Avto secures playoff spot, Spartak wins Moscow derby. February 17 round-up
A 5-0 win at Sibir saw Avtomobilist sweep into the playoffs in some style. The Motormen are the third confirmed qualifier from the Eastern conference. At the other end of the scale, Amur’s hopes are over following a 2-5 loss at home to Traktor. The big game in the West saw Spartak defeat Moscow rival Dynamo in overtime thanks to Nikolai Goldobin’s winner. No less important in the battle for position ahead of the playoffs, SKA won 5-3 at Severstal as Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goals since November. Sochi shocked CSKA again, winning 4-1 in Moscow. Metallurg had a 3-1 win at rock-bottom Barys, while Dinamo Minsk beat Vityaz 4-2 thanks to a couple of Sam Anas goals.
Traktor ends Amur’s playoff hopes
Amur Khabarovsk 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 5 (0-2, 1-1, 1-2)
A fifth successive loss ended Amur’s hopes of making the playoffs: after today’s defeat against Traktor, the Tigers have no further mathematical hope of making the top eight. The visitor, meanwhile, has already confirmed its playoff spot and is looking to secure top spot in the East – and possibly mount a challenge for the Continental Cup.
Today Amur made a promising start but failed to convert its early chances. Then, an eighth-minute breakaway saw Vitaly Kravtsov open the scoring for Traktor. That changed the flow of the game: Maxim Shabanov was denied by the post before Charles Robinson doubled the lead.
The pressure continued in the second period and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev added a third after he was given the freedom of the slot after 28 minutes. Kravtsov went close to his second of the night and Andrei Svetlakov fired in a dangerous shot at Matt Jurusik. It took a power play midway through the session to get Amur back into the game. Although Alexander Rykov had completed his time in the box, the home team continued to attack and within a second Artur Gizdatullin found the net.
That offered some hope of a fightback, and Amur started the third period well. When Traktor ran into penalty trouble, Devin Brosseau had the puck in Zach Fucale’s net, but his effort was flagged off for a high stick. Undaunted, Amur kept pressing. Traktor fluffed a line change and Brosseau scored a legitimate goal during the five-on-three power play.
At 3-2, the game was alive once again. However, Traktor was alert to the situation and managed to finish the job. The visitor was helped by defensive frailties as Alexander Kadeikin set up Artyom Blazhievsky for a shot at an open net before Svetlakov completed the scoring.
Avtomobilist motors into playoffs
Sibir Novosibirsk 0 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 5 (0-3, 0-0, 0-2)
An emphatic victory on the road at Sibir saw Avtomobilist book its ticket to this season’s playoffs. The Motormen are the third team from the Eastern Conference to secure their place, following Traktor and Salavat Yulaev.
The visitor saw American defenseman Nick Ebert in action for only the second time this year as he makes his way back from injury. In the 17th minute, he was involved in the attack that saw fellow blue-liner Nikita Tryamkin find the net for Avto’s second goal of the night.
Before that, Semyon Kizimov opened the scoring after some good work on the slot. The visitor’s dominance was so great that by the time Tryamkin doubled the lead, Sibir had yet to fire a shot at Evgeny Alikin’s net.
When Brooks Macek added a third goal 21 seconds before the intermission, it might have completely demoralized the home team. But the second period brought an improvement. Taylor Beck and Andy Andreoff came closing to reducing the deficit on the first shift, setting the tone for a more attacking performance. At the other end, Anton Krasotkin took over in goal, making his first appearance since Jan. 26.
Despite trailing by three, Sibir had chances to recover in the second period. The home team stepped up the pressure and Avtomobilist was often forced to resort to foul play. However, none of the three home power plays produced a goal. Then, in the final frame, Alexander Sharov scored twice on his former club. That’s now the seventh game in a row he’s come back to haunt Sibir after leaving Novosibirsk in the summer of 2023.
Metallurg wins third in a row
Barys Astana 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (1-0, 0-2, 0-1)
Both teams came into this game with injury worries. Barys lost the services of starting goalie Nikita Boyarkin in the previous game and Andrei Shutov was recalled to replace him.
Metallurg, meanwhile, saw Danila Yurov limp out of the weekend game in Novosibirsk while Robin Press and Luke Johnson were also unavailable. The was better news for the visitor with the return of Makar Khabarov for his first action since Jan. 7. Borna Rendulic and Boris Osipov were also back on the team.
Magnitka was the red-hot favorite for this game as Barys continues to struggle at the foot of the standings. The visitor started brightly, enjoying plenty of possession around Shutov’s net. Only a home power play relieved some of the pressure, but even then two dangerous shorthanded counters forced Shutov into action. Nonetheless, the Kazakhs opened the scoring against the run of play: Mikhail Rakhmanov intercepted a Roman Kantserov pass and found the target from close range.
Early in the second we had a spell of four-on-four hockey. During that time, Metallurg took the initiative and, once back at full strength, Alexei Maklyukov scored on his former club to tie the game.
The visitor kept the pace up, but almost got caught by the home PK when Rakhmanov got on a breakaway but failed to beat Alexander Smolin for a second time. However, that was pretty much the only chance of a Barys goal in the second period and Andrei Kozlov’s snipe in the 35th minute sent Metallurg into the third period with a 2-1 lead.
After five minutes of the final stanza, Denis Zernov’s goal padded the advantage to 3-1 and left Barys with too much to do. The pattern of play didn’t much change until the closing moments, but apart from one tricky save Smolin was rarely tested.
Kuznetsov gets back on the goal trail
Severstal Cherepovets 3 SKA St. Petersburg 5 (1-1, 1-2, 1-2)
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first KHL goals since November to help SKA to victory in Cherepovets. A second successive defeat pushes Severstal down to sixth in the standings, while SKA goes up to fourth.
The game got off to a bright start, and SKA opened the scoring midway through the first period. Dmitry Yudin blocked a shot at the visitor’s end, and immediately set a counterattack in motion. Pavel Dedunov led a two-on-one rush and set up Grigory Kuzmin to score. Moments later, it was almost 2-0. Zakhar Bardakov seemed to have found an open corner of the net, but Konstantin Shostak managed to pull off a big save.
Severstal tied it up in the 15th minute when Nikita Zaitsev struggled to clear his lines under pressure from David Dumbadze, giving Mikhail Kotlyarevsky the chance to make it 1-1. Then, early in the second, home captain Adam Liska put the Steelmen in front when he squeezed a shot through Yegor Zavragin’s defenses.
The home team looked to be in control in the first half of the middle frame, but a penalty on Timofei Davydov opened the door for SKA. Marat Khairullin’s power play goal tied the game but could not change the pattern of play. Severstal still created the better chances and Liska was denied a great chance of a second goal thanks to the unexpected defensive effort from the visitor’s young Matvei Korotky.
Once again, a SKA power play changed things. This time Kuznetsov got the goal, seconds before the intermission. He was perfectly placed on the slot to apply the redirect to Alexander Nikishin’s shot, putting SKA up 3-2 with his first goal since Nov. 30. It’s worth noting that the forward missed the whole of January due to injury.
Midway through the third period, SKA struck on the PP once again. This time Korotky was the scorer, a third goal in two games for the 19-year-old forward. Yanni Kaldis quickly pulled one back for Severstal to keep the game alive going into the closing stages, but SKA sealed the win when Kuznetsov found the empty net.
This was the fourth and final encounter between these teams in the regular season and the mini-series finished locked at 2-2. Strikingly, the teams shared 39 goals in those four games: what price a renewal of this rivalry in the playoffs?
Anas double downs Vityaz
Vityaz Moscow Region 2 Dinamo Minsk 4 (1-0, 1-3, 0-1)
Two goals from Sam Anas helped Dinamo to victory over Vityaz. The visitor continued its habit of alternating wins and losses, while the home team suffered a second loss after last Thursday’s win in Minsk interrupted a run of six losses.
The visitor adopted a shoot-on-sight policy in the first period. Dinamo outshot Vityaz 14-7 and had further 11 attempts blocked by the home defense. But the only goal came at the other end when Stanislav Yarovoi opened the scoring after 15 minutes.
Minsk turned it around in the second period. Anas tied it up almost immediately and the shots kept coming to Maxim Dorozhko’s net. The breakthrough came in the 34th minute through Chris Tierney and it felt like the game was getting away from Vityaz. However, a power play chance late in the session saw Alexei Makeyev tie the scores, only for Roman Gorbunov to restore Dinamo’s lead 31 seconds before the intermission.
As in the second period, Anas began the third with a quick goal. This time it came on the power play, and the two-goal advantage proved too much for Vityaz to chase. Dinamo keeps up its push for the playoffs, Vityaz looks destined to finish in 10th.
Second Sochi shocker for CSKA
CSKA Moscow 1 HC Sochi 4 (1-0, 0-2, 0-2)
Last week, Sochi won at home to CSKA for the first time ever. Today it repeated that success on the road. Out of four meetings between the teams this season, the struggling Leopards have won three.
When CSKA went to the intermission up 1-0 on Pavel Karnaukhov’s goal, it was tempting to assume that home team was cruising to victory. However, the stats showed a rather more even contest with Sochi even having a slight advantage in shots (6-8). When Igor Shvyryov capitalized on a defensive error to tie the game at the start of the second, the visitor was able to turn the game around. CSKA struggled to get its game going and fell behind late on to a short-handed goal from Daniil Seroukh.
If Ilya Vorobyov hoped that the intermission would enable his team to reset and retrieve the game, he was disappointed. Yes, there was some intense pressure from the host, but Sergei Ivanov kept the Moscow forwards at bay. Then, in the 52nd minute, Jesse Graham grabbed a goal on the counter to make it 3-1. CSKA kept looking for a way back, but could not find one; Alexander Khokhlachyov’s empty-netter confirmed the result.
Goldobin snatches OT winner for Spartak in derby
Spartak Moscow 3 Dynamo Moscow 2 OT (0-0, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0)
Down twice in this Moscow derby, Spartak saved itself late in the game and went on to win it in overtime. Dynamo holds onto second place thanks to its point for the tie, but Spartak is now up to third, one point ahead of SKA.
Although the first period was goalless, Spartak looked the likelier team. Vladislav Podyapolsky had to make 12 saves in the opening session, most notably denying Mikhail Maltsev on the power play.
However, Dynamo always looked dangerous on the counterattack and opened the scoring in the 25th minute of an entertaining encounter. Max Comtois collected a pass from Kirill Adamchuk and picked his moment to find a shooting lane from a tight angle and beat Artyom Zagidulin in the home net. Spartak redoubled its attacking efforts: Podyapolsky had to be alert to stop Yegor Zaitsev on the wraparound, and was relieved seconds later when Alexander Pashin’s shot dinged the iron.
But the pressure soon paid: Pashin persevered, taking the play around the net to set up Adam Ruzicka for a well-worked tying goal.
Dynamo responded to regain the lead before the second intermission thanks to Jordan Weal. A turnover enabled Nikita Gusev to release his Canadian colleague and Weal calmly skated clear to make it 2-1.
Spartak had to wait until late in the game to tie the scores. However, in the 56th minute, Yegor Filin got a vital goal for his team, battling for possession on the boards and firing the puck towards Alexander Belyayev in front of goal. It deflected off a defenseman along the way and bounced into the net for 2-2.
Dynamo almost won it in regulation thanks to some deft play from Comtois. He produced an inviting feed for Cedric Paquette at the back door, but with the goal at his mercy Paquette steered the puck wide.
That meant overtime, and Spartak took control of proceedings. Ruzicka had a good chance to win it but fired narrowly wide. However, a minute later Nikolai Goldobin moved in from the left wing to wire a wrister past Podyapolsky and win the game.
