Boucher sets club record, Sochi shocks Dynamo. January 17 round-up

Reid Boucher scored his 145th goal for Avangard, setting a new club record in a 4-0 win over CSKA. Dynamo Moscow suffered a surprise loss at home to struggling Sochi, going down 1-3 in its first defeat of the new year. The third Moscow team, Spartak, got the better of Kunlun on home ice. Elsewhere, Lokomotiv took down Sibir in a shoot-out, Avtomobilist won 4-1 in Ufa and Traktor won 4-2 at Neftekhimik.

Loko edges past Sibir

Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 SO (0-1, 1-0, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

Lokomotiv rested some key players, but still had enough to get past Sibir in a shoot-out. The home team found itself going to overtime for the fourth game in a row and the point from the tie helps keep Sibir ahead of the pack in the race for a playoff spot in the East.

The visitor rested Alexander Radulov, Georgy Ivanov and Alexander Yelesin. That meant a rare first-team call for young forward Yegor Surin, last seen in early December.

The early stages of Friday’s game saw Sibir on top. However, the home team could not turn pressure into goals, despite getting the first power play of the game. Instead, Lokomotiv came into the game and Maxim Shalunov’s line managed to pin Sibir into its own zone. That laid the foundations, and the visitor got in front when Denis Alexeyev’s feed from out wide found Nikita Kiryanov at the back door. The puck went into the net off the forward’s skate, but a video review ruled that it was a good play.

Unusually for Lokomotiv, discipline turned into a problem. The visitor gave up two penalties and two goals as Sibir turned the game around. The familiar Trevor Murphy-Taylor Beck combo led to the equalizer midway through the second. Then, early in the third, Murphy assisted again as Vladimir Butuzov put the home team in front for the first time in the game.

However, Murphy’s handy contribution on the power play could not keep him out of the box. In the second period he took a double minor after colliding with a Sibir player sitting on the boards at the home bench. More seriously, his tripping penalty in the 45th minute led to Artur Kayumov tying the game on the power play. That was Kayumov’s 100th KHL goal.

The game remained locked at 2-2, taking to Sibir to a fourth overtime and a second shoot-out in three days. Practice in the extras has yet to make perfect for Vadim Yepanchintsev’s team; after a long shoot-out, Byron Froese settled the outcome in Loko’s favor.

Record for Boucher

Avangard Omsk 4 CSKA Moscow 0 (2-0, 0-0, 2-0)

Reid Boucher set a club record for KHL goals as Avangard blanked CSKA in Omsk. The Hawks recorded a sixth successive victory while condemning the Muscovites to a fifth loss in six games.

The home team got off to a strong start, earning a power play in the first minute. That wasn’t quite enough to bring the opening goal, but just as Maxim Mamin returned from the box, Nail Yakupov finished off a pacy attack with a shot to the short side. After the goa, Avangard continued to press but found CSKA’s defense was well-drilled. It wasn’t until late in the frame that Boucher doubled the lead.

CSKA woke up at the start of the second period and spent several shifts testing the home defense. It didn’t take long for Avangard to move play away from its net, but the visitor still created some decent chances for Ivan Drozdov and Vladislav Kamenov. Nikita Serebryakov kept the Muscovites at bay.

Early in the third period, Avangard added a third. Boucher scored on the power play, collecting his second of the night and his 145th for the club. That’s a club record for the American forward. And, after another CSKA power play came to nothing, Yakupov got his second of the game to make the final score 4-0. 

Avto revs past Salavat Yulaev in the third

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (1-1, 0-0, 1-3)

Avtomobilist returned to the top four in the East thanks to a strong third period in Ufa. Despite falling behind to another goal from the in-form Josh Leivo, the Motormen tied the game in the opening frame and went on to record a fifth successive victory. Former Salavat Yulaev forward Alexander Sharov was among the scorers.

Early in the game, the home team looked stronger. Leivo produced a fine finish to beat Vladimir Galkin and claim his 31st goal of a record-breaking season. However, Maxim Denezhkin tied the scores before the intermission and, despite several home power plays, the game remained tied at the break.

Avto continue to experience penalty trouble in the middle frame. Nikita Shashkov took a major for checking to the head of Artyom Gorshkov. Just at that penalty came to an end, Galkin dislodged his net and was cited a delay of game minor.

The visitor’s PK did its job and at the start of the third, the power play showed its qualities. Stephane da Costa fired in a wrister and Anatoly Golyshev did a fine job with the redirect to put Avtomobilist up for the first time in the game. Salavat had a good chance to tie the scores quickly, but Galkin responded well. Then Vladislav Pazdyakonov added a third before Sharov put the fourth into an empty net.

Traktor extends lead at the top of the East

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 (1-1, 1-1, 0-2)

For the third time this season, Traktor defeated Neftekhimik. Benoit Groulx’s team moves five points clear at the top of the Eastern Conference thanks to a solid performance on the road.

Neftekhimik, meanwhile, lost further ground in the playoff race. The Wolves remain 10th in the standings, but are now four points adrift of Sibir.

The home team started well and got in front on a Riley Barber goal in the seventh minute. However, Traktor tied it up through Alexander Kadeikin before the intermission. The visitor went to the intermission level despite having just four shots on goal in the opening frame.

The second period also finished 1-1. This time the balance of play was more even and Traktor struck first through Arseny Koromyslov. Late in the frame, young Nikta Khoruzhov made it 2-2 and set up an intriguing third stanza.

But the final exchanges saw Traktor get on top. Grigory Dronov made it 3-2 midway through the third period, and Mikhail Goryunov-Rolgizer added a fourth to take the game away from the home team. Vitaly Kravtsov and Maxim Shabanov had two assists each.

Revenge win for Spartak

Spartak Moscow 2 Kunlun Red Star 0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0)

The Red-and-Whites avenged their defeat against the Dragons at the end of last year, claiming a hard-fought verdict. The result puts Spartak back in the top four in the West, but leaves Red Star four points adrift of eighth-placed Torpedo after suffering back-to-back losses.

The game faced a delay early on when part of the glass was damaged close to one of the benches. Once that was fixed, Spartak settled faster and opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Andrei Loktionov opened the scoring after good work from Alexander Belyayev.

Loktionov came close to adding a second goal when a Kunlun power play broke down and he got on a two-on-one rush. This time, though, Jeremy Smith was not troubled by a shot from a tight angle.

After an even first period, Spartak came out faster in the second and Adam Ruzicka added a second goal in the 24th minute. Yegor Filin saw his shot beaten away, but the Slovak followed up to convert the rebound for his third goal in two games. Red Star challenged the call, claiming that Ansel Galimov fouled Smith, but the review upheld the on-ice verdict and Stepan Zvyagin sat out a delay of game penalty.

Now Spartak had control of the game and the shot count tipped strongly in the home team’s favor. In response, Kunlun managed a scuffle after Joey Duszak laid a big hit on Ivan Morozov. There wasn’t much in the afters, but the net result saw two minors for Spartak and three for Red Star.

After the Dragons killed that penalty, they got a power play of their own late in the second period. However, that produced two good chances for a short-handed goal, rather than offering the visitor a way back into the game.

The final frame brought no relief for the visitor. Although Yaroslav Likhachyov hit the post in the 54th minute, Kunlun could not get a goal and fell to a 2-0 loss. Dmitry Nikolayev finished with 25 saves for his shut-out.

Sochi shocks Dynamo

Dynamo Moscow 1 HC Sochi 3 (1-1, 0-0, 0-2)

The home team saw its five-game hot streak come to an unexpected end against the Western Conference’s basement team, Sochi. The visitor came to Moscow after just one win in seven, and suffered back-to-back losses against the Blue-and-Whites a couple of weeks ago.

Today, though, another goal from the in-form Will Bitten turned out to be the winner as Dynamo lost for the first time in 2025.

Dynamo started out well enough and went ahead in the 16th minute on Igor Ozhiganov’s power play goal. However, Sochi replied quickly, with Daniil Seroukh tying the game before the intermission.

And the visitor maintained its foothold in the game despite the obvious gulf in the teams’ recent form. Dynamo was creating more chances, but not overwhelmingly so in a goalless second period.

The breakthrough came midway through the third. Bitten, a goalscoring revelation since his move to the Leopards, was the scorer. He made it eight goals in 10 games for his new club – a sharp contrast with one in 20 while playing for Spartak. This time, as well as scoring, Bitten was winning – for only the second time in his Sochi career. Artyom Volkov’s empty net goal completed the verdict for the visitor.