Eight in a row for Dinamo, KRS stays alive. March 5 round-up
Dinamo Minsk secured its eighth successive victory, beating Lada 4-2 to maintain its impressive form in the closing weeks of the regular season. Spartak fell to a third successive loss, going down in a shoot-out as Kunlun Red Star got the win that keeps its playoff hopes intact for at least another day. In the East, Ak Bars beat Avtomobilist 3-1, denying the visitor the chance to draw level with second-placed Salavat Yulaev.
Minsk power play fires win over Lada
Dinamo Minsk 4 Lada Togliatti 2 (2-1, 1-1, 1-0)
This game followed the form guide. Dinamo reeled off an eighth consecutive victory, condemning Lada to a sixth straight loss. Defeat leaves the visitor on the brink of elimination from the playoff race: now Lada must win all seven of its remaining games to get ahead of eighth-placed Sibir.
Today, Pavel Zubov’s team showed some resilience at in-form Dinamo. But after twice tying the game, Lada ran out of gas in the latter half of the game. A power play goal from Vadim Moroz made it 3-2 in the 34th minute and Brady Lyle’s marker early in the third opened a decisive two-goal lead for the home team.
Before that, the teams traded power play goals in the first period. Jordan Gross opened the scoring for Dinamo in the ninth minute, with an assist from Vadim Shipachyov. Anthony Camara got Lada level on 16:01, but Minsk regained the lead within a couple of minutes. The teams were playing four-on-four when Daniil Lipsky potted his fifth of the season to give the Bison the advantage at the first intermission.
Daniil Yurtaikin scored the first goal in five-on-five play at the start of the second period to make it 2-2, but that was as good as it got for Lada. Another Dinamo power play saw Shipachyov and Gross combine on Moroz’s go-ahead goal before Lyle chased starting goalie Maxim Tretiak from his net in the 46th minute.
Incoming netminder Alexander Trushkov kept his goal intact for the remainder of the game. However, his team-mates could not find any way through at the other end as Dinamo closed out a 4-2 win.
Graovac gives Dragons the edge at Spartak
Spartak Moscow 2 Kunlun Red Star 3 SO (1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Kunlun edged a shoot-out verdict at Spartak to keep its playoff hopes alive in a hard-fought game. The visitor scored two short-handed goals in a 2-2 tie, then won the shoot-out thanks to Tyler Graovac’s effort. The win ends a three-game skid for Red Star, while sending the Red-and-Whites to a third successive loss.
The first period began well for Spartak with Alexander Pashin scoring in the second minute. And it should have got better as the home team enjoyed two power plays. However, both of them brought shorthanded goals as the Dragons stunned their high-flying host.
The tying goal came after a home power play broke down almost immediately and Luke Lockhart led a three-on-one rush before finishing the play himself. Then, late in the session, another home power play floundered amid indecision in center ice. Colin Campbell jumped on the play and, with the covering defenseman concerned about the lurking Alexander Sharov, the Canadian forward rifled home for a 2-1 lead.
In the second, Pashin again produced a second-minute goal to tie the game. Red Star got its first power play of the game and almost allowed a shorthanded goal for Spartak. A counterattack saw Yegor Zaitsev ring a shot against the crossbar with Jeremy Smith beaten. Then came two more home power plays, but there was no more scoring at either end and the teams went to the second intermission locked at 2-2.
The third period saw Spartak have a third goal ruled out. A video review ascertained that Pavel Tkachenko’s stick was high when he redirected Andrei Mironov’s shot into the net and the teams remained deadlocked.
That meant overtime – with the point ensuring that Kunlun’s playoff hopes would remain at least theoretically intact until Torpedo’s game against Avangard on Thursday. In the extras, both teams had chances to win it but good goaltending from Smith and Dmitry Nikolayev sent us to a shoot-out.
The shoot-out was also incident-packed: Spartak’s Sergei Lukyantsev scored his team’s fifth attempt, meaning Tomas Jurco had to beat Nikolayev to keep KRS in the game. The Slovak succeeded and, after two more successful attempts at the start of sudden death, Graovac got Red Star in front and Lukyantsev could find no answer for Spartak.
Barabanov double lifts Ak Bars over Avtomobilist
Ak Bars Kazan 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (0-0, 1-0, 2-1)
A hard-fought game in Kazan saw Ak Bars close on the top four, while Avtomobilist missed the chance to draw level with second-placed Salavat Yulaev. The host began its latest home stand by building on the weekend win at Sibir, sending the visitor to a third successive loss.
There wasn’t much to choose between the teams in an even first period. Ak Bars made the brighter start, and that pressure earned the first power play of the evening in the fourth minute when Andrei Obidin tripped Dmitrij Jaskin. Eric O’Dell was close to converting that chance, but Vladimir Galkin denied him from close range. However, the nearest miss of the opening frame went to the visitor. Maxim Osipov’s powerful shot deflected off the knee of home defenseman Stepan Terekhov and flew into the crossbar before dropping to safety.
The second period began with Avtomobilist on the power play, but Ak Bars kept the Motormen at bay. Once back to full strength, the home team took the lead in the 23rd minute. Nikita Lyamkin started this play, sending the puck from the boards to O’Dell in a central position. Galkin stopped the initial shot but the rebound dropped perfectly for Lyamkin to finish it off.
That goal served as something of a wake-up call for the visitor, which almost immediately began to pick up the pace. However, despite some good chances there was no tying goal before the intermission. The closest Avto came was in the 34th minute when Danil Romantsev got clean through on Timur Bilyalov’s net but found the goalie equal to his shot. The Motormen’s attempts were hindered by an untimely penalty on Nikita Soshnikov late in the frame and it remained 1-0 at the second intermission.
If the second period showed signs of Avtomobilist getting on top, the third began with Ak Bars looking to consolidate its lead. However, even though the home team managed to retain most of the possession, there were few chances at either end and the first 10 minutes produced just four shots on goal between the two teams.
However, four quickly became more – and the scoreline jumped from 1-0 to 2-1 in the space of 20 seconds. First, Alexander Barabanov doubled the home lead when he tucked away the rebound after Ilya Safonov was denied. But the very next shift saw Avtomobilist right back in the game when Alexander Sharov fired the puck to the slot where Nick Merkley outbattled the defenseman to stuff it home.
Subsequently, the visitor ran into difficulties. Jaskin forced a double save out of Galkin, then a couple of quick penalties reduced Avtomobilist to three skaters in the 55th minute. Although the PK did its job, Ak Bars was able to take a big chunk of time out of the game as it defended its lead. In the end, Barabanov scored his second of the game into an empty net to seal the home win.
