Ufa stays perfect, Omsk falls to first loss. September 11 round-up

Salavat Yulaev joined Lokomotiv on three wins from three games after Alexander Sharov’s double led a 5-3 victory over Avtomobilist. Avangard is a point better off, but a shoot-out loss at home to Amur represents a first reverse of the season for the Hawks. In the late game, Dinamo Minsk dominated at Vityaz.

Brosseau’s late show shoots down Hawks

Avangard Omsk 2 Amur Khabarovsk 3 SO (2-0, 0-0, 0-2, 0-0, 0-1)

Avangard blew a 2-0 lead and fell to a first loss of the season after a dramatic fightback from Amur. The Tigers recovered from a poor first period to save the game in the last minute thanks to Devin Brosseau’s second goal of the night.

That outcome seemed unlikely as the host opened the scoring after exactly 60 seconds’ play. Amur made a mess of clearing its lines and Ilya Reingardt’s wrister found the net. Subsequently, the Hawks dominated the game and deservedly extended the lead when Darren Dietz struck on the power play. His long shot brought his first goal since joining the club from CSKA over the summer, and his team’s 2-0 advantage looked like a solid foundation for a fourth successive victory.

There was a warning at the start of the second period when Alex Broadhurst dinged the post in the opening moments. After that, Amur gained the initiative and the pattern of play was almost a mirror image of the first period. Crucially, though, there were no goals as Omsk dug in and defended well.

It was starting to look like that storm had blown itself out as the third period wore on. After a flurry of early chances – Pavel Khomchenko distinguishing himself with some big saves to deny Jan Drozg and Evgeny Grachyov – Avangard seemed to regain control of the game. But instead of closing out the win, the home team allowed a 53rd minute goal to Brosseau when the Canadian forward took Cam Lee’s stretch pass and skilfully beat Khomchenko.

Now there was route back for the visitor and, with less than a minute to go and a sixth skater on the ice, Amur tied it up. Brosseau struck again, claiming his second of the game after some strong work in front of the net.

That sent the game to overtime and on to a shoot-out. Broadhurst and Drozg converted their attempts to give Amur the win and halt Avangard’s winning start. The home team’s point puts it one point clear in the early-season standings but it has played a game more than its closest pursuers.

Sharov double lifts Salavat to victory

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (1-1, 2-0, 2-2)

While Avangard was losing its first game of the season, Salavat Yulaev continued its unbeaten run. After scoring five goals on the Motormen, Viktor Kozlov’s team joins Lokomotiv on three wins from its first three games. Avtomobilist began its campaign with back-to-back home wins, but stumbled on the road at Torpedo and suffered a second loss here.

Salavat handed 21-year-old Semyon Vyazovoi the start in goal and welcomed defenseman Mikhail Naumenkov back from injury. Avto restored Evgeny Alikin as starting goalie, while Vladimir Kuznetsov and Maxim Osipov returned to action.

Ufa forward Josh Leivo has enjoyed a productive start to the season and he was close to opening the scoring early on. Alikin denied the Canadian on that occasion, but he soon collected his fourth point of the campaign in the 12th minute when he finished off Nathan Todd’s play to open the scoring. In between those incidents, the visitor had a spell of five-on-three play but could not force a breakthrough.

However, the home lead was shortlived: just 40 seconds later, Nick Merkley’s quick counter took him down the wing. He was looking for a cross-ice feed but got a kind bounce off an opponent to tie the scores.

The home team started the middle frame on the power play and quickly converted that into a goal. Kozlov sent five forwards onto the ice – four imports, plus Alexander Sharov – and they needed just 19 seconds to restore the lead. Later in the frame, another PP saw Sharov release Alexander Chmelevski for the 3-1 goal.

The visitor was already in trouble and suffered again after a sluggish start to the third. Salavat captain Grigory Panin made it 4-1, seemingly putting the game beyond reach. Avtomobilist made a fight of it: Danil Romantsev grabbed a breakaway goal but within a minute Sheldon Rempal set up Sharov for his second of the game. The next shift saw Anatoly Golyshev combine with Stephane Da Costa to make it 3-5, but that was as close as we came to a fightback as Ufa closed out the win.

Dinamo responds after Spartak loss

Vityaz Moscow Region 1 Dinamo Minsk 5 (1-3, 0-1, 0-1)

After back-to-back wins, Vityaz came back to Earth with a heavy loss at home to Dinamo Minsk. The Belarusians bounced back from Monday’s loss at Spartak and a fast start saw Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team take control of this one from the off.

The opening goal arrived inside three minutes when Alexander Volkov put the Bison up, placing a shot over Maxim Dorozhko’s shoulder. Four minutes later, Sam Anas went behind the net and produced a neat pass for Vitaly Pinchuk to double the lead. Pinchuk moves to three goals for the season and leads Dinamo in that metric.

At Spartak, Minsk also opened a 2-0 lead in the first period, only to tumble to a 2-5 loss. Here, though, the visitor kept up the pressure. Roman Gorbunov added a third in the 15th minute before Vityaz belatedly got on the scoreboard thanks to Frederik Gauthier.

Gorbunov’s goal chased Dorozhko from the home net, and Dmitry Shikin took over. He kept the visitor at bay until late in the second period while Dillon Dube’s power play effort made it 4-1.

The home team’s evening did not improve. Early in the third, Ilya Usov scored a power play goal. Vityaz challenge the play, but the video review found no evidence of the alleged high stick. Dinamo moved to 5-1, and Vityaz faced another minor penalty for delay of game. That proved to be the end of the scoring as the visitor closed out an impressive win.