Severstal stuns SKA, Metallurg’s streak ends. January 16 round-up

Once again, Severstal and SKA produced a high-scoring game – and this time the outside went to St. Petersburg and won 7-4. In Thursday’s other action, Admiral halted Metallurg’s nine-game winning run, Amur avenged Tuesday’s loss against Ak Bars and Torpedo won on the road at Lada.

Revenge win for Amur

Amur Khabarovsk 5 Ak Bars Kazan 4 (1-2, 1-2, 3-0)

For the second time in three days, Ak Bars scored four goals in Khabarovsk. This time, though, the Tigers managed five, recovering from 2-4 to snatch a memorable victory.

The home team made some changes after Tuesday’s loss. Matt Jurusik returned in goal, Ilya Talaluyev was elevated to the second line in place of Dmitry Shevchenko and Sergei Lapin returned to the team. On defense, Yefim Gurkin took the place of Yakov Rylov.

Ak Bars made a fast start, opening a two goal lead thanks to Dmitrij Jaskin. He scored twice in 31 seconds: after his first, Amur made an unsuccessful challenge for offside and presented Ak Bars with a power play that Jaskin converted. It wasn’t great news for Jurusik either, who was beaten by the first two shots he faced in the game.

The home team managed to respond in the ninth minute when Lapin redirected Ivan Mishchenko’s shot beyond Amir Miftakhov. It stayed 2-1 until the first intermission.

The second period began like the first, with Ak Bars scoring in the fourth minute. This time Kirill Semyonov was the scorer, converting a lovely feed from Nic Petan. And, once again, Amur found a swift response with Mishchenko reducing the deficit. However, the visitor seemed to have matters under control and Artyom Galimov restored the two-goal lead in the 38th minute, banging home a rebound.

Amur started the third period on the power play and Ak Bars fell into further penalty trouble. This time, the Tigers took their chances: Alex Broadhurst punished Semyon Koshelev’s foul, then Devin Brosseau scored on a delayed penalty. Midway through the game, Alex Galchenyuk had a great chance to put the home team in front, but Miftakhov snuffed out a one-on-one. At the other end, Koshelev, Jaskin and Nikita Dynyak had chances for the visitor, but the decisive play came from Glachenyuk. With little over a minute to play, he found the key to Miftakhov and gave his team the win. 

Sailors stop Magnitka’s hot streak

Admiral Vladivostok 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (1-0, 1-2, 2-0)

Metallurg’s winning streak came to an end in Vladivostok as Admiral denied the defending champion a 10th successive victory.

This was the teams’ second meeting inside 10 days. On Jan. 7, Metallurg won in overtime on home ice. Today, head coach Andrei Razin recalled goalie Ilya Nabokov and brought Yegor Yakovlev back to the defense in place of Valery Orekhov. Admiral favored Ilya Konovalov in goal and brought back three players – Artyom Chmykov, Ivan Muranov and Vyacheslav Osnovin – who missed the previous game.

The Sailors made themselves at home from the start, creating dangerous opportunities from the first shifts. It wasn’t long before Muranov marked his 350th KHL appearance with the opening goal. Gradually the visitor came into the game and had a couple of power plays, but Admiral held its lead until the intermission.

Everything changed in the second period as Metallurg turned the game around. A third power play of the evening saw Denis Zernov put the Steelmen level. A few shifts later, Andrei Kozlov put the visitor in front with his first goal since Dec. 18. Nikita Mikhailis assisted on both goals as Magnitka capitalized on the clear advantage that it had enjoyed throughout the middle frame.

However, Admiral managed to tie the game late in the session. Daniil Gutik made it 2-2 with a laser of a shot, before Metallurg saw Alexander Petunin denied by the post.

In the third period, Admiral penalties disrupted the home team’s rhythm. That offered more opportunities for Metallurg to get ahead, but the visitor could not press home the numerical advantage. Hard work on defense meant that Konovalov rarely faced a dangerous shot. At the other end, the Sailors relied on the counterattack, and broke the deadlock in the 57th minute through Yegor Petukhov. With barely three minutes left, Metallurg pushed forward, only to be caught on the counter again. Petukhov forced a huge save out of Nabokov, but when the goalie went to the bench Shane Prince scored a empty-netter to put the game out of reach. 

Lynch double puts Torpedo on top

Lada Togliatti 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 (1-1, 1-0, 0-2)

Bobby Lynch struck twice as Torpedo came from behind to win this clash between two teams battling for playoff spots in their respective conferences. The result lifts Torpedo four points clear of Kunlun Red Star in the West, while Lada remains a point adrift of Sibir in the East.

The teams made a cautious start to the game, and it took Torpedo more than six minutes to produce its first shot on goal. That was worth the wait, though, as Slava Voynov played Vasily Atanasov into space and he fired home the opening goal.

Lada then killed a penalty before tying the scores in the 13th minute. Danil Yurtaikin did it all himself, bringing the puck down the right-hand channel, homing in on goal and forcing the puck home at full stretch.

Yurtaikin had a decent chance to put Lada in front at the end of the first period, but could not convert Nikita Mikhailov’s pass at the back door. However, early in the second that pair combined to create the go-ahead goal for Vladislav Syomin. In the remainder of the period the teams created some good chances but there was no change in the score.

Torpedo turned the game around in the third period. In the fifth minute, Bobby Lynch tied the game with a power play goal, banging home a one-timer off Abramov’s stretch pass. Both teams had chances to get back in front after that, but the key moment fell to Lynch. He potted his second of the game in the 58th minute to give Torpedo the lead. That wasn’t the end of the drama: Lada got a five-on-three power play in the  closing minutes but could not force the action into overtime. 

Severstal blasts seven past SKA

SKA St. Petersburg 4 Severstal Cherepovets 7 (1-3, 1-3, 2-1)

SKA slipped to a fourth successive loss after allowing six goals in two periods at home to Severstal. David Dumbadze led the way with two for the visitor as the Steelmen climbed to fourth in the Western Conference.

The home team saw a first-minute goal wiped out on a bench challenge, and suffered more misfortunte when Dumbadze opened the scoring through the first period. He won a battle on the boards with Alexander Nikishin and got to the slot to score his team’s sixth short-handed goal of the season.

SKA tied it up through Ivan Demidov in the 15th minute, and the next shift saw Valentin Zykov find the net. However, the visitor’s bench challenged again and once again SKA saw a goal called back – this time for interference on goalie Konstantin Shostak.

Things took a decisive turn in the final minute of the first period when Severstal scored two quick goals. Nikolai Chebykin made it 2-1 with an effort on the rebound, then Danil Aimurzin added a third right on the hooter to transform the atmosphere in the arena.

If SKA hoped that the intermission would put things right, it was in for more disappointment. Severstal continued to impress, stretching its lead to 5-1 by the midway point. Kirill Pilipenko and Mikhail Ilyin were on target, prompting Roman Rotenberg to replace starting goalie Pavel Moisevich with Yegor Zavragin.

The new netminder was beaten within five minutes as Dumbadze struck again before Zykov finally got a legitimate goal to make it 2-6 at the second intermission.

In earlier games this season, SKA has produced some big fightbacks. The home crowd had hopes of seeing another one today when Sergei Plotnikov made it 3-6 and Zykov added his second of the night. But Plotnikov took a penalty late in the game to spike the home momentum and Pilipenko finished the scoring with an empty-net goal.