Dynamo on top in SKA clash. December 5 round-up

Thursday’s big game saw SKA entertain Dynamo Moscow in St. Petersburg. The home team took a first-period lead but could not sustain it and fell to a 4-2 loss. Earlier in the day, Traktor stayed out in front in the East with a 3-1 win over third-placed Avtomobilist, while Roman Kantserov’s hat-trick led Metallurg to a 4-0 win at Lada.

Motormen can’t build on early goal

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

Eastern Conference leader Traktor consolidated its position with a 3-1 win over third-placed Avtomobilist. However, today’s visitor has two games in hand over Benoit Groulx’s team in an intriguing battle that also involves second-placed Salavat Yulaev.

The Motormen, beaten in the last two games, made changes for this trip. Star forward Anatoly Golyshev was an unexpected absence on Nikolai Zavarukhin’s roster. Traktor, meanwhile, brought back Vladimir Zharkov in place of Danil Yurtaikin.

In the early action, neither team was eager to force the pace. Scoring chances were infrequent, which made Avtomobilist’s opener in the ninth minute all the more unexpected. Brooks Macek got the goal, stretching his productive streak to five games (3+3). He was assisted by Stephane da Costa, whose hot streak moves to nine games and 13 (3+10) points. The lead lasted until the 20th minute, when Mikhail Kotlyarevsky tied it up for Traktor.

In the second period, Traktor had far more control of the game. The host enjoyed more puck possession, outshot Avtomobilist and created regular scoring chances. That came to a logical conclusion when Dylan Sikura made it 2-1 in the 34th minute, finding an open corner of Evgeny Alikhin’s net on the power play. Traktor had other chances – Semyon Der-Arguchintsev was denied by the post – while Nikita Tryamkin’s solo rush almost brought a tying goal before the intermission.

The third period began with a ghost goal. In the 45th minute, Alexander Kadeikin scored but at first only the fans behind the net noticed. Neither players nor officials saw the puck cross the line. It took a video review to confirm the goal and extend Traktor’s lead to 3-1. After that, it was a straightforward matter for the home team to close out the win, tying this season’s series between the teams at 2-2 with two more meetings to come.

Kantserov’s treble rolls over Lada

Lada Togliatti 0 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 (0-1, 0-0, 0-3)

Roman Kantserov hit his first KHL hat-trick and Alexander Smolin recorded his second shut-out of the season to lead Metallurg to a convincing win at Lada. Smolin backstopped a third successive victory in the absence of Ilya Nabokov.

The home team made a bright start to the game, but was unable to make the most of its early opportunities and fell to a Magnitka counterattack. Denis Zernov joined Kantserov on a two-on-one rush and the youngster potted his first of the night. That was the only goal of the first period, and there were relatively few chances after that one. Lada’s best opportunity went to former Metallurg man Mikhail Fisenko, but Smolin had the measure of his redirect from Andrei Altybarmakyan’s shot.

In the middle frame, Lada looked capable of getting back into the game. Troy Josephs hit the post and Smolin faced several dangerous shots from the home offense. However, a too many men call against the Motormen disrupted that promising passage of play and there was no scoring in the second period.

Metallurg began the final stanza on the power play, and needed just 19 seconds to grab a vital second goal. Robin Press fired in a shot and Luke Johnson applied the perfect redirect to give the visitor some breathing space. There was more to come, with Press setting up Kantserov’s second of the night to make it 3-0 and put the game out of reach midway through the third. And Kantserov completed his hat-trick in the closing stages. Linemate Dmitry Silantyev won a penalty shot, and Roman stepped up to beat Vladislav Podyapolsky and make it 4-0. Smolin finished the game with 28 saves to secure his shut-out.

Dynamo outlasts SKA in game of the day

SKA St. Petersburg 2 Dynamo Moscow 4 (1-0, 0-2, 1-2)

Fourth entertained third in the western conference in the first meeting between these two rivals this season. SKA returned home from a Far East tour that brought a high-scoring win and a shoot-out loss, and Roman Rotenberg’s men were looking to continue a scoring spree that brought 19 goals in four games. However, after allowing 12 goals in that run, there was reason for optimism on Dynamo’s behalf even if Alexei Kudashov’s team has stuttered a little after the end of its six-game streak. The Muscovites’ last two games ended with 5-4 scorelines, and fans in Petersburg were looking forward to more goals tonight.

They didn’t have to wait long for the opener. With six minutes played, SKA’s first line opened the scoring. Evgeny Kuznetsov opened his box of tricks and pulled out a nifty no-look pass from behind the net. Marat Khairullin drilled the puck to the slot, and Grigory Kuzmin finished it off.

That was the only goal of the first period. Dynamo had its chances and even outshot SKA 15-10 through 20 minutes but couldn’t find the net. The visitor’s frustrations were summed up when Nikita Gusev looked to set up Jordan Weal at the back door, only for his pass to be inadvertently blocked by team-mate Yegor Rimashevsky.

Things got better for Rimashevsky and Dynamo at the start of the second period. The Muscovites tied the scores in the 25th minute when Gusev picked out his team-mate with a fine pass to the slot. Yegor did the rest and made it 1-1. The visitor continued to have the better of the game, and turned that into a lead in the 35th minute. Igor Ozhiganov fired the puck in low and Artyom Mikheyev applied the redirect to beat Pavel Moisevich.

But SKA got a power play at the start of the third and used it to get back into the game. Kuznetsov almost produced another masterpiece, skating past three opponents and putting Maxim Motorygin on the ice only to shoot wide of the target. Moments later, SKA had its tying goal. Tony DeAngelo found a great diagonal feed for Arseny Gritsyuk to score at the back door and make it 2-2.

Saved on the power play, but then undone by a penalty when Nikita Smirnov hooked back Artyom Ilyenko in front of Moisevich’s net. That handed Dynamo the momentum, and even though Smirnov had returned to the game, the visitor got ahead 11 seconds after the end of its PP. Ilyenko released Maxim Dzhioshvili into the Petersburg zone and he deked his way past Kuznetsov before planting a backhand into the net.

After regaining the lead, Dynamo played out the closing stages well. For more than four minutes the teams skated without a pause, running down the clock without generating danger for either goalie.

On 57:39, Rotenberg called a time-out and looked to inspire his team to save the game. Immediately afterwards, Moisevich went to the bench and SKA deployed six skaters. DeAngelo almost surprised Motorygin with a shot through traffic, but the visiting goalie got his body behind the puck. Then, at the other end, Jordan Weal’s empty netter finished off a 4-2 win.