Loko steams past Traktor. November 3 round-up

Sunday’s top game saw the two conference leaders clash in Chelyabinsk. But it was the visitor, Lokomotiv, that came out on top, claiming an eighth straight win with a 5-3 scoreline. In the other action, Barys moved off the foot of the Eastern Conference with a shoot-out win over Neftkehimik.

Two for Radulov, 200 for Shalunov

Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 5 (1-2, 1-1, 1-2)

Maxim Shalunov’s 200th KHL goal helped Lokomotiv take the battle of the Conference leaders in Chelyabinsk. A 5-3 verdict over Traktor made it eight successive victories for Igor Nikitin’s team, moving it eight points clear of today’s opponent and 11 ahead of SKA, currently second in the Western Conference.

The visitor made a fast start, converting the first power play of the game in the fifth minute. Alexander Radulov was the scorer, redirecting Rushan Rafikov’s point shot past Zach Fucale. Five minutes later, another power play brought a second goal for the Railwaymen as Shalunov reached his milestone. This time, the Loko forward collected a rebound off the boards and shot from a dead angle to bounce the puck off Fucale’s pads and into the net.

Midway through the opening frame Shalunov was in the thick of it again after getting into a fight with Charles Robinson. The Traktor man also picked up an interference minor, giving Loko a third power play but this time there was no goal. Instead, the home team halved the deficit in the 15th minute through Artyom Blazhiyevsky. The defenseman, whose penalty led to Shalunov’s goal, made amends when he skated onto Mikhail Kotlyarevsky’s pass from behind the net and rifled home a shot from the circle.

Traktor had a good chance to draw level at the start of the second period when Nikita Kiryanov took a major penalty for a high stick on Steven Kampfer. But the visiting PK held firm and the next big scoring chance went to Lokomotiv. Fucale’s misplaced pass from behind his net invited Shalunov to shoot into an empty net, but a review showed that the goal was prevented from getting back into position by interference from Maxim Beryozkin.

Loko eventually extended its advantage in the 35th minute through Stepan Nikulin, but Traktor responded with a Dylan Sikura goal just before the intermission. That was the Canadian’s first in the KHL since joining Traktor in the summer.

The play remained end-to-end, but Lokomotiv always managed to keep itself in front. Radulov potted his second of the day at the start of the third period, forcing Traktor to pile forward in search of a way back into the game. The home team came close to a recovery: first, Alexander Sharov banged in a Nikita Tertyshny feed at the back door to make it 3-4 on 48 minutes. Then, on 51 minutes, Yegor Popov beat Daniil Isayev in the Loko net, only to see the puck rebound off the post to safety.

Home hopes were effectively ended in the 56th minute when Pavel Kraskovsky added a fifth for the visitor. Fucale went to the bench, but even against six skaters the Lokomotiv defense held firm to secure another impressive victory.

Kazakhs start to climb the table

Barys Astana 2 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 SO (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

The Barys revival hit a bump when it lost at home to Kunlun last week. However, after a pause and time to regroup, Galym Mambetaliyev’s team bounced back to inflict a fourth successive loss on Neftekhimik.

In the first period, Barys had a great chance to open the scoring when it had 90 seconds of five-on-three power play. However, the visitor’s PK came up strong to frustrate the Kazakh offense. At the other end, Neftekhimik managed a power play goal late in the frame thanks to Vyacheslav Leshchenko. It was the second time the Wolves beat Nikita Boyarkin on the power play, but the first, early in the game, was ruled out by a video review.

After the intermission, Barys managed to score on a power play. Kirill Savitsky, back in action after a lay-off, hauled his team level midway through the game. That was the last power play of the second period, and also the last goal until the shoot-out. Equal strength teams played out an equal contest although late in regulation Barys almost won it on the PP. In the extras, Neftekhimik dominated, helped by a power play of its own, but there was no goal and the action went to a shoot-out. Batyrlan Muratov settled that in favor of the home team, lifting Barys off the foot of the table.