Severstal gets back on target, wins for Moscow duo. December 1 round-up

After two games without a goal, Severstal fell 0-2 behind at Avangard before rediscovering that scoring touch. The visitor rallied to win it 4-2. Later on Sunday, Dynamo Moscow had a high-scoring OT success at Kunlun Red Star, while CSKA eased past Barys with a 3-1 scoreline. 

Severstal rediscovers scoring touch 

Avangard Omsk 2 Severstal Cherepovets 4 (2-1, 0-0, 0-3) 

The Hawks blew a 2-0 lead on home ice, suffering a second loss in three days. Severstal produced a big fightback to cancel out Avangard’s lead after Nail Yakupov scored his second goal in six games since returning to Omsk. 

Yakupov is a recent arrival, but amid Avangard’s on-going rebuild there was a debut for Danil Bashkirov on today’s third line. The former Salavat Yulaev man was signed from Metallurg, where he had four points from 18 games this season. Severstal had failed to score in its last two games and welcomed back forwards Alexei Kruchinin and Alexander Skorenov. Konstantin Shostak got the start in goal. 

Avangard had an early power play, but could do little with it. A second penalty was not so easily shrugged off, though, and Emil Galimov’s power play goal opened the scoring on 4:17 when he followed up a Nikolai Prokhorkin shot. 

Back at equal strength, Severstal looked the better team and might have found a tying goal before Yakupov doubled the home lead midway through the frame. But after a long wait for a goal, the visitor found the net at last a minute later when Yanni Kaldis fired a shot through traffic and Nikita Serebryakov saw it too late to make a save. There might have been a tying goal before the intermission when Severstal had more than a minute of five-on-three play. However, Avangard defended bravely and carried the 2-1 advantage to the break. 

The middle frame saw Severstal continue to have more of the game. By the end of the session, Serebryakov had 28 saves and Nikita Korostelyov had hit the post. But it wasn’t until the third period that the visitor got on top. Mark Barberio’s defense-splitting pass set up Danil Aimurzin for the tying goal. An unnecessary too many men call slowed Severstal’s progress, but not for long. The PK did its job and once back at full strength Mikhail Ilyin’s goal put the Steelmen on top for the first time. 

It all ended with an empty-net goal from Korostelyov to seal the road win for Severstal. Avangard’s problems continue, and the home team will be hoping that Guy Boucher can get here as quickly as possible to start putting things right. 

Dynamo prevails despite Likhachyov’s debut strike 

Kunlun Red Star 4 Dynamo Moscow 5 OT (0-2, 3-2, 1-0, 0-1) 

Yaroslavl Likhachyov made a spectacular debut for Red Star following his loan move from Lokomotiv. The young forward tied this game four seconds before the hooter, writing his name into Dragons’ folklore right away. 

The Dragons trailed 0-2 after the first period, and 3-4 going into the third. But just as it looked like Dynamo had secured the verdict, Likhachyov’s late strike took the action into overtime. 

However, after a 4-4 tie the home team was unable to finish the job in the extras. Jordan Weal grabbed a winner in overtime as the Blue-and-Whites bounced back from 0-1 derby loss to CSKA during the week. 

Dynamo dominated that opening stanza, outshooting the Dragons 12-3 and easing into a 2-0 lead. Maxim Dzioshvili and Artyom Mikheyev had the visitor in control at the first intermission. 

But KRS battled back in an entertaining second period. Ian McCoshen was on target for the second game in a row to reduce the deficit in the 22nd minute. There were more problems to come for the home team: Dmitry Rashevsky made it 3-1, then Kunlun was forced to kill a penalty. But by the midway point the teams were playing four-on-three after a rush of penalties, and Red Star took advantage of its unusual power play to make it a one-goal game thanks to veteran Luke Lockhart. 

There was more scoring to come, with Max Comtois restoring Dynamo’s two-goal cushion before Jan Drozg scored his first since joining Kunlun. The Slovenian international added to his assist on McCoshen’s effort and moves to 4 (1+3) points in five games since arriving from Amur. 

The final frame saw Red Star on the rise. The home team had the better of the play and came close to tying the scores in the closing minutes when Rourke Chartier and Tyler Graovac both tested Maxim Motorygin. And as play went into the final minute, with the teams playing four-on-four, the Dragons called Jeremy Smith to the bench in favor of an extra attacker. The gamble paid off, with Likhachyov salvaging a point in dramatic fashion before Dynamo escaped with the win.

Boyarkin’s bravery can’t save Barys 

CSKA Moscow 3 Barys Astana 1 (1-0, 0-0, 2-1) 

The scoreline was closer than the balance of play in Moscow as CSKA dominated against Barys. A big performance from visiting goalie Nikita Boyarkin kept the game alive, but the Kazakh offense struggled to generate chances all night and not even a late strike from Anton Burdasov could change the pattern of the game. 

For 40 minutes, CSKA controlled this game completely. However, despite outshooting Barys 27-5 and having 14 minutes of attacking possession against four, there was only one goal in it at the second intermission. That came from Maxim Mamin midway through the first period. A quick attack saw Yegor Afanasyev fire a pass to the back door where Mamin was waiting to put away his fourth goal of the season. 

In the second period, the home dominance continued. But visiting goalie Nikita Boyarkin was in fine form to keep CSKA at bay. When he was beaten, in the 37th minute, Barys made challenge and the video review agreed that there was a high stick on the play. 

The Muscovites got that second goal right at the start of the final session. Mamin turned provider, assisting as Yegor Fateyev made it 2-0. That might have effectively ended the contest, but although Barys was still struggling to get shots on goal, the visitor managed to stay in touch. And a 56th-minute strike from Anton Burdasov, up against one of his former clubs, raised the prospect of an unlikely fightback. However, Konstantin Okulov made it 3-1 shortly afterwards, easing home nerves and securing the verdict.