Traktor wins leadership battle, SKA and Amur go goal crazy. November 30 round-up

Saturday’s big game saw the top two in the East go head-to-head. It lived up to its billing, with Avtomobilist reeling in Traktor’s 3-0 lead, only to fall 5-3 to the conference leader. There was more excitement in Khabarovsk, where SKA and Amur shared 12 goals before the visitor won it 7-5. Salavat Yulaev eased to a 5-1 victory over Spartak, despite falling behind early on. Admiral made it three in a row with a 4-3 verdict over Sochi.

Third straight win for Sailors

Admiral Vladivostok 4 HC Sochi 3 (1-1, 1-0, 2-2)

The Sailors secured a third successive victory as Sochi began an eight-game road trip with a narrow loss. The home team was unchanged following wins over Amur (5-3) and SKA (3-2 SO), while Leonid Metalnikov made his 300th KHL appearance.

The home team was more assertive in the opening stages and opened the scoring inside five minutes. Sochi failed to clear its zone properly and Admiral took advantage. Nikita Soshnikov led a two-on-one break and Georgy Solyannikov joined the rush in time to convert the pass. Soshnikov’s assist takes his productive streak to four games. However, that bright start did not produce a lasting lead: Sochi tied it up thanks to a power play goal from Jesse Graham, who potted his sixth of the season.

The second period continued with Admiral doing most of the attacking. Through 40 minutes, the Sailors outshot the Leopards 27-11 and secured a 2-1 lead at the second intermission. Daniil Gutik, the Sailors’ leading scorer, started the move and finished it off by potting a rebound to restore the home lead.

Once again, Sochi found a way back, this time tying the game 32 seconds into the third period. Sergei Popov’s powerful shot made it 2-2. After that, the play was more even as Admiral struggled to maintain its earlier dominance. Sochi had a good chance to get ahead in the 54th minute when Libor Sulak went to the box – and in the home captain’s absence, Ilya Fedotov took advantage to make it 3-2 to the visitor.

However, Admiral responded with a goal just seven seconds later from Stepan Starkov to tie it up once again. Then, in the closing stages, Solyannikov’s shot from the right wing saw Dmitry Zavgorodny’s deflection find the net to give the Sailors the verdict.

SKA wins crazy game in Khabarovsk

Amur Khabarovsk 5 SKA St. Petersburg 7 (1-1, 2-3, 2-3)

A wild game in Khabarovsk brought 12 goals and two hat-tricks: Alex Galchenyuk hit three against his former club, while Marat Khairullin potted a treble in a 7-5 win for SKA.

After losing in a shoot-out in Vladivostok, SKA responded by shuffling some of its younger players. Nikolai Polyakov was added to the offense, while Nikita Smirnov replaced Ivan Vydrenkov at the back. For Amur, today’s game was a chance for goalie Viktor Kobozev to renew acquaintances with SKA after he made his KHL debut in Petersburg recently.

Despite the goal rush to come, the teams began the game cautiously. The first five minutes’ play brought just three shots between the two teams. Gradually, though, the tempo picked up. SKA opened the scoring in the 13th minute when a wayward clearance helped Arseny Koromyslov get his first goal for SKA. Amur replied quickly, with Ignat Korotkikh tying the scores on the next shift.

That flurry of scoring set the tone for the rest of the game. The middle frame brought five goals. First, Arnaud Durandeau’s double minor put Amur in trouble. But the PK released Kirill Slepets on a breakaway and after he was fouled, Galchenyuk converted the subsequent penalty shot. SKA responded by converting both of Durandeau’s penalties to get up 3-2. Evgeny Kuznetsov tied the game before Khairullin got his first of the game. The three goals came in 59 seconds.

And that wasn’t all. Durandeau got back on the ice and missed a glorious chance before Galchenyuk tied it up in the 28th minute off Alex Broadhurst’s feed. Another couple of minutes went by and Khairullin joined Galchenyuk on two goals as the visitor led again.

There was no more scoring in the middle frame, but that was merely a pause before the goals started flying again in the third. Smirnov added a fifth SKA goal at the start of the final stanza and Sergei Plotnikov made it 6-3 in the 44th minute. At that point, both teams swapped goalies and handed KHL debuts to two more youngsters: SKA’s Stanislav Berezhnoi and Amur’s Damir Shaimardanov made their bows at this level.

Berezhnoi lasted just over 11 minutes without allowing a goal. Then he was beaten by Oleg Li, who had previously wasted several chances to score. Amur continued to press and Galchenyuk’s hat-trick goal made it 5-6 with 2:28 on the clock. But there was no heroic fightback. Instead, Khairullin scored into an empty net to clinch the win and complete his hat-trick.

Leivo double leads Ufa to victory

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 Spartak Moscow 1 (0-1, 3-0, 2-0)

Third in the east defeated second in the west as Spartak failed to build on a promising start in Ufa. The visitor got a first-period lead but fell away in the second as Salavat Yulaev scored three unanswered goals to take control of the game.

Although Spartak got the lead early on, Salavat Yulaev had cause to feel hard done-by. The home team had more of the puck and created several decent chances, but could not find a way past Dmitry Nikolayev. At the other end, Veniamin Korolyov’s fourth minute goal, the first in the KHL for the 21-year-old defenseman, separated the teams.

Salavat was close to tying the scores at the start of the second period when Mikhail Naumenkov’s shot clipped the bar before flying to safety. The equalizer was delayed by a penalty on Nathan Todd, but back at full strength the home team found the net through Josh Leivo. Ufa continued to press and midway through the stanza Denis Yan and Vladislav Yefremov scored twice in two minutes to build a 3-1 lead.

Spartak called a time-out, but never really recovered. Salavat Yulaev had a goal whistled off at the end of the middle frame – Sheldon Rempal’s finish came just after the hooter – but padded its lead in the third. Leivo’s second of the game quashed any hopes of a Spartak fightback and Alexander Sharov’s late power play tally completed the scoring. The visitor’s miserable day ended with Alexander Belyayev missing a penalty shot.

Traktor on top in battle of the Eastern leaders

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

The top two in the Eastern Conference met in Yekaterinburg, with the home team hoping to cut the gap to Traktor to a single point with victory in regulation.

That outcome looked unlikely in the early stages as the conference leader built a 3-0 lead by the 26th minute. However, the Motormen kept battling to set up an enthralling finish before losing out in an entertaining game.

The first period produced few chances, but that suited Traktor just fine. The visitor had just four shots at Evgeny Alikin, but took a 1-0 lead to the intermission thanks to Vitaly Kravtsov. He picked up the rebound after Maxim Shabanov fired into the goalie’s pads, opening the scoring in the 19th minute. 

At the start of the second, Traktor built on that success. Ilya Karpukhin doubled the lead, then Shabanov struck on the power play. With the home offense struggling to make its presence felt, 3-0 looked like an almost impregnable lead.

But Semyon Der-Arguchintsev's foul opened a way back for Avtomobilist. Brooks Macek quickly converted the power play in trademark fashion to get his team into the game.

It stayed 3-1 until the third period. Then, Sergei Zborovsky got Avto back to within a single goal, firing home Stephane Da Costa’s feed to the right-hand circle. Traktor had to respond and did, fast, with Dylan Sikura making it 4-2 14 seconds later. After a long wait for his first KHL goal, the Canadian now has two in three games and is starting to repay the extended faith shown in him by Benoit Groulx.

The visitor could not relax, though. Midway through the third period, Avtomobilist scored again when former Traktor man Alexei Byvaltsev redirected Kirill Vorobyov’s slap shot past Sergei Mylnikov. With 10 to play, there was ample time to find the tying goal that the Motormen craved. Mylnikov was kept busy, while Alikin went to the bench with two minutes to play. But after Nikita Tryamkin nearly tied it up with a shot from beyond the goal line, Traktor sealed the deal on Andrei Svetlakov’s empty net goal.

The win sees Traktor move five clear at the top of the Eastern Conference, bouncing back from Thursday’s loss in Yaroslavl in another summit battle.