Avangard beats Ak Bars, Spartak slips at Severstal. January 6 round-up

The big game of the day was the battle of the Eastern Conference big guns in Kazan. Ak Bars was looking to close on the leaders, but suffered a 1-3 loss against Avangard. Also in the East, Neftekhimik’s win over Sibir puts those two teams level on points in eighth and ninth place. In the West, Severstal bounced back from a heavy loss to beat Spartak 5-3, while Torpedo gained a morale-boosting success at Dinamo Minsk.

Torpedo gets quick revenge

Dinamo Minsk 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 (0-1, 2-1, 0-2)

When Dinamo won 3-0 in Nizhny Novgorod two days ago, it highlighted the risk that Torpedo would stumble into a real dogfight to reach the playoffs. Head coach Igor Larionov admitted that it was the first time he had felt the need to apologise for his team’s performance, and the gap to ninth-placed Kunlun Red Star was cut to just four points.

Today, Torpedo responded. Larionov shuffled all of his attacking lines, with Evgeny Svechnikov moved to the top line with Vladislav Firstov and Maxim Letunov. Dinamo also freshened their pack a little ahead of the return game.

In the opening seconds, Torpedo’s problems looked likely to continue. Chris Tierney got clean through on Ivan Bocharov’s goal but could not convert the chance. Only after that did the visitor demonstrate how much it learned from Saturday’s defeat. Dominating the play in the first period, Torpedo got the only goal in the 11th minute when Letunov converted a power play.

Midway through the second period, Torpedo doubled its lead. Slava Voynov emerged from the penalty box in time to set up a counterattack. The defenseman set up Svechnikov, who coolly slotted home the second goal. But Dinamo got the next power play right and Vadim Shipachyov pulled one back with a shot from a dead angle. Larionov’s staff challenged the call, claiming offside, but the review awarded the goal and sent Dinamo back to the power play.

The visitor killed that penalty, but allowed a tying goal late in the frame when Yegor Borikov fired home from the center of the zone.

Those two goals in three minutes put Torpedo back under pressure. Blowing a two-goal lead is always tough to take, and for a team on a losing run it’s an even greater blow. But the visitor responded well. Letunov scored his second of the night early in the final frame, restoring the lead at 3-2.

This time, Dinamo could not respond. With two minutes left, Dmitry Kvartalnov called a time-out and called goaltender Vasily Demchenko to the bench. But the extra skater did not help; instead Igor Larionov Jr found the empty net to seal the deal. 

Wolves close on playoff place

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 Sibir Novosibirsk 1 (0-0, 2-1, 0-0)

This home win moves Neftekhimik left on points with Sibir – but the gap between the teams straddles the all-important fault line between eighth and ninth. Sibir currently holds the final playoff spot, but not by much.

Had today’s game gone differently, Sibir might have been sitting pretty in the top eight. After a goalless first period, the visitor broke the deadlock with a power play goal from Kirill Rasskazov in the 23rd minute. Dinamo got back to full strength and tied the game seconds later. Grigory Seleznyov was the scorer, extinguishing Sibir’s advantage after just 15 seconds.

In a tight battle, the Wolves got in front for the first time just after the halfway mark. This time Vladislav Leontyev was on target, opening a lead for a team coached by his father, Oleg.

That proved to be the last of the scoring. Sibir attacked more in the third, but could not find the killer chance to take the game to overtime – or better. Instead, the home team could celebrate the end of its six-game skid while halting Sibir’s five-game winning run.

Hawks win big battle in the East

Ak Bars Kazan 1 Avangard Omsk 3 (1-1, 0-0, 0-2)

Avangard got its second victory of the new year, taking down Ak Bars in Kazan. The home team remains third in the East, while the Hawks fly up to sixth.

The home team had the first big chance of the game in the second minute. Alexander Barabanov almost scored off a two-on-one rush, then the rebound fell to Nikita Yevseyev, who could not hit the target from close range. However, the opening goal came at the other end in the fifth minute. Reid Boucher was the scorer, putting Avangard up after a turnover in the center ice.

That was the visitor’s first chance and subsequently the Hawks looked the better team. Nail Yakupov was close to a second goal when he put a rebound wide of an open net. However, Ak Bars always posed a threat and tied the game late in the first period. Artyom Galimov won a penalty shot and converted it himself.

The first period ended with a couple of fights. The undercard saw Boucher tangle with Kirill Semyonov as both men earned double minors for roughing. That did nothing to cool tempers, and before the intermission Mike McCleod took on Nikita Dynyak. Those two produced a fine bout before the officials decided that McCleod was the instigator and handed the Avangard man 17 minutes of penalties.

However, Ak Bars could not make much of its power play. The advantage carried over into the second period, but was lost when Barabanov took a penalty of his own. While killing the last seconds of that, Galimov got another one-on-one chance, but this time Nikita Serebryakov won the duel to keep the game tied. Once back to full strength, Avangard began to have more of the game. In the middle frame, the visitor had twice as much time on the attack. However, it could not force a breakthrough and the score remained 1-1 at the second intermission.

The winning goal came in the 45th minute. Pavel Koledov fired in a shot that Yakupov tipped into the net to make it 2-1. Ak Bars had chances to get back into the game but could not find a way past Serebryakov. A time-out in the closing stages set up one last push, but when Avangard got possession, Damir Sharipzyanov’s empty-net goal finished the game. 

Rapid recovery for Severstal

Severstal Cherepovets 5 Spartak Moscow 3 (3-0, 1-2, 1-1)

After shipping seven in its previous game against Dynamo, Severstal hit back with a good win at home to Spartak. The Red-and-Whites fluffed a chance to return to second the standing ahead of CSKA, while the Steelmen move up to sixth ahead of Dinamo Minsk.

After that heavy loss in the last game, Severstal got a fast start here. Danil Aimurzin’s power play goal opened the scoring in the fourth minute. The young forward now has points in nine of his last 10 games, the only exception being a 0-2 loss in Ufa shortly before the holidays.

Today, Aimurzin’s effort laid the foundation for an impressive first period from the home team. Ivan Pidshivalov doubled the lead in the sixth minute, then Vladimir Grudinin added a third after 14. The home team was good value for its commanding lead at the intermission.

Spartak gained the initiative for the first time early in the second period. Home goalie Konstantin Shostak had a crazy couple of minutes. First, he was assessed a high-sticking minor. Then, with Kruchinin serving the penalty, the netminder was in trouble again as he threw his stick at the puck. Pavel Poryadin stepped up to convert the penalty shot and the visitor saw a pathway back into the game.

A power play goal from Mikhail Kotlyarevsky extended Severstal’s control. That goal persuaded Alexei Zhamnov to swap his goalies: in came Artyom Zagidulin for his Spartak debut. The visitor struck again late in the frame to reduce the deficit. Nikolai Goldobin jumped out of the box, took up a pass from Belyayev and won a one-on-one duel with Shostak.

With just two minutes left, Spartak’s efforts to get back into the game got a huge boost when Andrei Loktionov deflected Dmiret Vishnevsky. But Severstal more than held on, adding a fifth goal when Kirill Pilipenko found the empty net.