Spartak on top in Tashkent. December 22 round-up

Sunday saw the return of the KHL World Games. Dinamo Minsk and Spartak Moscow did battle in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and produced a fine advert for KHL hockey. The Belarusians led twice, but Spartak rallied to win in overtime thanks to Adam Ruzicka’s goal. Elsewhere, Avtomobilist blew a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 at Severstal, CSKA moves to third in the West on a 7-4 win over Neftekhimik and Lokomotiv eased past struggling Sochi.

Avto blows 2-0 lead

Severstal Cherepovets 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (1-2, 2-0, 0-0)

After snapping a run of five straight losses at top-of-the-table Lokomotiv, Avtomobilist came to Cherepovets full of confidence. However, Andrei Kozyrev’s home team had won its last four here and, despite allowing two early goals, managed to make it five in a row.

In the early stages, Avto was clearly still enjoying the winning feeling from Yaroslavl. The visitor was more active and more assured in the opening minutes and led 2-0 midway through the first period. The goals came at a 90-second interval thanks to Alexei Byvaltsev and Semyon Kizimov.

However, at the point when the Steelmen might have been knocked off their game, Avtomobilist was caught by a too many men penalty. That power play saw Kirill Pilipenko pull a goal back and continue his hot streak. Pilipenko now has 8 (5+3) points from his past five games and moves to 18 goals for the season.

Team-mate Danil Aimurzin has also been in strong form of late. He was among the points for the fifth game in a row thanks to two tallies late in the second period. Like Pilipenko, he has eight points in that span, although in his case it’s four goals and four helpers.

That completed the turnaround and, after getting in front seconds before the intermission, Severstal never looked back. The third period was fast and frantic, but home goalie Alexander Samoilov made 13 saves to keep his team ahead. At the other end, Evgeny Alikin stopped 12 shots, preventing Severstal from consolidating its lead, but the clock ran down to give the home team the win. 

High-scoring win puts CSKA up to third

CSKA Moscow 7 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 4 (2-1, 3-1, 2-2)

An eighth successive victory lifts CSKA ahead of Moscow rival Dynamo into third place in the Western Conference. But the bare facts do not do justice to an entertaining game that brought 11 goals.

Neftekhimik was the first on the scoreboard with Riley Barber making it 1-0 in the eighth minute. The home defense failed to clear its lines and Barber made the most of the turnover. However, CSKA turned the game around to lead at the first intermission. A five-on-three power play saw Maxim Sorkin tie the scores, then Maxim Mamin made it 2-1 just before the break with a shorthanded effort.

On the face of it, the second period saw CSKA put the game beyond reach. However, that does not fully reflect the extent to which Neftkehimik battled. Although Vitaly Abramov gave the home team a 3-1 lead, the visitor never gave up. Jean-Sebastien Dea got it back to 2-3 midway through the session and it took two goals late in the session to open a slightly flattering 5-2 lead. Nikita Okhotyuk and Abramov with his second of the night secured a commanding advantage.

Recovering three goals always seemed an unlikely task, and when Denis Guryanov made it 6-2 early in the third it felt like the game was done. Nonetheless, Neftkehimik kept battling and managed to ruffle home feathers. Two goals in 40 seconds saw Evgeny Mityakin and Andrei Belozyorov give CSKA something to think about in the last four minutes. But that was the end of the fightback and Guryanov sealed the win when he put his second of the night into an empty net. 

League leader eases past Sochi

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 HC Sochi 1 (1-0, 2-1, 0-0)

The league leader bounced back from defeat against Avtomobilist to beat Sochi for the third time this season. In response to that loss, Lokomotiv brought Bogdan Kiselevich into the line-up for the first time: he’s currently on a try-out with the club. In addition, Alexander Radulov was named captain for the first time since he arrived in Yaroslavl.

The home team made a strong start, and recent signing Richard Panik had two presentable opportunities early on. In the end, though, it was Maxim Beryozkin who opened the scoring after 13 minutes, finishing off from close range from a great feed from Maxim Shalunov. Sochi was limited to playing on the counter, and was indebted to goalie Evgeny Volokhin for keeping the scoreline tight.

The second period followed a similar pattern. Lokomotiv did almost all the attacking, Sochi defended as best it could. And the scoring matched the gameplay: Radulov produced a fine assist for Stepan Nikulin to double the lead, then scored himself in the 34th minute. Between those goals, Artur Tyanulin got one back for the visitor but there was rarely much hope of a recovery.

Not for the first time this season, Igor Nikitin’s team was able to play out the third period calmly. Sochi’s efforts to make a contest foundered on a lack of any cutting edge on offense; Loko defended with little alarm to wrap up a victory in its final home game of 2024. 

Spartak edges Uzbek battle

Dinamo Minsk 2 Spartak Moscow 3 OT (1-1, 0-0, 1-1, 0-1)

The KHL World Games returned on Sunday with Spartak getting the better of Dinamo Minsk in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Belarusians arrived in Central Asia boosted by a three-game winning streak – including a 3-1 success at Ak Bars in the previous game. Spartak missed out in the Moscow derby against CSKA, going down 4-5 in overtime, but remains second in the Western Conference.

Dinamo recent hot streak is built on fast starts and that was in evidence again today. In the first period, the Bison outshot Spartak 18-6 in a dominant display. However, a combination of good goaltending from Dmitry Nikolayev and wasteful finishing meant that there was only one goal to show for that effort. Yegor Borikov was the scorer, finding the far corner on the counterattack.

Spartak had far fewer chances, but did not spend long chasing the game. The Goldobin-Loktionov pairing was always a threat and that was where the tying goal came from. Barely a minute after Dinamo’s opener, Nikolai Goldobin set up Andrei Loktionov to make it 1-1 at the first intermission.

After the break, Spartak showed more offensive intent, deploying a strong press that limited Dinamo’s ability to start attacks. In addition, there was an extra zip to the Red-and-Whites’ play, leading to several dangerous opportunities. The most threatening of these saw Danil Pivchulin on an odd-man rush where he beat the goalie but was forced wide of the net and could not find a shooting angle.

The Muscovites also looked menacing on the power play, with Loktionov close to a second goal at the back door. But there were chances at the other end too, with Alexander Volkov getting clean through before Roman Gorbunov tested Nikolayev.

Gorbunov finally got his goal in the 45th minute, finding the net with a deflected shot on the power play. That prompted Spartak to fire in even more shots at Andrei Tikhomirov in a bid to save the game and the tying goal came midway through the third. Once again, the Loktionov-Goldobin combination unlocked the Dinamo defense: two Belarusians went to Andrei as he carried the puck forward, leaving Goldobin unmarked on the doorstep to convert a pass. Immediately after that, Dinamo had to kill a penalty but Spartak could not take advantage and the game went to overtime.

The extras did not take long. Just 26 seconds into the play, Adam Ruzicka got the goal that gave Spartak the win. Tashkent got its first taste of elite-level hockey, and saw an absorbing contest between two teams ready to go the full distance.