SKA stunned at home, derby wins for Spartak, Ak Bars. November 7 round-up

The shock result of the day saw Sochi defeat SKA 5-2. That’s four losses in a row for the Petersburg team, which drops to third in the West. Spartak’s derby win at CSKA moves it up to second place, while Thursday’s other derby match-up saw Ak Bars win 4-1 at Neftekhimik. Elsewhere, overtime was a common feature. Metallurg defeated Amur in the extras, and Admiral did the same to Avangard. Dinamo Minsk needed a shoot-out to get past Salavat Yulaev, while Avtomobilist won 3-1 at Barys.

Second OT win for Magnitka

Amur Khabarovsk 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)

After a hard-fought win in Vladivostok, Metallurg head coach Andrei Razin shuffled his pack for the next game of the Far East tour. Alexander Smolin replaced Ilya Nabokov in goal in Khabarovsk, while Scott Wilson and Nikita Mikhailis returned to the line-up.

However, it was another new face, Boris Osipovich, who opened the scoring in the fifth minute. The 19-year-old forward had not featured since Oct. 19, but he wasted little time in potting his second KHL goal here.

Amur’s scoring struggles of late are well documented, so falling behind early posed a big problem for the home team. However, even though the Tigers are still awaiting a decision on the new full-time head coach, interim boss Viktor Kostyuchyonok has at least got them scoring again. After a frustrating first period, the home team tied it up early in the second thanks to Alex Broadhurst. A quick breakaway saw him combine with Vladislav Barulin to make the breakthrough.

From that point on, both teams had chances – notably Danila Yurov early in the third for Metallurg. As the game neared its close, Amur tried to force the issue in regulation, putting pressure on Smolin’s net but managing nothing more than a dangerous wrister from Alexander Shchemerov.

That saw Metallurg go to OT for the second time on this tour. And, for the second time, the Steelmen quickly got on the power play and took advantage to grab the winner. Yurov set up Valery Orekhov for a one-timer which beat Dmitry Lozebnikov to the short side.

Osnovin gives Admiral the edge

Admiral Vladivostok 3 Avangard Omsk 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Beaten in OT on Tuesday, Admiral won it in the extras today. Vyacheslav Osnovin’s fourth goal of the season sank Avangard after 45 seconds of overtime as the Hawks continue to alternate wins and losses.

The visitor came into this game without Ryan Spooner and defenseman Pavel Koledov, while Matvei Zaseda made his debut as a third-line wing. Admiral welcomed back Stepan Starkov after more than a month out injured. Former Avangard goalie Andrei Mishurov got the start for the Sailors.

He was beaten by the first shot of the game. Reid Boucher was allowed to bring the puck from behind the net to the slot, from where he fired past Mishurov. Inspired, Avangard continued to create chances. Nikolai Prokhorkin really should have doubled the lead when presented with an open net from a meter out, while Zaseda produced two dangerous attempts in one shift.

It took time for the home team to come into the game, but by the end of the first period the balance of looked more competitive. And early in the second, Nikita Soshnikov’s individual skills tied the game with a fantastic shot under pressure from the defense.

Avangard often struggled to make much on the power play, despite frequent opportunities. And at equal strength, Admiral was more than capable of testing the visitor. In the third period, a poor PP was followed by Starkov celebrating his return with the go-ahead goal shortly after his team got back to full strength.

The visitor had time to fight back, and used almost all of it in search of an equalizer. Having scored in the first minute, Boucher waited until the last to do it again, jumping on a rebound first to drag the game into overtime.

However, the extras were done in 45 seconds as Osnovin’s one-timer wrapped up a home win.

Late rally lifts Avtomobilist past Barys

Barys Astana 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (1-0, 0-0, 0-3)

Avtomobilist produced a strong third period to turn this game around and grab the win against the Eastern Conference struggler. Victory moves the Motormen to within four points of leader Traktor and Nikolai Zavarukhin’s men have a game in hand.

Home captain Roman Starchenko returned from injury for his first game since Oct. 5. Barys also welcomed back goalie Andrei Shutov after he rejoined the club following a spell with Slovan Bratislava. For the visitor, Nick Merkley was unexpected pushed onto the fourth line as he looks to play himself back into some kind of form following a disappointing run.

In the early stages, there was little to get the crowd excited. From the opening shift, Barys made it clear that it was happy to give up possession and keep Avtomobilist to the perimeter. The visitor struggled to find a way through a congested defense. It made for steady home progress, but little to threaten either goalie.

When Avto managed to get some sort of attacking rhythm, Shutov was solid in response. Meanwhile, Barys added some edge to its counterattacks and grabbed the lead when Nikita Setdikov skated half the length of the ice, got around Nick Ebert and scored his first for the Kazakhs against his former club.

That seemed to inspire the home team, which looked far more energetic after the intermission. But neither team could find a goal in the middle frame: Merkley saw a good chance for an equalizer get away from him, then Vladimir Galkin made an important save to deny Ivan Nikolishin from close range.

At the start of the third, Barys ran into serious penalty trouble. Two offenses in the space of 18 seconds promised a long spell of three-on-five, and during that time, came a too many men call to prolong the agony. However, the visitor could not capitalize: a mix of conservative attacking and some good saves from Shutov kept Barys in front.

With the teams back at full strength, the Motormen finally drew level thanks to a thunderous shot from Nikita Tryamkin in the 47th minute. Then the visiting power play got it right at last. A fourth too many men call undid the home team and Brendan Leipsic got the game-winner on the PP. Stephane Da Costa wrapped it up with an empty-netter.

Shoot-out success for Minsk

Dinamo Minsk 3 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 SO (0-1, 2-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

The Bison bounced back from a surprise loss at home to Vityaz with a shoot-out win over Salavat Yulaev. The visitor was hoping to move into third place in the east, if only temporarily, but instead lost ground to Ak Bars. Dinamo, meanwhile, restored its two-point gap to ninth-placed Vityaz.

The home team made a strong start to the game, generating several good looks at Alexander Samonov’s net. However, there was no early goal and Salavat Yulaev came into the game as the first period developed. And, more than steadying the ship, Ufa grabbed the opening goal in the 19th minute. Yaroslav Tsulygin’s powerful slap shot was directed into the net by Nathan Todd, beating Yegor Velmakin in the Dinamo goal.

At the start of the second period, Dinamo turned the game right around. First, Vitaly Pinchuk tied it up in the 24th minute, then three minutes later, Alexander Volkov made it 2-1 with his 100th KHL point. Volkov’s effort was a curious one, bouncing off Samonov’s back and dropping into the net. Salavat wasted little time in drawing back level: a classic counterattack ended with Alexander Chmelevski picking his moment to unleash a successful shot.

After four goals in the first half of the game, there was no more scoring. The teams could not find a winner in regulation, nor in overtime. Dinamo had the better of the extras, helped by Nikita Zorkin’s tripping minor, but Samonov kept his goal intact and sent the game to a shoot-out. Sam Anas made the difference here, potting the winner in sudden death to give the home team the verdict.

Ak Bars on top in Tatar derby

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Ak Bars Kazan 4 (1-2, 0-1, 0-1)

Ak Bars came out on top in the Tatarstan derby, taking an early lead in Nizhnekamsk and closing out a 4-1 verdict.

The action started immediately, but not in the home team’s favor. Riley Barber, who finished last season at Ak Bars, gave his former club a gift in the first minute with a tripping penalty. The subsequent power play saw Alexander Barabanov elegantly open the scoring after 87 seconds.

Midway through the opening frame, the teams traded quick goals. After a flurry of penalties, Barber assisted on a power play goal for Andrei Belozyorov to tie the scores. However, with Ak Bars back at full strength it took just 28 seconds for Kirill Semyonov to restore the visitor’s advantage. Another home power play saw Timur Bilyalov at his best to protect that lead to the intermission.

Indeed, a lack of discipline threatened to undermine the Kazan cause in this game. At the start of the second period the visitor took two O-zone penalties and had to rely on some hard labor at the back to the preserve a 2-1 advantage. However, when Ak Bars got a power play late in the middle frame, it demonstrated how to use the man advantage and Mitchell Miller extended the lead with his first goal of the season.

Barabanov was close to his second of the night at the start of the third, but fired against the bar when well placed. That kept Neftekhimik in contention, but Dmitrij Jaskin’s goal in the 55th minute wrapped up the win for Ak Bars. The visitor consolidates its position in third in the East, Neftekhimik remains in eighth place, just one point clear of the chasing pack.

Moscow stays Red-and-White

CSKA Moscow 1 Spartak Moscow 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0)

The Moscow derby ended in Spartak’s favor, with Alexei Zhamnov continuing its good form against its capital city rivals. The Red-and-Whites made it three wins from three games against CSKA, and also has a win and a loss against Dynamo. CSKA, meanwhile, saw a three-game winning streak come to an end and remains in sixth in the Western Conference.

The first period saw few chances. At the end of 20 minutes, the shot count was 6-6. Despite this, Spartak twice got it past Ivan Prosvetov, albeit only once within the rules. The disallowed goal came in the eighth minute when Pavel Poryadin saw his initial shot saved and followed up to stuff the puck over the line. However, in the process he impeded Prosvetov and a bench challenge from CSKA saw the play called back.

However, the reprieve lasted just two minutes before Ansel Galimov took the puck away from an opponent on the board, got to the slot and steered a low shot past Prosvetov to open the scoring for real.

In the second period, play was similarly even, but there were more scoring chances and more goals. Spartak extended its lead midway through the session when Danil Pivchulin scored his first in the KHL. The 21-year-old forward profited from Galimov’s break down the left and went top shelf to make it 2-0.

CSKA responded five minutes later through Maxim Mamin. He converted Maxim Sorkin’s feed at the second attempt to keep the game very much alive going into the third period.

In that final frame, to nobody’s surprise, CSKA tried to get Spartak on the back foot. The visitor responded by sitting deep and looking to frustrate the home offense. For the most part, that tactic was sound. CSKA had possession but rarely troubled Dmitry Nikolayev in the Red-and-White net. When there was danger, Nikolayev came up with the saves. The final blow for the home team came when Vladislav Kamenev took a tripping call in the 59th minute, leaving CSKA on the PK just when Ilya Vorobyov wanted to unleash a final surge.

Sochi stuns SKA

SKA St. Petersburg 2 HC Sochi 5 (0-1, 0-1, 2-3)

The skid continues. SKA slumped to a fourth successive loss – and this 2-5 humbling at home against the Western Conference’s basement team is the most painful of that unhappy run.

And don’t be deceived into thinking that this was some kind of smash-and-grab effort from the outsider. Although SKA had more shots, Sochi played an active role throughout the game and fully merited its win.

The Leopards had the better of the first period, and deservedly took the lead in the 13th minute on a goal from Timur Khafizov. The home defense was caught in possession in its own zone, Khafizov collected the puck and advanced to beat former Sochi goalie Yegor Zavragin. Late in the session a power play for the visitor brought good chances for Daniil Seroukh and Kirill Rasskazov but Zavragin kept the score to one at the intermission.

However, that was almost the end of his evening. Artur Tyanulin grabbed an early goal for Sochi in the second period, and Pavel Moisevich came into the game in place of the starting goalie. Now, SKA began to flex. The middle frame saw the home team dominate, outshooting Sochi 15-5. The visiting defense blocked 10 more efforts, and killed four penalties to preserve a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes. But it felt like it was only a matter of time before SKA got back into the game.

However, a penalty on Ivan Demidov just before the intermission helped Khafizov get his second of the night on the power play at the start of the third. Now SKA was playing without a netminder when it got on the power play, but still could not find a way past Sergei Ivanov.

When the home team finally got on the scoreboard through Marat Khairullin, there was barely time to announce the scorer before Sochi went down the ice to make it 4-1. Andrei Nikonov got the goal just 35 seconds after Khairullin’s. With four minutes left, Moisevich again went to the bench but this time the visitor scored into the empty net when Khafizov added an assist on Danil Avershin’s goal. Six-man SKA managed a late consolation from Mikhail Vorobyov, but still suffered a hefty loss on home ice.