Neftekhimik on top in Tatar derby. February 18 round-up

There was only one KHL game on Tuesday, and it ended in a 3-2 win for Neftekhimik over Ak Bars.

Fourth straight loss for Ak Bars

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (2-1, 1-1, 0-0)

For the first time this season, Neftekhimik claimed victory in the Tatarstan derby. It’s a second notable scalp in successive games for the Wolves, who defeated SKA 4-3 in the previous game. Ak Bars, meanwhile, continues to stutter following the All-Star Game. This was a fourth successive loss, although Artur Gatiyatulin’s team at least improved on the margin of those recent defeats.

After the recent loss to Avangard, Gatiyatulin complained that his players had lost that “goal feeling”. The early stages of this game suggested that it wasn’t coming back quickly. Neftekhimik took advantage of a toothless visiting offense and went in front on Vladimir Bryukvin’s goal. There could have been more: Jean-Sebastien Dea had a penalty shot but failed to convert it. Even so, it wasn’t long before Timur Bilyalov was retrieving the puck from his net once again: Luka Profaca’s long-range effort turned Neftekhimik’s first power play into a goal.

The Ak Bars bench responded with a time-out and gained a partial reward. The visitor got on the power play and was able to spend a couple of minutes on the front foot, albeit without a goal. That came when back at equal strength: Nic Petan fired across the face of goal and a deflection off Vladislav Leontyev’s skate turned it into the net. That wasn’t the end of Neftekhimik’s problems: an unsuccessful bench challenge brought a delay of game penalty and at the end of the first period the Wolves had to defend heroically when reduced to three skaters.

The power play continued into the second period and Kirill Semyonov hit the post for Ak Bars before Eric O’Dell produced a dangerous redirect from close range. While the visitor’s leaders struggled to find their form, the fourth line stepped up. Nikita Dynyak tied the game, with young Zamaltdinov’s assist bringing him a first KHL point. Moments later, the same two got on a breakaway, but home goalie Filip Dolganov denied them both.

At the other end, Neftekhimik spurned a power play but then regained the lead with a short-handed tally. Nikita Khoruzhev made it 3-2 14 seconds before the intermission; Ak Bars allowed a shorty for the third time in two games.

That turned out to be the end of the scoring, although Neftekhimik might have given itself a more comfortable lead as Riley Barber twice tested Bilyalov on the power play. At the other end, Dmitrij Jaskin hit the crossbar but Ak Bars could not unlock the home defense and fell to a 3-2 loss.