Day of late goals. December 26 round-up

Thursday’s KHL card saw just two games, both in the Eastern Conference. And both were decided by goals in the last 10 minutes. Sibir waited until the 54th minute before opening the scoring in a 2-0 win at Barys. Avtomobilist, meanwhile, left it even later, scoring twice in the last 70 seconds to beat Traktor 3-1.

Late markers lift Motormen past Traktor

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

In one of those odd quirks of sporting fate, Avtomobilist collected only its second win in eight games – and got it against high-flying opposition. After defeating league leader Lokomotiv on Dec. 20, the Motormen struck again to beat Eastern Conference top dog Traktor today.

Despite leading the standings, Traktor has been active in the transfer market as tomorrow’s deadline approaches. Nikita Korostelyov, recently signed from Severstal, made his debut here with Nikita Tertyshny omitted and, according to media reports, on his way to a new club.

Avtomobilist continued to reshuffle its lines in search of a more productive roster. Today, Nikolai Zavarukhin restored the Golyshev-da Costa-Macek trio that was effective back in the fall. It took some time, but eventually that produced the opening goal. After the home team began strongly, the first period petered out a little. In the second, though, we saw the first goals of the evening. Once again, Avto looked the livelier, twice hitting the frame of Zach Fucale’s net before Macek opened the scoring from the deep slot. However, Traktor was not behind for long. Despite offering little threat for much of the game, it took just a couple of minutes for Alexander Kadeikin to pick up a loose puck in center ice and advance to beat Vladimir Galkin.

As the middle frame came to a close, Traktor’s PK fluffed a line change and the ‘too many men’ call gave Avtomobilist a five-on-three advantage. But the home team tried too hard to set up a perfect goal, and apart from a Stephane da Costa shot off the post failed to greatly trouble Fucale.

In the final stanza it was clear that neither team was interested in waiting for overtime. Both sides looked for a winning goal. For a time, Traktor was the more dangerous with Maxim Shabanov creating chances for himself and his team-mates. However, he could not unlock the home defense and Avtomobilist secured the win with a couple of late goals. Maxim Denezhkin snapped the 1-1 tie with barely a minute to play, then Stepan Khripunov’s empty-netter wrapped it up.

Shirokov snaps stalemate in Astana

Barys Astana 0 Sibir Novosibirsk 2 (0-0, 0-0, 0-2)

Late goals also decided the second game of the day. Sibir’s trip to Kazakhstan was goalless until the latter part of the third period. However, a couple of quick tallies in those closing stages sealed victory for the visitor. Barys fell to a fourth successive loss.

For a long time, this was a goaltending duel. Nikita Boyarkin in the home net enjoyed some good protection from his defense as Barys just about shaded the opening exchanges. He stopped 15 shots through two goalless periods, building a platform from which his team had a chance of winning the game.

At the other end, Denis Kostin was slightly busier, but he kept the home offense at bay throughout the game. Sibir’s goalie finished with 29 saves to secure his fourth shut-out of the season. That’s a career high for the 29-year-old, whose 10th win of the campaign is another personal best.

Sibir eventually secured the victory in the closing stages. Captain Sergei Shirokov opened the scoring in the 54th minute, starting the play with a pass from the corner to the blue line, then getting into place on the slot to put away the loose puck after Nikita Korotkov’s shot had the Barys defense scrambling. Two minutes later, Kirill Rasskazov’s first goal since joining Sibir from Amur (and his first since Oct. 24) sealed the win. The visiting moves back in front of Lada into ninth place, three points adrift of the playoffs.