Beck’s quartet leads Sibir past Traktor. January 22 round-up

Taylor Beck had a hand in each of Sibir’s four goals as the Eastern Conference playoff hopeful grabbed a valuable victory on the road at Traktor. Avtomobilist moved to third in the East with a 2-1 win over Avangard. Vityaz boosted its playoff hopes with a road win at Neftekhimik. 

Beck boosts Sibir playoff push

Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 4 (1-2, 0-1, 2-1)

After five games that went to overtime, Sibir managed to get this one done in regulation. Moreover, the Eastern Conference playoff contender snapped a three-game losing streak with victory at the section’s leader. Traktor saw its four-game winning run halted, with Taylor Beck’s late goal proving crucial.

The visitor made a bright – if fortuitous – start. Andy Andreoff’s shot hit the frame of the goal and bounced off Zach Fucale’s shoulder and into the net. Beck’s helper on that extended his productive run to six games.

After falling behind, Traktor steadily grew into the game. By the time Vitaly Kravtsov tied the scores in the 16th minute, the home team already looked the stronger team. Kravtsov’s personal hot streak moves to seven games with that goal, but it could not prevent his team from trailing at the intermission. A power play goal from Sergei Shirokov a couple of minutes before the break made it 2-1 to Sibir.

The middle frame brought another power play goal for the visitor. This time Vladimir Butuzov was the scorer, with Beck delivering his third assist of the evening.

The final stanza began in lively fashion. Buddy Robinson pulled a goal back for Traktor after 47 seconds and it wasn’t long before Trevor Murphy and Alexander Kadeikin came to blows as passions boiled over. Sibir might have benefited from a bigger jolt than it got from that bout, with Traktor dominating the play in the third.

However, the home team could not find a tying goal and got caught in the 59th minute when Beck crowned a fine individual display with an empty-net goal. There was still time for Grigory Dronov to grab a consolation tally for Traktor, but Sibir closed out the remaining 71 seconds to move five points clear of ninth-placed Lada in the Eastern Conference standings.

Seventh straight win for Avtomobilist

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 Avangard Omsk 1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0)

The Motormen recorded a seventh successive victory after edging past Avangard in a tight game. Although the home team has been in strong form of late, head coach Nikita Zavarukhin reshuffled his lines for this one in a bid to spread his leading players more evenly through the team.

Avangard, meanwhile, had to cope with the absence of Mike McCleod, injured during the 0-4 loss at Salavat Yulaev. Guy Boucher brought Mark Verba back to the team for the first time since Nov. 23 and changed up every line except the first.

The Hawks took the early initiative: from the opening shift their forwards engaged in an active press and the defense stepped up to support the attack whenever possible. However, the home D kept its shape and for long spells the visitor was forced to circulate around the perimeter without opening a real shooting lane. In the end, the Avangard press led to the opening goal when the fourth line forced a turnover and Nikita Kholodilin converted the chance.

The visitor continued to have the better of the game, with Avtomobilist limited to the odd shift of attacking play. However, the fourth line brought the home team level close to the intermission. Danil Romantsev played the puck out from behind the net and as the Omsk defense focused on Artyom Kashtanov, Maxim Denzhkin found the space to tie the scores.

Avangard found the net again on a power play early in the second period, but a bench challenge wiped that one off. Once back at equal strength, the teams produced some hard-fought hockey but generated few moments of danger for either netminder. And there was an unfortunate incident towards the end of a frustrating frame when home defenseman Jesse Blacker took a puck the face and had to retreat to the locker room.

There was a disallowed goal at the start of the third. This time Avtomobilist was left frustrated after Andrei Obidin’s neat redirect was called back for a high stick. After that, the action rather resembled the first period play with Avangard on top and Evgeny Alikin keeping Avtomobilist’s net intact. However, this time the home team was able to generate more offense and one attack led to a power play. In trademark fashion, Brooks Macek took advantage to make it 2-1 in the 54th minute.

Once in front, Avto concluded that attack was the best form of defense. With 2:50 left to play, another home power play all but extinguished Avangard’s hopes of saving the game: there was no third goal, but the penalty blunted the Hawks’ talons at just the time they were hoping to save the game. 

Wolves flounder after fast start

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 4 (2-1, 1-2, 0-1)

Neftekhimik could not hold onto a two-goal lead at home to Vityaz in this battle between two teams trying to get into playoff contention. As a result, the home team slipped to a sixth successive loss, while the visitor edged closer to the top eight in the Western Conference.

The Wolves made a flying start to this game, scoring twice in the first 94 seconds. Andrei Belozyorov found the net after 24 seconds, and Dmitry Zhukenov soon doubled the lead. That brought a swift end to Maxim Dorozhko’s evening in the visitor’s net; he was replaced by Andrei Kareyev.

However, Neftekhimik was unable to build on that start. The home team finished the first period with just four shots on goal – an impressive strike rate, but worrying in terms of creating scoring chances. Vityaz responded with a goal from Matvei Zaseda midway through the opening frame and continued to press on both sides of the intermission.

But in adversity, Neftekhimik found a third goal. The home team’s Yegor Yuzlenko took a double minor for high sticking, but saw Grigory Seleznyov pot a third goal during that PK. The Vityaz power play eventually got it together, and Alexei Makeyev got a second goal for the visitor. However, there was still another goal to make up.

In the 34th minute, Zaseda found that tying goal to make it 3-3 with his second of the night. Late in the middle frame, the visitor had a reprieve when Neftekhimik saw a goal ruled out after a review found the puck was kicked into the net.

Vityaz got in front for the first time in the 47th minute. Stanislav Yarovoi’s seventh goal of the season proved to be the difference, setting the visitor on the road to victory.