KHL 3x3 round 11: Mighty Metallurg, surprising Barys

The latest 3x3 action saw Magnitka climb to the top of the standings, while Barys shrugged off a long losing streak to produce its best performance so far.

Story of the Round

Barys came into round 11 on a miserable run of 14 losses. The line-up changed, the youngsters were struggling and everything seemed hopeless. Many wrote off the Kazakhs, but they responded with a shock win over Salavat Yulaev. Then came victory against Avangard and the nearest of misses against Metallurg. In the end, Barys booked its place in the Supergame on Saturday.

Yet maybe this success wasn’t such a shock after all. Ali Kasenov and Vyacheslav Kolesnikov – previously seen inspiring victories over Ak Bars and Metallurg in mid-January – returned to the team. Kasenov had 9 (6+3) points in this round, Kolesnikov 12 (6+6), plus a goal and an assist in the Supergame. On top of that, there was strong goaltending from Roman Kalmykov. Will we see them again in the coming round? Who knows? The Barys line-up is one of the more unpredictable factors in this competition.

Hero of the Round

Pavel Varfolomeyev (Metallurg)

Metallurg finishes as the top team here. For the second week running, Magnitka topped the standings then won the Supergame. Last time, Sergei Shmelyov powered that success, this time Pavel Varfolomeyev came to the fore. Their partnership worked flawlessly. Varfolomeyev had 14 (9+5) points in this round. He secured a shoo-tout win for Metallurg against Barys then potted a fine hat-trick in the Supergame. The Steelmen’s #66 made the difference when his team was in trouble and contributed effectively when things were going Metallurg’s way.

As well as Shmelyov (13 points), Metallurg defenseman Evgeny Churlyayev also deserves a mention. Up to now, he hadn’t been enormously productive with just three goals, but here he potted six in the first three games!

Another important outcome – Metallurg moved to the top of the overall standings. Yes, there’s only a two-point gap to Ak Bars and it’s hard to imagine that Kazan won’t reclaim the lead in the next round. But the other teams will have a hard time taking the lead in the scoring race from Metallurg’s players with the top four marksmen all representing Magnitogorsk: Varfolomeyev (64 points), Shmelyov (61), Dmitry Marchenkov (50) and Andrei Oleinikov (48).

Game of the Round: Metallurg 5 Barys 4 SO

At the time, nobody imagined this would be a leadership battle. Sure, Barys had already beaten Salavat Yulaev and Avangard, but that didn’t make the outsider a sudden favorite. However, after two periods the Kazakhs were up 4-2. Then we saw how Magnitka needed to dig deep and find the strength to retrieve the situation – not a familiar task for Evgeny Timkin’s men in this format. And they managed it: Pavel Varfolomeyev reduced the deficit, then a powerful shot from Denis Polukarov tied the game in the last minute. Varfolomeyev was the star in the shoot-out, converting the final attempt in the initial series to take it to sudden death before scoring again to seal the tightest of wins for his team.

Debut of the Round

In the previous round, Salavat Yulaev captain Nikita Shchitov became the first player to swap his stick for a mic and join the commentary team. This time, Avangard forward Evgeny Chesalin followed his example – then stepped out of the commentary booth to score a trademark penalty shot in the Hawks’ game against Shchitov’s Ufa.

Guest of the Round

Nikita Shchitov invited six-time sambo world champion Vyacheslav Vasilevsky to the latest round of 3x3 action. The martial arts champ had a few motivational words for the Salavat Yulaev team and got a flavor of a new hockey format.