Lada steps up a gear. October 31 round-up

A 3-1 win in Omsk moves Lada into the playoff places in the Eastern Conference. However, Avangard continues to struggle and remains down in 10th, six points outside the top eight. Elsehwhere, Admiral consolidated its position with a 4-2 win at Salavat Yulaev, Dynamo Moscow edged Vityaz 2-1 and Dinamo Minsk enjoyed a 5-2 success at Torpedo.

Lada moves into playoff zone

Avangard Omsk 1 Lada Togliatti 3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1)

Following its win at Neftekhimik, an unchanged Lada roster celebrated back-to-back success in Omsk. The victory moves the Motormen up to seventh and back into the playoff spots.

Avangard, looking to build on Sunday’s OT win over Metallurg, handed Nikolai Prokhorkin his first appearance since returning to the club. Cole Cassels and Darren Dietz also returned to the team.

In the first period the teams battled for control of the play. Avangard settled into its rhythm first and came close to opening the scoring midway through the session when Pavel Leuka fired against the crossbar. However, the opening goal came at the other end. The home team ran into penalty trouble and, with less than a second left on the clock, Nikita Popugayev scored on the power play.

At the start of the second, Avangard got its first power play chance but failed to convert it. Once back at even strength the Hawks continued to press. Prokhorkin saw a great chance go begging before Linden Vey redirected Ryan Spooner’s effort into the net. That goal reawakened Lada and by the end of the frame the visitor was back in front. Danila Moiseyev potted what proved to be the winning goal.

Avangard tried to find a way back, and there were chances for Reid Boucher and Alexei Makeyev, but Vladislav Podyapolsky kept the home team at bay. The Hawks struggled to maintain possession, though, particularly in the third period. Despite this, Mikhail Gulyayev forced Podyapolsky into another big save to preserve Lada’s lead. In the closing stages, the Motormen managed to relieve some of the pressure and an empty-net goal for Troy Josephs sealed the win.

Revenge win for Admiral

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 Admiral Vladivostok 4 (0-2, 0-0, 2-2)

Admiral gained swift revenge for Tuesday’s 1-2 loss in Ufa, claiming a win that moves the Sailors up to sixth in the East, two clear of ninth-placed Sibir and just one behind today’s host in fourth.

The visitor took a stranglehold on the game in the first period. Admiral got ahead after five minutes when Pavel Shen impressively redirected Georgy Solyannikov’s wrister into the net. Late in the frame, seconds after Salavat Yulaev killed the first power play of the night, the Sailors doubled their lead thanks to Daniil Gutik. That capped a session in which Admiral dominated all over the ice.

Things were different after the intermission. Particularly after the midway point in the game, Ufa produced some encouraging attacking play, but struggled to find a way through Admiral’s deep defense. Nonetheless, the closest we came to a goal in the middle frame was an incident in which Sheldon Rempal, Nathan Todd and Alexander Chmelevski all went agonizingly close at the visitor’s net led a charmed life.

The host used the intermission wisely, and right after the restart Denis Yan got Salavat Yulaev on the board. After that, Vasily Demchenko found himself increasingly busy but Admiral managed to hit back on the counter. Jack Rodewald made it 3-1 in the 54th minute. In response, Viktor Kozlov replaced goalie Semyon Vyazovoi with a sixth skater as early as 53:53. The bold gamble did not pay off: Ufa could not score and, in the 59th minute, fell further behind to an empty-netter from Dmitry Zavgorodny. Artyom Gorshkov pulled one back in the final seconds, but it made no difference to the outcome.

Dinamo enjoys big win at Torpedo

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 Dinamo Minsk 5 (0-1, 1-2, 1-2)

In its previous game Dinamo Minsk suffered defeat, despite Vadim Shipachyov’s record-breaking moment. Today, Shipachyov was silent, but his team recorded an important victory over Torpedo. The result puts the Bison into seventh ahead of tonight’s opponent. For the home team, this was a fourth straight loss.

The first period was evenly fought, but the only goal went to Dinamo in the 14th minute. Daniil Lipsky was the scorer, the 19-year-old scoring his first of the season and only the third of his fledgling KHL career.

With little to choose between the teams, a Torpedo equalizer on the power play at the start of the second might have been the herald of an on-going arm wrestle. Instead, Vasily Atanasov’s tally inspired the visitor. Dinamo dominated the middle frame, outshooting Torpedo 24-3. The pressure on the home net was partly a tactical decision: the teams had roughly the same amount of attacking possession, but the Belarusians adopted a shoot-on-sight policy that continually asked questions of home goalie Ivan Kulbakov. Vitaly Pinchuk restored the lead within a minute of Atanasov’s equalizer, and Daniil Sotishvili extended that advantage late in the middle frame.

The third period again brought an early goal for Torpedo. This time, Yegor Vinogradov reduced the deficit. Dinamo could not repeat its earlier fusillade of shots, but did enough to hold off Torpedo and preserve a 3-2 advantage. Then, in the final minutes, the visitor made the game safe on goals from Alexander Volkov and Sergei Kuznetsov.

Dynamo keeps up strong run

Dynamo Moscow 2 Vityaz Moscow Region 1 (1-0, 0-0, 1-1)

A third successive victory for the home team – and a sixth in the last seven games – underlines the progress of Alexei Kudashov’s team after a sluggish start to the season. In a congested section, the Blue-and-Whites are just one point behind third-placed Spartak, much closer to the kind of position they were expected to occupy this term.

Today’s game was a fairly low-key affair. While there was never a huge difference between the teams, the Dynamo defense always looked stronger. With 24 blocked shots and 26 hits, the Muscovites did a solid job of frustrating Vityaz. Of the visitor’s 61 attempts at goal, just 22 reached Maxim Motorygin.

At the other end, Artyom Mikheyev put Dynamo in front midway through the first period with his third goal of the season. The lead lasted until early in the third, when Stanislav Yarovoi brought Vityaz level. That drew an immediate response, and Maxim Dzhioshvili struck 31 seconds later to restore the home lead and scored what turned out to be the winning goal.