Leivo equals Mozyakin’s record, Ak Bars scores eight on Barys. March 20 round-up
Free-scoring Josh Leivo made it 48 goals for the season, matching Sergei Mozyakin’s 2017 record for goals in a KHL regular season. His game winner at Sibir also lifted his team back into second place in the Eastern Conference, a point clear of Metallurg. Ak Bars thrashed Barys 8-0 to stay in the race for a top-four finish in the East, but Avangard will not have home ice advantage at the start of the playoffs: needing a regulation win at Vityaz to stay in contention, the Hawks went to overtime before edging a 3-2 verdict. Avtomobilist remains fourth thanks to a shoot-out win over SKA. That result, coupled with Severstal’s win at Torpedo, leaves SKA in danger of finishing seventh in the West – its worst regular season result in the KHL. Spartak defeated Sochi and Amur won a shoot-out at Lada in Thursday’s other games.
Leivo ties scoring record
Sibir Novosibirsk 1 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 (0-0, 1-2, 0-1)
Josh Leivo potted his 48th goal of the season to help Salavat Yulaev to a 3-1 win at Sibir. That equals Sergei Mozyakin’s record for goals in a regular season, set in 2017. Leivo has one more game to try and set a new mark when he plays against Barys on Saturday.
The big moment came in the 37th minute. Leivo was quarterbacking a five-on-three power play and stepped up from the blue line to take a pass from Scott Wilson and whip a one-timer past Anton Krasotkin in the Sibir net.
Leivo’s goal put Salavat Yulaev up 2-1in a game the visitor went on to win. Earlier, the first period finished goalless, but Sibir began the second with a goal from Timur Akhiyarov after two minutes. The lead didn’t last long, with defenseman Yaroslav Tsulygin tying the scores a couple of minutes later. That’s the third game in a row that Tsulygin has found the net as he makes a strong finish to comfortably the most productive season of his career to date.
However, Sibir had the puck in the net for a second time through Gleb Klimovich. But the youngster, called up from the VHL, did not get to celebrate; the play was called back for an offside whistle and Ufa kept the lead until the second intermission.
The third period began with Sheldon Rempal dinging the home crossbar and ended with the same player scoring an empty-netter to finish the job. In between, Leivo was unable to get a shot on goal, never mind a record-breaking 49th goal. Can he do it in the final game of the season?
Ak Bars dominates in Astana
Barys Astana 0 Ak Bars Kazan 8 (0-2, 0-2, 0-4)
If Barys puts in another defensive performance like today’s, Leivo’s quest for a 49th goal might be rather easier. Ak Bars blitzed the league’s basement club, rattling in eight unanswered goals. Alexander Barabanov had 4 (2+2) points, Kirill Semyonov scored two goals, and Stepan Falkovsky had a goal and two assists.
The visitor had lost three of its previous four and was losing ground in the race for a top-four finish in the East. Today’s win might not be enough to get Ak Bars home ice advantage at the start of the playoffs, but it at least offers hope that the team is playing its way back into form ahead of the business end of the season.
Ak Bars got in front on the first power play of the game, with Semyonov scoring while Kirill Panyukov sat for slashing. Then Barabanov doubled the lead in the 16th minute, off a Falkovsky assist.
It was 2-0 at the first intermission and Barys had done little to suggest it could change the course of this game. In the second period, the home team at least managed some shots at Timur Bilyalov’s net but could not reduce the deficit. Instead, Ak Bars extended its lead on markers from Semyon Terekhov and Dmitrij Jaskin.
Barabanov potted his second at the start of the final frame, then assisted as Semyonov joined him on two goals midway through the session. Barys had the puck in the net 26 seconds later, but a video review denied the home team even that small consolation: the officials ruled that the puck was kicked into the net and the goal was whistled off.
A bad day got worse for the host. Dmitry Katelevsky added a seventh before Falkovsky’s late strike made the final score a lopsided 8-0.
Motormen recover to beat SKA
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 SKA St. Petersburg 2 SO (0-1, 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
After recovering from 0-2, Avtomobilist got a victory that keeps it on track for a top-four finish in the East. The Motormen are two points clear of Ak Bars with one game to play, and need only to match their rival’s result in the last game of the regular season to ensure home ice advantage at the start of the playoffs. SKA, meanwhile, is in danger of its worst finish in the KHL: after losing a point to Severstal, it remains seventh in the West and potentially on course for the first-round playoff clash with Dynamo Moscow.
The home team welcomed back several leaders: Nikita Tryamkin, Anatoly Golyshev and Jesse Blacker all returned to action today. SKA, meanwhile, raised eyebrows with the omission of highly-rated youngster Ivan Demidov, who paid the price for a recent run of indifferent form.
Early on, the teams were more engaged in puck battles than creating chances. Gradually play opened up, but the greater danger came on the counter. Darren Dietz fired just over the SKA net when well placed, and the visitor went right down the ice to respond with a goal from another defenseman, Nikita Zaitsev. His point shot took a deflection and flew into the top corner to give him his first of the season and his first in the KHL since Feb. 2016.
Buoyed by that lead, SKA made a good start to the second period. An active press brought frequent counterattacks and when Golyshev’s pass went astray, Vladimir Alistrov took play to the other end. His shot was stopped, but Marat Khairullin followed up to convert the rebound.
Avtomobilist needed a response, and got it in the 28th minute thanks to Artyom Kashtanov. He won possession and got the puck off the boards before skated to the circle to receive and convert a feed from Danil Romantsev.
For a long time, neither team managed to create serious scoring chances. It was rare for either side to get much time in the opposition zone and not even a SKA power play could change that. The visitor was more content with the situation; defending a lead, it held Avto without a shot at Yegor Zavragin until midway through the final stanza.
Yet the home team always had the attacking power to change things and, late in the game, head coach Nikolai Zavarukhin threw all his top forwards onto the ice at the same time. The gambit seemed to pay off: Brooks Macek put the puck in the net from a Stephane da Costa shot. But SKA challenged the play, claiming offside, and the review upheld that complaint. The reprieve proved short-lived, with Macek again beating Zavrgain – with no questions this time – as Golyshev screened the visiting goalie.
Overtime saw the home team get on the power play when Blacker’s breakaway was crudely halted by Arseny Gritsyuk. But SKA held on to force the shoot-out before falling to successful attempts from Nick Merkley and Semyon Kizimov.
No luck for hat-trick hero
Lada Togliatti 3 Amur Khabarovsk 4 SO (0-1, 1-0, 2-2, 0-0, 0-1)
Nikita Mikhailov scored a hat-trick but still finished on the losing side as Amur made it back-to-back wins at Lada. The visitor followed up Tuesday’s 3-2 success with a shoot-out verdict in Togliatti.
The home team gave 20-year-old goalie Danila Ovcharik his first start in the KHL, and it didn’t go well. He was beaten after just 15 seconds as Vladislav Barulin gave the visitor the lead in the first shift.
Despite that start, the home team stayed in the game in the first period and began to get on top at the start of the second. Intense pressure on the Amur net forced the Tigers to take a time out, then the visitor twice had to kill penalties as Lada looked the likelier scorer.
However, just as it seemed that Amur had weathered the storm, Mikhailov got his first of the game to tie it up in the 39th minute when he converted a solo rush. And Mikhailov continued to prosper early in the third, putting his team in front in the 44th minute then completing his first KHL hat-trick two minutes later.
A 3-1 lead looked like it might be enough to win it, but Amur got on the comeback trail thanks to Barulin’s second of the night in the 57th minute. Within a minute, Ignat Korotkikh tied the game, and the shoot-out went the visitor’s way. Neither Mikhailov nor Barulin could convert their attempts, but Korotkikh was on target to settle the outcome.
Okulov gives Hawks an OT verdict
Vityaz Moscow Region 2 Avangard Omsk 3 OT (1-2, 0-0, 1-0, 0-1)
An overtime victory for Avangard wasn’t enough to kindle the Hawks’ hopes of sneaking into the top four. But after back-to-back losses – albeit narrow ones against two of this season’s best performers – getting back to winning ways is surely an important boost for Guy Boucher’s team as it approaches the end of its regular season campaign.
Vityaz has long been out of playoff contention and today’s loss confirms that it will finish 10th in the West. But the home team still posed questions despite having little of substance to play for. Head coach Pavel Desyatkov also took the opportunity to selet 18-year-old defenseman Savely Zhirov for his first KHL game.
Avangard made the better start, getting ahead on a Reid Boucher goal in the fifth minute. He converted the first power play of the night, but almost immediately saw Vityaz cancel that effort out on the counter when Derek Barach banged Dmitry Buchelnikov’s pass into an open net.
The visitor regained the lead 10 minutes later. Nail Yakupov, playing his 69th game of the season – a KHL record, thanks to his trade from Kunlun to Avangard – got an assist as Semyon Chistyakov beat Dmitry Shikin at the second attempt.
In the second period, Boucher was denied a second goal by the post before Vityaz found its game at last. There were good chances for Andrei Chivilyov and Stanislav Yarovoi, but no goals.
Gradually, defenses got on top. In the third period there was a notable lack of scoring chances until the closing stages. But in a one-goal game, any team is vulnerable. And when Mike McLeod took an O-zone penalty, Vityaz struck on the power play. Ivan Yezhov tied it up with four to play and sent the game to overtime.
The extras did not take long. Just 26 seconds into the session, Konstantin Okulov produced a terrific shot to win it for the Hawks. Strangely for a team that temporarily played in Balashikha, this was a first win here against Vityaz since the Moscow Region club moved to the arena.
Severstal outlasts Torpedo
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 Severstal Cherepovets 3 (1-1, 1-0, 0-2)
A third-period fightback gave Severstal the edge here and Andrei Kozyrev’s team holds the advantage in its battle for position against SKA. Anything better than a regulation loss would see the Steelmen finish sixth ahead of the Petersburg team.
Torpedo, long destined to finish eight, was hoping to snap a three-game skid and generate some form going into the playoffs. And, for a time, the home team enjoyed the better of proceedings here. Nikita Shavin opened the scoring in the fifth minute and even after Severstal tied it up with a power play goal from Nikolai Chebykin, the host hung around in the game. And even more than hang around, Igor Larionov’s men regained the lead in the 34th minute on Vladislav Firstov’s marker.
However, while the score favored Torpedo, the balance of play did not. Severstal outshot its host 29-15 through two periods and kept up that pressure in the third. And that soon brought rewards in the final frame. Kirill Pilipenko tied the scores in the 44th minute then, three minutes later, Chebykin got his second of the night to put the visitor in front for the first time.
Once in front, Severstal continued to dictate much of the play. Torpedo got a late chance when Mark Barberio took a penalty in the 58th minute and the home team played six-on-four for a time. However, the visitor closed out the win.
Spartak eases past Sochi
Spartak Moscow 3 HC Sochi 1 (2-0, 0-0, 1-1)
Sochi sprang a surprise at Dinamo Minsk in its previous game, but the Leopards could not strike twice. Spartak bounced back from Tuesday’s home defeat to Neftekhimik with a 3-1 win over the Western Conference back-marker and moves two points clear of CSKA in third place.
The Red-and-Whites dealt with this game early on. Two goals from nine first-period shots opened a solid lead. Nikolai Goldobin got the first after three minutes, moving to 5 (4+1) points from his last five games. Then, midway through the session, Pavel Tkachenko doubled the lead with his third in five games.
The visitor looked stronger in the second period, outshooting Spartak 15-10 but failing to score. It wasn’t until early in the third that Jesse Graham pulled a goal back for the Leopards. Not that it helped; 21-year-old Danil Pivchulin got his third of the season a couple of minutes later to restore a two-goal cushion.
That proved to be the end of the scoring, but not the end of the incidents. In the last minute, Vasily Machulin caught young Spartak forward Sergei Lukyantsev with a knee and left him sprawling on the ice. Veniamin Korolyov was quick to step up for his team-mate, pummelling Machulin. The Sochi man was assessed 5+20 for his foul, Korolyov had 2+5+10+20 for his aggressive reaction.
