Five is the magic number. January 8 round-up

There were goals throughout Wednesday’s KHL card. The highest scoring game was in Cherepovets, where Avangard edged Severstal in a shoot-out after a 5-5 tie. Ak Bars enjoying a thumping 5-1 win over derby rival Salavat Yulaev and Spartak produced a five-star show to humble SKA on home ice. The only game that didn’t see a five-goal performance was at Torpedo, where the home team took a 2-0 verdict against Sibir. 

Demolition derby in Kazan

Ak Bars Kazan 5 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 (1-0, 4-0, 0-1)

The fourth game of this season’s Green Derby series was one to remember for Ak Bars. Salavat Yulaev had won two of the previous three meetings, but today went to Kazan with an emphatic 5-1 scoreline. For Salavat, this was a second loss in 2025 after going down 1-4 at home to Sibir on Saturday. As a result, Viktor Kozlov’s team has lost top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Things might have been different if Artyom Pimenov had seen his early chance go under the crossbar rather than rebounding from it. Instead, the only goal of the opening frame went to the home team when Dmitrij Jaskin got free of his marker on the slot and Artyom Galimov’s feed set him up perfectly in the 17th minute.

In the second frame, Salavat’s discipline let it down. Yaroslav Tsulyin was tossed from the game, and that major penalty brought a goal for Ilya Safonov. Seconds later, Safonov butted heads with Grigory Panin; the visiting captain was deemed the instigator and Ak Bars had a five-on-three power play. Nic Petan increased the lead, then padded it further with a fourth goal in the 36th minute. Late in the frame, another Ufa penalty brought another Ak Bars power play goal. Just seven seconds elapsed between Nikita Zorkin’s high-sticking call and Galimov’s goal.

There wasn’t much hope of a fightback from 0-5, but the visitor at least restored some respectability in the final frame. No more goals allowed was perhaps the big target, while Artyom Nabiyev’s power play goal offered some consolation for Salavat Yulaev. 

Important win for Torpedo

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 Sibir Novosibirsk 0 (0-0, 1-0, 1-0)

A second successive win for Torpedo will ease some of the anxiety beside the Volga as Igor Larionov’s team maintains its lead over the chasing pack in the playoff race.

From the start, the teams looked for a fast pace. In particular, they were eager to move the puck quickly out of defense and look for counterattacks. However, both defenses were well drilled, and first-period chances were hard to come by. Sibir’s league leading power play got its first chance midway through the session, but was neutralized by Torpedo’s effective penalty kill units.

In the second period, the action moved to the Sibir zone. The first couple of minutes brought at least three chances to score on Anton Krasotkin. Torpedo’s pressure continued through the middle frame and eventually brought a reward in the 35th minute. Vasily Atanasov’s close-range finish finally solved Krasotkin and broke the deadlock in this game. Krasotkin made 19 saves in the second period, and 48 in the game but those labors went unrewarded.

During the second intermission, Vadim Yepanchintsev reshaped Sibir’s lines and that helped the visitor take the initiative at the start of the third. It took a rather needless penalty to give Torpedo a way back into the game; the power play did not bring a second goal, but slowed Sibir’s progress. The visitor never quite recovered, and the hoped-for late surge was undermined by a penalty on Vladimir Butuzov in the 58th minute. Kirill Voronin had the final word, finding the empty net seven seconds before the hooter.

Kholodilin settles thriller in Cherepovets

Severstal Cherepovets 5 Avangard Omsk 6 SO (2-0, 2-2, 1-3, 0-0, 0-1)

A remarkable game in Cherepovets saw Avangard recover from 0-3 and 3-5 to grab a spectacular shoot-out win. That makes it three in a row for the Hawks this year, while Severstal continues to alternate wins and losses.

At first, Avangard’s problem was taking chances. In the first period, it had 14 shots on goal and saw seven more blocked. At the other end, Severstal rarely got much of a look at Nikita Serebryakov, but still managed two goals from seven shots. Hot-shot Danil Aimurzin opened the scoring and Alexei Kruchinin doubled the lead midway through the frame.

The home team began the second period on the power play. Avangard killed Nail Yakupov’s double minor, but lost a third goal shortly after the forward returned from the box. Kirill Pilipenko added to his earlier assist and Severstal led 3-0.

Now the Hawks discovered their scoring touch. Nikita Kholodilin scored twice in the space of 63 seconds to bring the game back to life. However, Severstal found more attacking opportunities now and Pilipenko’s second of the game restored the two-goal lead going into the third period.

Avangard sought an early goal – and got one through Reid Boucher. However, Nikolai Chebykin made it 5-3 for Severstal in the 49th minute and the home team looked capable of closing out the win. At least, it did until a penalty on Ilya Ivantsov. Avangard needed almost the full two minutes to convert its power play, but just as the door was opening for Ivantsov, Semyon Chistyakov made it 4-5 with 4:20 left to play.

Guy Boucher set his team up for a final surge and, with six skaters on the ice, Yakupov potted the tying goal. There was still time for more drama: Chistyakov’s penalty had the visitor under pressure for the final minute of regulation, and then the first of overtime. Severstal had the better of the extras, but could not find a winning goal. Then in the shoo-out, Kholodilin added to his earlier goals with the decisive effort in sudden death to give Avangard the verdict.

Zagidulin backstops big win for Spartak

SKA St. Petersburg 0 Spartak Moscow 5 (0-1, 0-4, 0-0)

Throughout this season, just as SKA looks like it is gliding into the kind of form this roster should be capable of, it hits another bump in the road. Today, after five wins from six games, that bump came in the form of a 0-5 loss at home to Spartak. The Muscovites return to second in the Western Conference, while SKA remains fifth behind Dynamo Moscow.

SKA almost got an early lead in this game, but Zakhar Bardakov’s third-minute redirect clipped the crossbar and flashed over. After that, Spartak had slightly the better chances in a fairly even game, and grabbed the lead seconds before the intermission. German Rubtsov opened the scoring, firing into an open net after Alexander Pashin and Nikita Yefremov cut through the home defense.

That lead gave Spartak the boost it needed to take control of the game in the second period. A combination of clinical finishing at one end, and inspired goaltending from Artyom Zagidulin at the other, brought four unanswered goals.

Ansel Galimov started it off in the 25th minute, then Ivan Morozov made it 3-0 midway through the game. SKA swapped goalies, with Artemy Pleshkov replacing Pavel Moisevich, but it made little difference. Galimov got his second of the night, with Pashin collecting his third assist, and the 34th minute saw Nikolai Goldobin take it to 5-0.

Despite that onslaught, SKA matched Spartak for shots on goal and attacking possession. Given how close Roman Rotenberg’s team came to retrieving a five-goal deficit against CSKA last month, there may still have been grounds for some defiant optimism among the home fans. However, Zagidulin was in obdurate mood and did not crumble in the third. He finished with 39 saves for a notable shut-out, his first since joining Spartak, as the Red-and-Whites closed out a 5-0 win.