

Magnitka wasn’t done. A first power play for the VHL team brought a tying goal from Danil Bashkirov, a player likely to feature for Metallurg this season but made available to strengthen the second string’s roster for this game.

After that goal flurry, things calmed down again. However, Neftekhimik managed to secure a lead to take into the final frame when defenseman Nikita Khlystov got two goes at a point shot and found the target with the second of them. There was no further scoring in the third period, although by this time the Wolves had a firm grip on the game and saw out the win with little danger.

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

Host club Metallurg took on Salavat Yulaev in the big game of the day at the Romazan Memorial, and edged a 3-2 verdict to take an early lead in the standings.

This was a rematch from the teams’ earlier encounter at the Republic of Baskortostan Cup and it produced a revenge win for the Steelmen, who lost 1-3 in Ufa. However, it wasn’t easy for the tournament host, which twice trailed before securing the win.

Teenage forward Maxim Velikov, one of the youngsters thought to be in contention for KHL action this season, gave Salavat Yulaev a fifth-minute lead. Metallurg replied thanks to Scott Wilson’s first goal since joining the club from Vityaz. However, the visitor took a lead to the intermission thanks to Gleb Kuzmin’s goal late in the opening frame. That offers welcome evidence of some secondary scoring for Ufa, which was without Josh Leivo in today’s game.

In the second period, Metallurg turned the game around. Alexander Petunin added to his first-period assist with the tying goal in the 25th minute. Then he picked up his third point of the night as Nikolai Mayorov potted what proved to be the game-winner. That proved to be the end of the scoring, with neither side able to find the net in the third period.

Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup

Amur Khabarovsk 2 Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk 1 (1-0, 0-0, 1-1)

For the first time since his move from SKA, Alexander Galchenyuk was available to play for Amur. He would have featured at the tournament in Astana, but found his passport was so full of stamps there was no room for another visa. Thus, instead of joining up with his new team-mates, he found himself rushing to the passport office to update his paperwork.

Available at last, Galchenyuk slotted into a line with Vladislav Barulin and Arnaud Durandeau. After a delayed start to his pre-season, Glachenyuk looked a little off the pace but by the third period there were already flashes of what he can do.

Instead it fell to Ignat Korotkikh to provide the scoring for the Tigers. He struck early in the game to give Amur a good start, but it was a long time before either team managed to create much of a scoring threat. Korotkikh struck again early in the third to make it 2-0, producing a perfectly placed shot that flew in off the post. In the closing stages, Daniil Skorikov got one back for Ugra, but it wasn’t enough to save the game.

Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 Lada Togliatti 3 OT (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0)

Traktor’s opener in its home tournament went to a shoot-out. Lada led 1-0 and 3-1 in the game but could not hold on and fell to Maxim Shabanov’s winner in the 65th minute.

That was the second of the game for Shabanov, who earlier tied the game on the power play in the fifth minute. His effort cancelled out a fast opener from Nikita Mikhailov, who put Lada up just 83 seconds into the game.

After a fast start to the first period, the Motormen were even quicker in second. Arkhip Nekolenko made it 2-1 after 62 seconds of the session, and barely a minute later Ostap Safin extended the lead to 3-1.

The home recovery was led by Dylan Sikura. The Canadian newcomer has settled in fast at his new club, with three goals at the recent Blinov Cup and another in his only warm-up appearance. Today he scored twice, in the 31st and 41st minutes to tie the game at 3-3.

Neither team could find a winning goal in the third period, but Traktor snatched the verdict in the closing seconds of the extras when Shabanov potted his second of the game to the delight of a 7,500 crowd in Chelyabinsk.

Puchkov Tournament

Kunlun Red Star 5 HC Sochi 2 (1-0, 1-2, 3-0)

The Dragons wrapped up their pre-season campaign with victory over Sochi. Along the way, Luke Lockhart scored twice to move to five goals in his last three games.

It was Lockhart who opened the scoring on three minutes, bundling the puck home to convert a five-on-three power play. That was the only goal of the first period, but the middle frame saw more action as the teams shared three goals in five minutes.

First, Sochi tied it up through Igor Shvyryov, but Red Star captain Brandon Yip quickly restored the lead. Soon after the midway point, though, Dmitry Timashov made it 2-2 and it stayed that way until the second intermission.

The game was settled at the start of the third, with Kunlun scoring twice in 90 seconds. Tyler Graovac made it 3-2, then Lockhart got his second of the game to extend the advantage. Spencer Foo assisted on both of those, and he had the final word to make it 5-2 in the 56th minute.

SKA St. Petersburg 5 Severstal Cherepovets 3 (2-2, 2-1, 1-0)

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal for SKA, helping his new club to victory over Severstal. In his earlier games at the Puchkov Tournament, Kuznetsov was on target in two shoot-outs. Today, though, he found the net during the game.

His goal came in the seventh minute, collecting a dish from Borna Rendulic and advancing to shoot through Alexander Samoilov’s pads. That made it 2-1 after a fast start to the game saw Alexander Skorenov’s early goal for Severstal cancelled out by Sergei Andronov. And there was more to come when Yegor Stepanov tied it up at 2-2 on 7:29.

SKA responded by replacing young starting goalie Artemy Pleshkov with the more experienced Nikita Serebryakov and the game calmed down after that fast start. It remained 2-2 until the first intermission.

Early in the second, SKA got in front on a power play goal from Vladimir Alistrov. But another SKA power play midway through the session went wrong as Alexei Kruchinin grabbed a short-handed goal to tie the scores. In keeping with a game full of quickfire scoring, Mikhail Vorobyov needed just 14 seconds to make it 4-3.

With just one goal in it, the third period was tense. Severstal had a great chance to tie it up when Nikita Korostelyov got round the back and seemed poised to score on the wraparound, only for Serebryakov to make a huge recovery and keep the puck out. In the end, an empty-net goal from Andronov eased SKA over the line with a 5-3 final score.

Warm-up game

Dinamo Minsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 1 (0-1, 2-0, 1-0)

Yesterday, Admiral lost to Yunost Minsk of the Belarusian championship and ended a five-game winning streak. Today, against the KHL’s Dinamo, the Sailors struggled again. The Bison, whose solitary win in six previous games came against VHL opposition from Norilsk, avenged an earlier 3-7 loss against today’s opponent.

Two goals for Vitaly Pinchuk led the way. His power play effort early in the second period cancelled out an opener from Yegor Petukhov in the 17th minute. Petukhov’s goal also came when Dinamo had a man advantage. Subsequent scoring was all at equal strength. Pinchuk assisted as Daniil Sotishvili put the home team ahead in the 33rd minute, then made it 3-1 at the start of the final frame.

The third game in the summer mini-series between these teams is scheduled for Sep. 1.