Dynamic duo keep up winning runs. March 3 round-up

Dinamo Minsk and Dynamo Moscow continued their good recent form. The Belarusians won 6-2 at home to Kunlun, recording a seventh straight victory and climbing to fifth in the West. In Moscow, a 4-1 win over Avtomobilist gave Alexei Kudashov’s men some breathing space in the race for second place. Torpedo’s 4-3 win at Vityaz ended the home team’s playoff prospects. In the East, Lada is still alive, but the Motormen are running out of chances after a shoot-out loss at Metallurg.

Late goal can’t save Lada

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Lada Togliatti 1 SO (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)

A late goal from former Metallurg forward Mikhail Fisenko denied the home team victory in regulation here. However, Lada was unable to escape defeat in a shoot-out as the defending champion recorded a fourth successive win.

The home team made an energetic start to the game and won the first power play of the evening. However, the visitor was closer to scoring when Alexei Ozhgikhin raced to the Metallurg net but overplayed his deke and failed to get a shot on target. More penalties gave Magnitka a four-on-three power play and Robin Press fired against the post. Late in the frame, Lada had another scare when Igor Geraskin also found the piping.

At the start of the second period, Lada had a great chance to open the scoring but Ilya Nabokov denied Dmitry Kugryshev when it seemed the forward had found the way to the net. But in the end, Metallurg got the opener when Geraskin’s feed – which brought up his 200th point in the KHL – was converted by Press. The defenseman’s shot did not whip through Maxim Tretiak’s defenses, but still slithered over the line.

The Lada net came under heavy fire as the second period progressed and more than once the frame of the goal saved the visitor from going further behind. Tretiak, too, made some important stops. However, that wasn’t enough to seal the win. It remained 1-0 until late in the game, when Fisenko got the redirect on Marsel Ibragimov’s point shot to send the action into overtime. The extras also finished goalless, but home goalie Nabokov showed his class in the shoot-out. At the other end, Yegor Yakovlev and Nikita Mikhailis scored on Tretiak to win it for Magnitka. 

Shavin double ends Vityaz’ playoff hopes

Vityaz Moscow Region 3 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 (2-1, 0-1, 1-2)

Two goals at the start of the third period led Torpedo to victory in Balashikha. In the process, Igor Larionov’s team knocked Vityaz out of playoff contention and now needs just one more win to guarantee a top-eight finish.

Needing victory to keep its season alive, Vityaz could draw on two wins against Torpedo earlier in the season. And the home team made a good start despite losing its last three games. Dmitry Buchelnikov converted the first power play of the game to open the scoring in the sixth minute. Then, after Anton Silayev tied it up, Buchelnikov turned provider as Grigory Vashchenko sent Pavel Desyatkov’s team into the intermission with a 2-1 lead. That was the defenseman’s first KHL goal in only his second game for Vityaz since 2015/16: unusually, he achieved that distinction at the advanced age of 30!

However, the lead did not last. Torpedo tied it up midway through the second period on a goal from Nikita Shavin. Then the visitor began the final frame with a bang. Vladislav Kodola made it 3-2 on 41:39, and 16 seconds late Shavin scored again.

Vityaz didn’t give up, and Ivan Vorobyov soon pulled one goal back. But the home team could get no closer as its season came to a premature end.

Impressive Minsk marches on

Dinamo Minsk 6 Kunlun Red Star 2 (1-0, 5-1, 0-1)

A powerful second-period performance saw Dinamo reel off a seventh successive victory. The Bison scored five goals in the middle frame to blow the Dragons away and climb to fifth in the Western Conference. Not many teams will fancy a trip to Belarus at the start of the playoffs if this form continues.

Although the final score was decisive, there wasn’t all that much to choose between the teams in the first period. Dinamo had the better of the play and were fair value for the 1-0 lead supplied by Vadim Moroz’s power play goal in the 14th minute. The KRS bench challenged the play, claiming a hand pass, but the review upheld the on-ice decision to separate the teams at the first intermission.

But the second period saw Dinamo take control. Brady Lyle doubled the lead early on, then three goals in five minutes put the game out of reach around the midway mark. Nicolas Meloche added a third in the 29th minute, Vadim Shipachyov’s 302nd KHL snipe chase Patrik Rybar from the Red Star net, then Jeremy Smith was beaten by Xavier Ouellet after 33 minutes. Vitaly Pinchuk pushed the lead out to 6-0 in the 38th minute as Minsk marched through the Dragons’ defenses.

The visitor showed some resilience. Luke Lockhart and Yaroslav Likhachyov potted power play goals either side of the second intermission to bring some respectability back to proceedings. But this was always Dinamo’s day, with Kunlun’s only victory coming in a fight between Doyle Somerby and home defenseman Josh Brook.

Gusev scores his 50th for Dynamo

Dynamo Moscow 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (3-1, 1-0, 0-0)

Second in the West played second in the East, and it was Dynamo that came out on top. A strong first period proved too much for Avtomobilist as the Blue-and-Whites posted a fourth successive victory.

The game began with another round of presentations. Dynamo legends Vladimir Krikunov and Alexander Yeryomenko received commemorative medals from KHL president Alexei Morozov to mark their long and successful careers in the league. Krikunov is one of the elite band of coaches to work 700+ games, while Yeryomenko is one of the few goalies to record 250+ wins and 60+ shut-outs, earning him two awards.

Once the action was underway, Nikita Gusev added another landmark. He opened the scoring in the eighth minute, potting his 50th goal for Dynamo. That takes him to 242 in his KHL career, moving him level with Sergei Shirokov for a share of sixth place on the all-time goal ranking. That wasn’t the end of Gusev’s first period contribution: in the final minute he had an assist as Kirill Adamchuk scored the home team’s third of the game.

In between those efforts, Dmitry Rashevsky extended Dynamo’s lead before Artyom Kashtanov pulled one back for Avtomobilist. The visitor was looking to gain ground on Eastern Conference leader Traktor – victory here would have reduced the gap to three points – but never got closer to the Blue-and-Whites than that 14th minute strike.

Instead, Dynamo padded its lead in the second stanza. Max Comtois added a fourth goal in the 28th minute, extending his productive streak to four games. And that set up a lead that Avto could not erode. Although the visitor outshot Dynamo 20-10 in the middle frame, it could not score on Maxim Motorygin again. The home goalie finished the game with 36 saves as the Muscovites move three points clear of CSKA in second place in the West.