Avangard enjoys best run of the season, Dynamo leaves it late. January 14 round-up

Avangard halted Kunlun’s record winning streak in Omsk, and posted five straight wins for the first time this season. Dynamo Moscow also recorded a fifth successive victory, with two late goals from Dmitry Rashevsky seeing off Severstal. Ak Bars was too strong for Amur, and Lada beat Dinamo Minsk in a 10-goal battle in Togliatti. 

Ak Bars up to third with win in Khabarovsk

Amur Khabarovsk 1 Ak Bars Kazan 4 (0-1, 1-1, 0-2)

After finishing its latest road trip with heavy losses against Kunlun (0-5) and Sochi (2-5), Amur returned home and suffered another reverse. Today’s 1-4 defeat against Ak Bars lifts Kazan to second place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind Traktor and level with Salavat Yulaev and Metallurg.

The visitor dominated the first period, outshooting the Tigers 12-4. However, the only reward came in the 17th minute when Alexei Pustozyorov scored his first goal for Ak Bars. He fired home Nikita Dynyak’s pass from behind the net. It was only the second game of the season for the 24-year-old, who went a long time without a club after leaving Salavat Yulaev at the end of last season.

In the second period, the home team smartened up its attacking play and began to ask some questions of Amir Miftakhov in the Ak Bars net. There were good looks for Yakov Rylov and Alex Broadhurst before Vladislav Barulin tied the game in the 27th minute. That brought an almost immediate response from Ak Bars, with Semyon Koshelev restoring the lead inside two minutes. Semyon Koshelev ended his 14-game wait for a goal when he redirected Artemy Knyazev’s shot into the net.

The final frame brought two goals from Alexander Barabanov to take the game away from the home team. He scored early in the session to give his team some breathing space, then scored an empty-netter on the rebound after Artyom Galimov’s shot hit the bar.

Hawks halt Dragons’ winning run

Avangard Omsk 3 Kunlun Red Star 2 (1-0, 2-2, 0-0)

Red Star’s record-breaking hot streak came to an end, and in the process Avangard recorded five consecutive wins for the first time this season.

The home team made the brighter start, with Daniil Bashkirov opening the scoring in the third minute. After that, Avangard dominated: Kunlun managed just two shots on goal in the opening frame, while Jeremy Smith had to look sharp to deny Giovanni Fiore, Ryan Merkley and Reid Boucher.

During the intermission, Mikhail Kravets got his team fired up and the visitor began the second period more aggressively. Pressure on the home net did not bring a goal, but an error from Semyon Chistyakov saw Yaroslav Likhachyov sprint away on the counterattack to make it 1-1 in the 26th minute. The Dragons then created a decent chance to get in front, but instead took a penalty and Damir Sharipzyanov’s power play goal restored the Hawks’ lead.

The teams traded scoring chances: Jayden Halbgewachs was denied a tying goal by the piping before Fiore extended Avangard’s lead. In response, Danny O’Regan redirected Joey Duszak's point shot into the net 22 seconds later, making it a one-goal game going into the third.

The visitor had to kill a three-on-five penalty, but later created chances to tie the game: Likhachyov, notably, testing Mikhail Berdin the home net. However, Avangard held on to take the win, ending one streak and extending another after an entertaining game. 

Minsk fightback falls short in Togliatti

Lada Togliatti 6 Dinamo Minsk 4 (3-1, 2-1, 1-2)

A high-scoring game ended with Lada getting two more points in its push for a playoff spot. The Motormen are now level with eighth-placed Sibir on 42 points, Neftekhimik is two further back.

But this game ended up tougher than it needed to be for the home team. After opening a 5-1 lead midway through the action, Lada allowed Dinamo to fight back. It took a last-minute empty netter from Dmitry Kugryshev to make the outcome safe.

Dinamo welcomed back goalie Vasily Demchenko after injury and the Belarusians were hoping for more of his game-winning form here. However, this was not Demchenko’s day. After 17 minutes, he was back on the bench with Lada up 3-1. Nikita Mikhailov opened the scoring, assisted by Daniil Yurtaikin in his 200th KHL game. Kugryshev converted a penalty shot and Alexander Volkov scored the third on the power play, while Vitaly Pinchuk got one back for Dinamo in the middle of it all.

Yegor Velmakin returned to the Minsk net and prevented any further damage in the first period. He also kept his goal intact until midway through the second, when Mikhailov struck again. A couple of minutes later, Volkov had his second of the night, making it 5-1 with a short-handed tally. Dinamo was creating chances, but struggled to convert them until late in the frame when Brady Lyle got one back on the power play.

If there was any consolation for the visitor, it lay in the shot count. Despite trailing 2-5 at the second intermission, Dinamo outshot Lada 35-17. That suggested that more composure in front of the net could bring goals, and that’s exactly what happened in the third period.

Midway through the final frame, Alexander Volkov’s name appeared on the scoresheet again. But this was no hat-trick goal; after his Lada namesake scored twice, Dinamo’s Volkov reduced the arrears for the visitor. Then Sam Anas struck on the power play to make it 4-5 and, with seven to play the game was very much alive. However, Dinamo’s efforts to save at least a point came to nothing, and Kugryshev finished the job in the final moments.

Rashevsky grabs late win for Dynamo

Dynamo Moscow 3 Severstal Cherepovets 2 (1-1, 0-0, 2-1)

Two late goals from Dmitry Rashevsky maintained Dynamo’s winning start to the season. Tuesday’s 3-1 success over Severstal makes it five in a row for the Blue-and-Whites, a sequence that started with a 7-2 verdict in Cherepovets on Jan. 3.

A fast-paced opening frame brought two goals. Max Comtois put Dynamo in front, banging home Cedric Paquette’s feed to the back door to complete a counterattack started by Rashevsky. However, Severstal responded quickly through Danil Aimurzin, finishing off a raid orchestrated by one-time Dynamo forward Kirill Pilipenko.

That was the only scoring in an even and entertaining first period. The middle session was also goalless, although Severstal had much the better of the play and often bamboozled the home team with its passing combinations.

Towards the end of the second period, Dynamo improved and the Muscovites began the final stanza on the power play. That came to nothing, but it ushered in a session that saw the home team get more shots at Konstantin Shostak’s net, even if it struggled to build sustained pressure. Jordan Weal forced a great save out of the visiting goalie, before Nikolai Chebykin presented Alexander Skorenov with a glorious chance at the other end. Vladislav Podyapolsky came up with the save there, and it started to feel as though overtime was inevitable.

However, with five minutes left, Rashevsky put Dynamo in front. Severstal had just failed on the power play and with Dynamo back at full strength, Comtois won possession in the corner and fed his team-mate in a central position to make it 2-1. The same duo struck again in the 59th minute, with the Canadian punishing the indecisive Burenov to set up Rashevsky in front of an empty net.

Severstal wouldn’t give up. Aimurzin scored his second of the night and, in the last minute, Adam Liska almost diverted Alexei Kruchinin’s shot past Podyapolsky to tie the game. The home goalie made the save, though, and Dynamo held on to take the win.