Metallurg wins Minsk Cup

The first tournament of the summer goes to Metallurg after Andrei Razin’s team made it three wins from three at the Minsk Cup. In other action, Dynamo Moscow took a 3-2 verdict over Yunost Minsk and Sibir beat VHLers Dynamo Altai 4-0.

Fonbet Minsk Cup

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Admiral Vladivostok 2 (1-0, 1-1, 2-1)

Metallurg secured the first trophy of the summer, defeating Admiral 4-2 to complete a perfect return in Belarus.

After seeing off Lada (6-0) and Dinamo Minsk (3-1), Metallurg went into Sunday’s game knowing anything better than a loss in regulation would clinch top spot. Admiral, though, could still spoil the party with victory inside 60 minutes.

Andrei Razin made 11changes to the team that defeated Dinamo. While several leading players were rested, first-choice goalie Ilya Nabokov got the start and the likes of Luke Johnson, Andrei Kozlov and Yegor Korobkin featured on the ice. Admiral handed a debut to Dmitry Timashov after he returned to Russia following a spell in Switzerland last season.

There wasn’t much between the teams in the first period, although Metallurg managed more shots on goal. The opening goal went to 18-year-old defenseman Nikita Poltavchuk, who combined brilliantly with Roman Kantserov to slice open the Sailors’ defense.

At the start of the second period, Kozlov doubled the lead with a breakaway goal. Pavel Tyutnev thought he had a third, but that was called back after a review. Lifted by that reprieve, Stepan Starkov and Daniil Gutik got on the counter and the former reduced the deficit in the 35th minute.

Metallurg began the final frame with another quick goal – Kantserov added to his assist just 15 seconds into the session. Then Poltavchuk got his second point of the game, helping Mikhail Grass make it 4-1. Kyle Olson got one back for Admiral late on, but Metallurg took the win and the trophy.

Warm-up games

Yunost Minsk 2 Dynamo Moscow 3 (0-1, 2-1, 0-1)

Elsewhere in Minsk, Dynamo Moscow played its first pre-season game and Alexei Kudashov took a look at his new signings. Fredrik Claesson and Maxim Mamin played on the first line, Devin Brosseau went into the second and Alexander Kisakov – back from North America – was on the third.

In the early stages, Brosseau was the more eye-catching performer. He created several good chances and earned the power play that saw Artyom Ilyenko open the scoring.

However, Yunost, a powerhouse in the Belarusian championship, hit back in the second and took the lead thanks to two quick goals on Maxim Motorygin. Salvation came from the juniors on the fourth line: Sergei Artemyev found a great assist for Artyom Bondar to tie the game late in the middle frame.

A couple of early penalties on Dynamo in the third seemed to hand the initiative back to Yunost. However, a counter-attack brought a short-handed goal for Yegor Rimashevsky to give the Muscovites the win.

Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Dynamo Altai (VHL) 0 (1-0, 0-0, 3-0)

After edging one VHL team in a shoot-out, Sibir enjoyed a more convincing scoreline against Dynamo Altai 24 hours later.

However, while a 4-0 victory looks decisive, this was a one-goal game until the 56th minute. Arkhip Nekolenko converted the second power play of the day to give Sibir the lead in the eighth minute, but the home team could not build on that advantage for a long time.

Dynamo hung around in the game, and even outshot Sibir 13-10 in the goalless second period. However, the KHL club regained control in the third and eventually put the game beyond reach. Ilya Lyuzenkov added a second on 55:31 and followed that up with an empty netter. Then Nekolenko turned provider as Vladislav Kara wrapped up the win with a fourth goal.