Amur wins at 15th attempt, fightbacks for Dynamo and Sibir. November 22 round-up

Amur Khabarovsk ended a 14-game losing streak with a fine 3-0 success at Barys. Rookie goaltender Viktor Kobozev had his first KHL shut-out in only his third game at this level. There was excitement in Minsk, where the home team was playing its 1,000th KHL game. At first, the Belarusians looked set for victory, opening a 3-0 lead. However, Dynamo Moscow hit back to win 4-3, helped by two goals from Nikita Gusev. There was another fightback in Sochi, where the home team blew a 2-0 lead and lost 2-4 against Sibir. Elsewhere, Avangard edged Admiral 2-1 in Omsk.

Hawks hand Sailors a fifth straight loss

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

The Hawks ended a five-game home stand with a hard-fought victory over Admiral. The win means Avangard continue to alternate victory and defeat – it’s now a 10-game sequence dating back to Oct. 23. Admiral suffered a fifth successive loss but remains sixth in the table. The home team moves to within a point of the playoff places.

Avangard had two new signings in action – Emil Galimov and Ilya Kablukov both made their first KHL appearances of the season on the fourth line. Nikolai Prokhorkin returned to the home line-up, while Stanislav Galiyev, Alexei Makeyev and Alex Grant missed out.

Admiral, too, had a new signing in action with defenseman Mark Marin taking the place of Artyom Chmykhov. That was one of three changes on the visiting team.

The home side made a fast start and Admiral goalie Ilya Konovalov was called into early action to snuff out dangerous chances for Ilya Reingardt and Alexander Yaremchuk. After those scares, Admiral steadied the ship and moved play away from its net. Avangard still had a slight edge, but there were few scoring chances.

It might have petered out into a goalless opening stanza, but late in the session Admiral blundered when trying to clear its zone. Damir Sharipzyanov fired in a shot and Reingardt’s touch steered it into the net.

At the end of the first, Admiral got a power play. However, the Sailors could not take advantage on either side of the intermission. The next PP was far more effective. Kablukov barely had time to sit down in the box before Nikita Soshnikov forced the puck home.

For a time, the Sailors took the initiative after that morale-boosting goal. Avangard lapsed into its unfortunate second-period habit of losing puck battles, fluffing its changes and struggling to defend. It seemed that Admiral was poised to move in front, but against the run of play the Hawks grabbed the lead. Nail Yakupov, another recent signing, leapt like a basketball player to keep the puck in the visitor’s zone, then sent it to the puck for Prokhorkin to beat Konovalov.

Soon after Igor Martynov thought he had a third for the host. However, the play was immediately overturned and Martynov was assessed a hooking minor instead. Admiral could not make the most of that reprieve, failing to impress on the power play and going into the intermission down 1-2.

The teams traded great chances early in the third: Matvei Zaseda might have given Avangard some breathing space, then Giovanni Fiore redirected the puck towards an open net only for Sharipzyanov to clear it from the line. In the end, the Sailors’ hopes sank into penalty trouble; Avangard could not extend its lead, but ran the clock down to take a narrow verdict.

Victory at last for Amur

Barys Astana 0 Amur Khabarovsk 3 (0-0, 0-2, 0-1)

The Tigers snapped a 14-game skid with a much-needed win on the road at Barys. This clash between two teams at the foot of the Eastern Conference standings saw Amur looking to recover from a 3-7 loss at Spartak in the previous game. Interim head coach Viktor Kostyuchyonok switched up every single line of his roster – offense and defense alike and was rewarded with a shut-out to secure his first victory as a KHL head coach.

Barys came into this one after back-to-back wins, so Galym Mambetaliyev made only minor adjustments to his team. In the first period, the home team had good chances on the power play. However, at equal strength Amur arguable shaded the play. Alex Galchenyuk and Ilya Talaluyev had decent looks but could not beat Nikita Boyarkin in the home net.

It wasn’t until the second period that the visitor turned its advantage into goals. Early in the frame, Galchenyuk won a penalty shot and converted it himself, slipping the puck beneath Boyarkin’s left pad. Five minutes later, he had his second of the game, finishing off a three-man rush involving Vladislav Barulin and Alex Broadhurst. That extended Galchenyuk’s productive run to five games, with 7 (5+2) points in that time

The Kazakhs might have got back into contention at the start of the third period, but failed to capitalize on two power plays in quick succession. Although Barys managed to get the game away from its net, there was not enough guile to break through the Amur rearguard. The Tigers were happy to play on the counter and eventually sealed the win in the 55th minute when Oleg Li got clean through on goal to make it 3-0. At the other end, goalie Viktor Kobozev made 28 saves for his first KHL shut-out in only his third game.

Gusev’s double crowns Dynamo fightback

Dinamo Minsk 3 Dynamo Moscow 4 (2-0, 1-1, 0-3)

The Muscovites rallied from 0-3 to preserve their winning streak in the latest edition of the Dynamic Derby. For Minsk, defeated 6-3 in the Russian capital early in the season, revenge seemed to be on the way after a strong start to the game. But the visitor hit back late in the second and ultimately claimed a 4-3 verdict helped by two goals from Nikita Gusev.

This was the Belarusians’ 1,000th KHL game. The gala occasion attracted a lively crowd to Arena Minsk and that inspired Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team in the early stages. Brady Lyle opened the scoring in the fourth minute, finishing off a spell of intense pressure on Hunter Miska’s net. Midway through the opening frame, Yegor Borikov doubled the lead.

Although Dinamo jumped to an early 2-0 lead, there were relatively few shots on target in the opening frame. The home team’s success owed more to clinical finishing that an abundance of scoring chances. After the break, Dynamo killed a penalty and then began to create some danger at the other end. Max Comtois was left unattended in front of the home net, but Andrei Tikhomirov denied him with a blocker save.

Midway through the second, another penalty put Moscow in deeper trouble. This time, the Bison were able to convert the chance, confidently moving the puck around until Vitaly Pinchuk steered Vadim Shipachyov’s feed into the net.

At 3-0, Minsk looked to have this one in the bag. The home team was dominating the play and might have added a fourth when Comtois’ error released Roman Gorbunov on Miska’s net. The goalie stopped the first effort and Gorbunov’s second attempt went wide of the target. However, late in the second, Dynamo got its first power play of the game and Nikita Gusev scored to bring the game back to life.

Minsk began the third period on the PK as well and despite surviving that initial test, the Belarusians allowed an Artyom Mikheyev goal at equal strength. Now the Muscovites had the momentum and Belarusian international defenseman Kirill Gotovets tied the game in the 47th minute.

That wasn’t the end: on a delayed penalty, Gusev got his second of the night, putting the visitor in front for the first time in the 53rd minute. There was still work to do to close out the win: a penalty on Gotovets saw Minsk pile on the pressure late in the game, but ultimately Miska kept the home team at bay to secure a battling verdict.

Sibir battles back, snaps skid

HC Sochi 2 Sibir Novisibirsk 4 (2-0, 0-1, 0-3)

Sibir halted its five-game skid with a battling win beside the Black Sea. Despite going down 2-0 to Sochi in the first period, Vadim Yepanchintsev’s team hit back to win it 3-2 thanks to two goals from Vladimir Butuzov.

Both teams had something to prove. Sochi had dropped back to the foot of the Western Conference after Kunlun’s recent revival. Sibir, meanwhile, knew that victory would put it back among the playoff spots in the East despite its losing streak.

Sochi could hardly have hoped for a better start. After 1:25 the home was ahead thanks to Vasily Machulin’s first goal of the season. The 22-year-old defenseman had one assist through 21 games before today. And there was more to come for the Leopards in the 14th minute when Ilya Fedotov doubled the lead.

However, there were warning signs even within that first period. Sibir outshot Sochi 12-6 and had the edge in much of the play. It all suggested that if the visitor could find its way to goal, Sochi might have problems ahead.

And so it proved. Sibir continued to enjoy the better of the game in the second period, and in the 40th minute a power play goal from Andy Andreoff got the visitor on the scoreboard. Then, in the third, Butuzov scored twice in five minutes to give Sibir a 3-2 lead with eight minutes to play. The job was not done: the visitor had to kill Taylor Beck’s holding penalty and resist Sochi’s late storm. However, Andreoff had the final word, scoring into an empty net to seal the win with six seconds left to play.