Two games, 18 goals. October 28 round-up

It was a high-scoring day in the KHL on Monday, with both games producing nine goals. First, Avtomobilist won 5-4 at Traktor in a meeting of first and second in the East. Then, after a slow start, SKA rattled in five goals in the third period to beat Sibir 6-3 in St. Petersburg.

Motormen edge thrilling Ural derby

Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 5 (2-3, 2-1, 0-1)

This clash between the top two in the East produced a thrilling battle. Avtomobilist eventually took the verdict by the odd goal in nine, closing the gap on Traktor to six points.

First-choice goalie Zach Fucale was back in Traktor’s net for this Ural derby. However, the Canadian did not get the start he was hoping for. After 23 seconds, Brooks Macek opened the scoring. Then, two minutes later, Maxim Osipov added a second. Anatoly Golyshev assisted on both goals, extending his productive streak to four games.

That set the tone for an action-packed first period. Traktor got on the scoreboard thanks to a power play goal from Grigory Dronov midway through the session. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev’s assist moved him to 100 points in his KHL career. Then the teams traded two goals in 15 seconds. Vladimir Kuznetsov got a third for the visitor before Alexander Sharov responded almost immediately.

Traktor had the better of things at the start of the second period, and visiting goalie Evgeny Alikin came under intense pressure. Der-Agurchintsev’s redirect tied the scores in the 27th minute, then a fast-paced passing play saw Andrei Svetlakov’s one-timer put the home team up for the first time in the game as Arguchintsev collected another assist.

However, Avto’s offense also had plenty to recommend it. Despite falling behind the Motormen recovered and Golyshev completed a hat-trick of helpers as Stephane Da Costa tied the game late in the middle frame.

At the start of the third period, Macek reacted quickly to a rebound to claim his second goal of the night and put Avtomobilist back in front. Given what had gone before, few would have thought that the remaining 16 minutes would not produce any further scoring. However, despite some intense Traktor pressure, the visitor held on to take a 5-4 verdict. For Alikin, that result brought up 100 wins in the KHL.

Free-scoring SKA overpowers Sibir

SKA St. Petersburg 6 Sibir Novosibirsk 3 (0-0, 1-1, 5-2)

It took some time for SKA to take control of Monday’s game against Sibir. However, a pair of goals midway through the third period secured a seventh successive victory for Roman Rotenberg’s team. SKA moves back to within five points of table-topping Lokomotiv, while Sibir fell to a fourth straight loss and remains seventh in the East.

The first period was tight and uncompromising. SKA’s recent free-scoring form brought 21 goals in the last three games and Sibir adopted a compact defensive set-up in the hope that today would not bring another rout. Initially, the tactic worked well and the home team was restricted to just four shots at Anton Krasotkin.

Things got even better for the visitor midway through the second period when Maxim Karpov opened the scoring. Roman Rukavishnikov, a recent arrival from Spartak, fired in a point shot and Karpov put away the rebound. Ironically, those two were previously team-mates here in Petersburg, albeit not since 2019-2020.

The lead was short-lived. SKA got the first power play of the game in the 31st minute and almost immediately converted it thanks to Vasily Glotov. He collected a feed from Tony De Angelo and stepped up to shoot through the traffic that Valentin Zykov generated in front of Krasotkin. In the closing moments of the middle frame, the home team twice dinged the piping but the teams remained tied at the intermission.

SKA made the breakthrough in the 48th minute. Evgeny Kuznetsov converted a well-timed pass from Ivan Demidov to make it 2-1. Since returning from injury, Kuznetsov has scored in eight successive games, compiling 12 (5+7) assists in that time. Moments later, Sergei Plotnikov extended the lead and, in doing so, drew level with Derek Barach at the top of the goalscoring chart. Both have 12 tallies this season. De Angelo’s assist on that one took him to 19 points for the season, one behind Sibir defenseman Trevor Murphy who shared the lead in the KHL scoring race ahead of today’s game.

By now, the game was wide open and the closing moments saw the teams trade four more goals. In the 55th minute, we saw three goals in 33 seconds. Mikhail Grigorenko padded the home lead, Taylor Beck pulled one back for Sibir, then Arseny Gritsyuk made it 5-2 and put himself out in front in that scoring race with 21 points for the season. There was more to come when Georgy Belousov made it 5-3 in the 59th minute, but Sibir’s hopes of an unlikely fightback evaporated when Zakhar Bardakov found the empty net. With another six goals tonight, SKA has found the net 39 times during its current seven-game hot streak.