Another milestone for record scorer, Ak Bars rallies from 0-3. December 6 round-up

Vadim Shipachyov collected his 650th KHL assist in Dinamo Minsk’s 5-2 win at Amur. There were fightbacks in Friday’s other games: Ak Bars came from 0-3 to win 5-3 at Vityaz, Sochi clawed back a 1-3 deficit at Kunlun but fell 3-5 to a couple of late goals. Salavat Yulaev lost the opening goal to Sibir but hit back for a 3-1 win, while Severstal outlasted Barys. The big evening game went to a shoot-out before. 

650 helpers for Shipachyov

Amur Khabarovsk 2 Dinamo Minsk 5 (1-2, 1-1, 0-2)

Vadim Shipachyov’s 650th assist in the KHL helped Dinamo bounce back from Wednesday’s 0-4 loss at Admiral. It was only the second win in five games for the Belarusians, while struggling Amur fell to a third loss in four home engagements.

The Tigers made a good start, with Alex Broadhurst scoring on his team’s first shot on target. Prior to that, the home team killed a penalty on Cam Lee and, after four minutes, looked well placed in the game. However, Dinamo responded strongly, piling the pressure onto Damir Shaymardanov’s net. In the 16th minute, leading goalscorer Vitaly Pinchuk tied it up when he potted the rebound from Alexander Volkov’s effort. Then, just before the break, Volkov scored himself after Nicolas Meloche’s clearance ricocheted unpredictably off the boards. A 2-1 lead at the intermission was reward for Dinamo’s attacking approach: the visitor outshot Amur 22-4 in the opening frame.

Dinamo faced a problem at the intermission when goalie Andrei Tikhomirov was unable to continue. Yegor Velmakin took over between the piping, and was beaten inside seven minutes when Vladislav Barulin tied the game on the power play. However, Velmakin would not be beaten again, and the Bison regained the lead in the middle frame on their own PP. Shipachyov’s 650th assist set up Brady Lyle to make it 3-2.

In the third period, Dinamo continued its attacking play and sealed the win. Roman Gorbunov scored twice, one on the power play, to make the final score 5-2.

Ufa keeps up hot streak

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 1 (0-0, 0-1, 3-0)

A fifth successive victory keeps Salavat Yulaev hot on the trail of Eastern Conference leader Traktor. The current home stand in Ufa has been impressive, with the host team reeling off four victories in a row after starting its current streak with a shut-out verdict at Severstal.

Sibir, meanwhile, is struggling for consistency. Two wins in the previous six games left the visitor in 10th in the East, four points adrift of a playoff spot. That prompted the coaching staff to reinstate Anton Krasotkin as starting goalie after he came off the bench during the defeat to Dinamo Minsk. Maxim Karpov continued to miss out through illness, but 19-year-old forward Yegor Klyosov made his KHL debut as second-line center.

The first period brought plenty of goal attempts – 18 shots on target between the two teams – but no goals. Sibir came closest when the league’s most effective power play beat Semyon Vyazovoi in the home net but saw the puck rebound off the post.

The two nets continued to lead a charmed life until late in the middle frame. But in the 38th minute Sibir broke the spell when that power play claimed another goal; Vladimir Butuzov was the scorer, dinging his shot in off the post.

It didn’t take long for Salavat Yulaev to respond in the third. Just 20 seconds after the restart Nathan Todd celebrated his call-up for the KHL World Team at next week’s Channel 1 Cup with the tying goal. Seven minutes later, Viktor Kozlov’s men were in front: face-off win, point shot and Alexander Chmelevski on hand to stuff home the rebound. Sibir’s best chance to respond fell to Anton Berlyov, but he wasn’t quick enough to beat Vyazovoi. The final moments brought an empty-net goal for Sheldon Rempal to wrap up the home win.

Skorenov’s hat-trick shoots down Barys

Severstal Cherepovets 5 Barys Astana 3 (1-0, 1-1, 3-2)

Despite a battling performance, Barys slipped to a seventh successive loss. Severstal got a morale-boosting victory after a sticky spell of its own; Andrei Kozyrev’s men had lost three of the previous four games.

The early stages were very much to the home team’s liking. Through the first two periods, Severstal outshot its visitor 33-4. Ironically, though, the only goal of the first period came on the PK as Daniil Skorenov put the Steelmen in front. Not only did he open the scoring, he also cancelled out Kirill Pilipenko’s penalty: an unsuccessful bench challenge saw Barys down to four as well.

After scoring shorthanded, Skorenov then added a power play goal in the second period. However, the home team was struggling to make the most of its overall advantage in the play and the hitherto unseen Barys offense pulled a goal back in unlikely fashion: Alikhan Asetov got clear to score the second shorty of the night.

Improbably, it was game on. After two one-sided periods, the third frame was very even. At first, it seemed that Severstal had finished the job when goals from Nikita Korostelyov and Pilipenko opened a 4-1 lead. But Barys hit back through Anton Burdasov on the power play, then the same player made it a one-goal game on 56:20. Over-enthusiasm hurt the visitor and a too many men penalty scuppered the final surge. Skorenov was the beneficiary, completing his hat-trick with an empty-net power play goal to seal a tighter win than the early exchanges suggested.

Abramov gives CSKA the edge

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 1 CSKA Moscow 2 SO (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)

It took 16 rounds of a shoot-out to separate these teams after a 1-1 tie in Nizhny Novgorod. The first 10 attempts produced no goals, the first two efforts in sudden death found the target, and eventually Vitaly Abramov gave the visitor the verdict.

It took some time for this game to come to life. The first period was a fairly even battle, but scoring chances were few and far between. CSKA had the edge, outshooting Torpedo 9-4, but it was rare to see either goaltender extended.

After the intermission, Torpedo perked up a bit. In the opening minutes of the second period Mikhail Abramov was close to converting a dangerous feed from Sergei Goncharuk, then Vladislav Firstov failed to make the most of a promising counterattack. After that, CSKA began to gain the upper hand, culminating in a threatening rush from Denis Guryanov that forced a strong blocker save out of Ivan Bocharov in the home net.

After that, a Torpedo power play offered little of note and, back at full strength, CSKA got in front. It started with a turnover in front of the Muscovites’ net and continued with Prokhor Poltapov’s stretch pass releasing Vitaly Abramov for the opener. Then the visitor had a brief spell of three-on-five, but while the penalty continued Guryanov jumped off the bench and almost caught Bocharov napping on another menacing counter.

Torpedo started the third period on the front foot and that pressure was rewarded in the 46th minute when Yegor Vinogradov tied the game. The 21-year-old would have to concede that he enjoyed some good fortune as he brought the puck into the CSKA zone and looked to set up Kirill Voronin in front of the net. Instead, under pressure from the home forward, Nikita Nesterov inadvertently scooped it up and over Ivan Prosvetov and into the net.

There were subsequent chances at both ends: Vitaly Abramov’s deflected shot almost deceived Bocharov in the home net, Bogdan Konyushkov forced a good save from Prosvetov at the other end. But the game was destined to go all the way. CSKA was the more active team during overtime before eventually taking the shoot-out.

Big fightback lifts Ak Bars

Vityaz Moscow Region 3 Ak Bars Kazan 5 (3-1, 0-1, 0-4)

The home team blew a dream start to this game as Ak Bars roared back from 0-3 to win. Vityaz enjoyed a blistering opening, jumping into a three-goal lead inside eight minutes. But the visitor began its recovery in the first period and managed to turn it all around to clinch a fourth straight victory.

Vityaz had taken CSKA to overtime in its previous game and looked to go one better against another of the KHL’s top teams. Alexei Makeyev opened the scoring after 50 seconds, then Alexander Daryin and Andrei Chivilyov scored twice in 90 seconds to make it 3-0 on 7:37.

But Ak Bars did not panic. The visiting bench kept faith with goalie Timur Bilyalov and the team began to play its way back into the game. Despite just four shots at Maxim Dorozhko in the opening frame, Kazan got on the scoreboard before the intermission thanks to Dmitrij Jaskin’s power play effort in the 17th minute.

Power play goals would become a feature of Vityaz’s problems in this game, but the next goal, in the 26th minute, came at equal strength. Ilya Safonov was the scorer and Ak Bars was back to 2-3.

It stayed that way until the start of the third, when a penalty that carried over from the middle frame saw Nic Petan tied it up on 40:12. Midway through the session, the teams traded penalties and even though Ak Bars had a truncated power play, there was a certain inevitability about Artyom Galimov’s go-ahead goal. Earlier in the game, he assisted on Jaskin’s goal; now the roles were reversed as the Czech international collected his second point of the evening. The visitor finished the job with an empty-net goal from Nikita Dynyak: the first eight minutes belonged to Vityaz, the remaining 52 to Ak Bars. 

Sochi’s rally comes up short

Kunlun Red Star 5 HC Sochi 3 (2-0, 1-3, 2-0)

The Dragons got off to a great start, scoring twice in a minute early in the first period. Danny O’Regan opened the scoring in the fifth minute, then Doyle Somerby added a second on the penalty kill. Sochi had three power play chances in the opening frame but could not find a way back into the game.

At the start of the second the visitor did hit the target, but Igor Shvyryov’s effort was quickly trumped by a Colin Campbell power play tally in the 26th minute. Red Star had chances to extend the lead, but Sergei Ivanov denied Tomas Jurco and Spencer Foo. At the other end, Dmitry Utkin and Maxim Fedotov struck late in the frame to make it 3-3 at the intermission.

In the third period, Sochi had the territorial advantage and more shots on goal. However, Kyle Keyser was on top form – notably with a huge stop to deny the visiting PP late in the game. That meant the game was still live going into the last couple of minutes and Parker Foo put Red Star back in front after some great work behind the net from on-loan Yaroslav Likhachyov. It was a rough blow for Sochi, and things got worse for the visitor when Campbell put his second of the night into an empty net.