Boucher sinks Salavat, CSKA stutter in first game

Reid Boucher produced the pre-season performance of the day with a hand in all three goals as Avtomobilist won 3-0 in Ufa. CSKA made its first appearance of the summer, but Igor Nikitin suffered a 1-4 loss at Dinamo Minsk on his return to action as the Muscovites’ head coach. Lada edged a shoot-out win over an experimental Ak Bars roster in Tuesday’s third game.

Two points apiece for Shipachyov, Lipsky

Dinamo Minsk 4 CSKA Moscow 1 (2-1, 0-0, 2-0)

Igor Nikitin’s first game following his return as CSKA head coach ended in defeat in Minsk. Tuesday’s opposition, Dinamo Minsk, was back in action after hosting the Minsk Cup and after icing experimental line-ups in that tournament, today was closer to full strength.

Nikitin had four new faces in his starting five: Jeremy Roy on defense and an all-new first line of Nikolai Kovalenko, Denis Zernov and Dmitry Buchelnikov on offense. Buchelnikov potted the opening goal midway through the first period, assisted by another new signing, Vladislav Yeryomenko. However, that successive counter-attack was also a reflection of the fact that much of the game was played in CSKA territory.

Dinamo’s dominance soon bore fruit: Andrei Stas tied the game with a power play goal in the 14th minute before Daniil Lipsky made it 2-1 before the intermission. New goalie Spencer Martin almost allowed a third goal in the opening frame.

In the middle frame, the game was more even and gradually the Muscovites assumed control. However, there was no further scoring.

The final stanza saw Dmitry Gamzin, CSKA’s back-up goalie, beaten twice. Nicolas Meloche added a third off a fine assist from Lipsky, then Vadim Shipachyov completed the scoring on the power play. That wrapped up Dinamo’s first pre-season victory in regulation this summer.

Debut joy for Boucher

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (0-1, 0-2, 0-0)

Reid Boucher was the star as Avtomobilist claimed victory in its second warm-up game in Ufa. Following yesterday’s overtime win over Salavat Yulaev, Nikolai Zavarukhin named a much stronger roster.

Boucher’s debut was the headline-grabber, with the Canadian joining fellow newcomer Roman Gorbunov on the first line with Stephane da Costa. Salavat Yulaev welcomed new imports Dean Stuart and Jack Rodewald.

Boucher had much the most memorable debut, with a hand in all three Avto goals. He opened the scoring late in the first period, then set up Gorbunov to make it 2-0 midway through the second. In the 40th minute, Boucher scored his second of the night to make the final score 3-0.

There was no further scoring, but the third period saw Ilya Fedotov and Daniil Karpovich drop the gloves. It might be pre-season, but there’s no shortage of passion already.

Motormen enjoy shoot-out success

Lada Togliatti 2 Ak Bars Kazan 1 SO (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0) 

Ak Bars left several leading players at home for the trip to Togliatti: Dmitrij Jaskin, Alexander Barabanov, Alexei Marchenko, Nikita Lyamkin and Mikhail Fisenko all got a day off. Instead, Anvar Gatiyatulin decided to check out some of the rising stars in the junior ranks: defensemen Igor Bardin, Arsen Taymazov and Rashit Samigullin, plus forwards Yegor Potapov, Timofei Zhulin and Ildan Galeyev.

Lada, fresh from coming second at the recent Minsk Cup, handed a debut to Canadian forward Josh Lawrence, signed this summer from Lahti Pelicans in Finland.

Despite widespread changes, Ak Bars looked livelier early on. The first and second lines set the tone and Alexei Pustozyorov had the main dangerous chance in the opening exchanges. Lada was left to rely on moments of individual flair, while Ak Bars showed more compelling team-work.

At the start of the second period, though, Ak Bars found itself reduced to three skaters for 45 seconds and goalie Maxim Arefyev was tested. The young goalie stood up to the challenge and saw his team get in front in the 29th minute. Samigullin sent Zhulin clean through on Alexander Trushkov’s net and the forward made no mistake. That sparked Lada into life, with recent signing William Dufour going close to a tying goal. At the other end, Albert Yarullin almost doubled the Kazan lead before the intermission, but his shot dinged the piping.

The tying goal came early in the third through Ivan Romanov. Then Lada got a power play chance but could not convert the initiative into a lead. At the other end, Zhulin again went close on the counter but this time he was denied by Trushkov.

It all finished in a shoot-out, with Trushkov invincible and Andrei Chivilyov scoring the only goal.