Derby joy for Dynamo, SKA hits landmark goal. February 13 round-up

Dynamo Moscow was the day’s big winner, enjoying a 4-1 derby success at home to Spartak and opening some clear water in the race for second place in the Western Conference. City rival CSKA suffered a surprising slip at Sochi, going down 2-0, while SKA moved up to fifth and blasted through the 200-goal barrier with a 5-2 win at Barys. In the playoff race, Torpedo’s 4-1 win over Kunlun gives Igor Larionov’s team a handy advantage in the West, while Barys officially drops out of contention in the east. Avangard was the day’s top scorer with a 7-1 win at Amur, Admiral and Sibir maintained their playoff pushes with home wins over Avtomobilist and Lada respectively. 

Seventh heaven for Avangard

Amur Khabarovsk 1 Avangard Omsk 7 (0-1, 1-2, 0-4)

Two goals from Giovanni Fiore helped Avangard to a convincing victory in the second game of its Far East tour. The Hawks have enjoyed this road trip, scoring 12 in two games and tightening their grip on sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Amur was without Alex Galchenyuk, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Tigers yesterday. Avangard was unchanged from the team that won 5-2 at Admiral on Tuesday.

And the visitor began with all the confidence you’d expect following that win. Avangard found plenty of opportunities to test Damir Shaimardanov in the home net. Alexander Filatyev hit the crossbar for the Hawks, then the next attack saw Amur respond in kind with Ivan Mishchenko dinging the iron at the other end.

The opening goal came from Avangard’s first power play. Konstantin Okulov set up Fiore for a one-timer from the slot in the 17th minute. From the restart, Amur’s Ignat Korotkikh went clean through on Nikita Serebryakov’s net but could not find the tying goal.

In the middle frame, Amur got a four-minute power play when Ivan Igumnov’s stick caught Kirill Slepets in the face. At one end, former Avangard forward Alex Broadhurst hit the post; moments later, at the other, Danil Bashkirov doubled the visitor’s lead with a shorthanded goal. Then Fiore turned providing, slipping a pass beyond Viktor Baldayev to set up Ryan Spooner for 3-0.

Amur finally managed to get its power play working, and Vladislav Barulin pulled a goal back in the 36th minute. But that was as close as the Tigers came to retrieving the game. Avangard scored a power play goal at the start of the third, Fiore’s second of the night effectively killing off the contest. Within a minute, Mark Verba’s first of the season was Shaimardanov’s last involvement in the game; Matt Jurusik came off the bench to replace the home netminder. But the goals kept coming. Semyon Chistyakov’s blast from the point made it 6-1 before Okulov completed the rout in the 54th minute.

Sailors edge OT verdict

Admiral Vladivostok 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 OT (1-0, 1-0, 1-3, 1-0)

Despite recovering from 0-2, Avtomobilist could not escape defeat in this game and fell to Pavel Shen’s power play goal in overtime. It was Admiral’s first victory over the Motormen this season, having previously dropped three one-goal verdicts against the Yekaterinburg team.

There was good news for the visitor in advance of Thursday’s game: American defenseman Nick Ebert was back in action after an injury that had him out of the team since late November. Today he was named as the seventh D-man as he looks to pick up game readiness after a long layoff.

In the early stages Admiral had to come to terms with an active press from Avtomobilist. However, eagerness to compete left the Sailors in trouble and they had to kill a three-on-five situation early in the game. After successfully killing another penalty soon after, the home team got into the game at last and went in front late in the first period when Ivan Muranov potted the rebound after Libor Sulak’s point shot was blocked by Vladimir Galkin.

At the start of the second period, Admiral doubled its lead. As Avto looked to force the pace, the home team launched an effective counterattack and Daniil Gutik converted a feed from Stepan Starkov to record his 20th goal of the season.

The two-goal lasted until the second intermission, but just before that break Gutik was assessed a minor for unsporting conduct. Nine seconds into the third period, Avtomobilist converted the power play thanks to a trademark Brooks Macek goal. Just 25 seconds later, we had a tie game: Semyon Kizimov’s pass presented Nick Merkley with an open goal.

That prompted Leonids Tambijevs to call a time-out, and his intervention had the desired effect. In the 44th minute, Starkov advanced down the wing and beat Galkin on the short side to restore the home lead. But Avtomobilist had found the path to goal now and Macek’s second of the game sent us into overtime.

In an incident-packed extra period, Anatoly Golyshev was forced into a foul as Admiral threatened a dangerous breakaway. The visiting captain slammed his stick against the wall of the box in frustration, perhaps recognizing the consequence of his foul. Sure enough, the Sailors took advantage of the extra man as Shen grabbed the winner.

Groundhog Day

Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Lada Togliatti 1 (1-0, 2-0, 1-1)

Two days after Sibir won 4-1 at home to Lada, the teams resumed hostilities in Novosibirsk – and produced the exact same scoreline. Although they delivered an identical result, the path to Sibir's win was a little different this time.

On Tuesday, the home power play made all the difference, scoring three of the four goals as Lada racked up seven penalties. Today, the visitor was more disciplined, offering just three power play chances. But Sibir showed that it could score at equal strength as well.

It took just 86 seconds for Sibir to get in front here: Maxim Karpov, recalled in place of Vladislav Kara as Vadim Yepanchintsev rotated his team, shrugged off any rustiness after three weeks of inactivity to score on Alexander Trushkov with his first shot. Right after that, Sibir got on the power play but this time Lada’s PK held out.

At the start of the second period, Nikita Popugayev missed a great chance to tie the game. Then Nikita Korotkov earned Sibir another power play when he broke clear of the visiting defense. This time, the home team took advantage as Trevor Murphy continued his prolific form. The D-man collected his 11th goal of the season and, by the end of the game would move on to 12 markers and 52 points. He’s now just 12 points behind Chris Lee’s long-standing scoring record for a defenseman in the KHL.

After that goal the game became very open, with neither team showing much interest in playing in center ice. After chances at both ends, Georgy Belousov added a third for Sibir late in the middle frame.

The final stanza saw Murphy pot his second of the game to seal the win. Lada managed a late consolation goal when Ivan Romanov’s short-handed tally denied Denis Kostin a shut-out. 

SKA ends Barys playoff hopes

Barys Astana 2 SKA St. Petersburg 5 (1-2, 0-1, 1-2)

SKA scored its 200th goal of the season in a high-scoring win at Barys. The Petersburg club is the lead’s leading scorer by some margin, with 26 goals more than Traktor.

The visitor started with Yegor Zavrgain in goal after he took over from Pavel Moisevich during Tuesday’s loss at Dynamo Moscow. Andrei Pedan also returned to the team in place of injured defenseman Danila Galenyuk. Barys handed KHL debuts to three 18-year-old blue liners, Mstislav Shipilin, Marat Sagymbayev and Sanzhar Ibragim.

Barys knew that defeat today would end even a theoretical chance of making the playoffs. That inspired a strong start from the underdog, winning the first power play of the night and opening the scoring thanks to Batyrlan Muratov’s goal.

However, the shot count told a different story. By the end of the first period, SKA was up 19-4 and two goals in two minutes saw Mikhail Vorobyov and Sergei Sapego turn the game around by the 18th minute. Ivan Demidov’s assist on the second goal took his productive streak to five games.

The middle frame saw more dominance from the visitor, but only one more goal: Mikhail Grigorenko redirected Marat Khairullin’s point shot into the net for 3-1 – and his team’s 200th goal of the season. At the other end, Stanislav Bocharov was close to reducing the deficit but fired against the post.

Barys managed to get a goal back at the start of the third when Nikita Setdikov found the net. That was Setdikov’s 100th point in the KHL, but it wasn’t enough to save his team from defeat. Although the home team competed well, a rather needless roughing penalty for Beibarys Orazov undermined Barys’ hopes: Khairullin added a fourth goal just as the power play expired and a couple of minutes later Grigory Kuzmin made the final score 5-2.

Today’s defeat officially eliminates Barys from playoff contention in the Eastern Conference. The Kazakh team is rooted to the foot of the standings with 29 points from 54 games and can achieve no more than 57 points this season. Eight-placed Admiral already has 58, making it impossible for Barys to go to post season. 

Kareyev silences former team-mates

Dinamo Minsk 0 Vityaz Moscow Region 3 (0-1, 0-0, 0-2)

Vityaz snapped a six-game skid with a shut-out win at Dinamo Minsk. The home team was playing for the second time in 24 hours and, after a hard-working victory over table-topping Lokomotiv yesterday proved unable to make it back-to-back success.

That said, this was something of a smash-and-grab by the visitor. Dinamo outshot Vityaz 39-24, and had 16:58 on the attack compared with 10:25. Yet Andrei Kareyev, who began the season in Minsk, made the most of a rare start to record his first shut-out since joining Vityaz in December.

At the other end, Alexei Makeyev opened the scoring late in the first period. After that, Dinamo had the bulk of the attacking play, but could not find a way past Kareyev. And, late in the game, Vityaz grabbed two empty-net goals – one from Yaroslav Busygin with his goalie adding an assist, then another from Derek Barach. That gave a final of 3-0 for Pavel Desyatkov’s team.

Ivanov blocks CSKA in Sochi shock

HC Sochi 2 CSKA Moscow 0 (1-0, 0-0, 1-0)

The surprise result of the day came in Sochi, where the Western Conference basement club shocked CSKA. Home goalie Sergei Ivanov made 35 saves and even collected an assist on Timur Khafizov’s empty-netter as Ilya Vorobyov’s visitor suffered a 2-0 loss.

The result sees CSKA lose ground to Moscow rival Dynamo in the race for second place as five teams jockey for position in Lokomotiv’s slipstream.

Sochi threatened an early goal, but Artur Tyanulin’s eighth-minute snipe was called back following a bench challenge from CSKA. Will Bitten had strayed offside in the build-up. At the other end, Vladislav Kamenov had a couple of good chances for the visitor, but the opening goal arrived just before the intermission.

It went to Alexander Khokhlachyov, who steered the puck home after Alexander Yaremchuk drilled it across the face of Dmitry Gamzin’s net. That was enough to separate the teams after an entertaining opening frame.

The second period produced chances at both ends, but neither team could score. And even in the third, CSKA was unable to dominate proceedings as it might of wished, despite chasing the game. Sochi had to yield some territory, but defended smartly and created opportunities on the counter. The outcome was in doubt until the final moments, when Khafizov’s empty-net tally secured the Leopards a second win over the Muscovites this season.

Gusev double wins derby for Dynamo

Dynamo Moscow 4 Spartak Moscow 1 (1-0, 1-0, 2-1)

This was a Moscow derby with a bit of extra bite. Dynamo and Spartak are currently in the thick of a tight battle for position in the Western Conference – and the team that comes out on top will escape the stress of a potential city rivalry series to start the playoffs.

At the start of play, Dynamo had the advantage in second place, with Spartak pushed down to sixth at least temporarily following SKA’s win earlier in the day. Yet just two points separated the teams.

By the close of play, though, the gap was four points: relative comfort in a race a tight as this one. The Blue-and-Whites got a second win of the season over Spartak as Alexei Kudashov’s team reeled out a third successive victory and a fourth in five games. The Red-and-Whites, by contrast, has lost four of its last five, including the last three in a row.

Nikita Gusev broke the deadlock here, scoring in the 15th minute. That’s his 22nd goal of the season, and extends his productive streak to six games. And Dynamo continued to have the better of things in the second period. Artyom Zagidulin was called upon to make a highlight reel save to deny Max Comtois when the Canadian jumped out of the box to join a three-on-one rush. Not only did the goalie stop the dangerous initial shot, he managed to control the rebound under pressure from Andrei Sergeyev.

However, Zagidulin suffered on the next serious Dynamo attack. With the home team on the power play, Gusev set up Jordan Weal for a shot that managed to squirm through the goalie’s defenses and trickle over the line to make it 2-0.

Although Dynamo was on top, the game was far from over. Spartak came back to life in the third period when Vladislav Podyapolsky gave up a big rebound from Yegor Filin’s shot from the left circle. Alexander Belyayev was first to react, halving the deficit in the 46th minute.

But the home team responded immediately. Comtois got another look at Zagidulin when he stole the puck from Daniil Orlov and raced away to beat the Spartak goalie. And, late in the game, Gusev scored his second goal and third point of the night to wrap up the win.

Torpedo takes big stride towards securing a playoff spot

Kunlun Red Star 1 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 (1-0, 0-1, 0-3)

Torpedo took a huge step towards securing its playoff spot with victory over ninth-placed Kunlun. Despite falling behind in the first period and absorbing some pressure in the second, the visitor turned it around to win thanks to Vyacheslav Voynov’s pair of power play goals at the start of the final frame.

The home team knew that this game was huge for its playoff prospects. Win, and the gap to eighth-placed Torpedo was cut to a manageable seven points; lose and the gulf would be an almost unbridgeable 11. As a result, there was a fast start from the Dragons as they looked to build on Tuesday’s triumph over Salavat Yulaev.

For a long time, both goalies were on top. However, in the 18th minute Red Star broke the deadlock. Kyle Rau’s shot was blocked by Ivan Kulbakov, but Luke Lockhart grabbed the rebound on the slot and opened the scoring from close range.

The second period was another hard-fought battle. Kunlun had early chances – Danny O’Regan prominent again – before Torpedo stepped up the pace and tested Patrik Rybar in the home net. Alexander Sharov took a painful blow to the knee as he stopped Bogdan Konyushkov’s blast, and Adam Clendening had to be alert when backing up his goalie as Yegor Vinogradov threatened to bring the loose puck to an empty net.

In the 39th minute, Torpedo managed to tie the game: Dmitry Kagarlitsky struck on the breakaway for 1-1. And that lifted the visitor going into the start of the third. A penalty on Ian McCoshen 39 seconds after the restart saw Kagarlitsky set up Slava Voynov for a power play goal that put the visitor in front for the first time.

More penalty trouble reduced the Dragons to three skaters, and Voynov came up trumps on the power play once again. Two goals in six minutes at the start of the third period gave Torpedo a 3-1 lead and control of this all-important game. Evgeny Svechnikov added some gloss to the final scoreline with a late goal as Torpedo opens an 11-point gap to the chasing pack and cuts the gap to seventh place Dinamo Minsk to just one point.