Traktor, Magnitka triumph on home ice; Shanghai Dragons start with win

Friday saw the end of two tournament. In Chelyabinsk, the Governor’s Cup went to host team Traktor. In Magnitogorsk, too, there was success for the host – yet it was VHL farm club Magnitka that took the prize, rather than Metallurg. Shanghai Dragons made their much-anticipated debut following wholesale changes within the franchise: Gerard Gallant’s team claimed victory over Spartak, aided by two goals from Gage Quinney.

Romazan Memorial

Magnitka (VHL) 2 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 (0-1, 0-0, 2-0)

The host organization won the Romazan Memorial in Magnitogorsk – but not in the manner most would have expected. While Metallurg was limited to just one victory in the tournament, farm club Magnitka took three wins from three games to top the standings.

Friday’s meeting with Salavat Yulaev was, in effect, the gold-medal game. Magnitka had the edge going into action, but Ufa could secure top spot with victory in regulation. Nonetheless, Viktor Kozlov rested several leading players, including forwards Alex Chmelevski and Jack Rodewald. Magnitka, meanwhile, was close to full strength and could call on Metallurg’s backup goalie Alexander Smolin for the second time in the tournament.

Smolin had plenty to do in the first period as Salavat dominated possession and dictated the play. That led to Prokhor Korbit opening the scoring and, for a time, it seemed that the KHL would not lose out to second-tier opposition.

The second period did not bring any more goals, although this was largely due to Smolin’s on-going excellence between the piping. Salavat enjoyed several odd-man rushes, and there were dangerous efforts from Danil Alalykin and Dennis Yan. Ufa had a19-2 lead in shots, but Smolin gave up nothing.

It wasn’t until the third that Magnitka began to turn the game around. A power play midway through the session opened the door, but Salavat defended strongly and Alexander Samonov kept his goal intact. However, there was a dramatic finale in store. On 59:18, Matvei Galenyuk tied the game. Overtime would be enough to secure the cup for Magnitka, so Kozlov called Samonov to the bench in search of the goal that would win game and tournament. However, things went against the visitor and Galenyuk potted an empty-netter to settle the outcome. 

Razin’s men finish with a win

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Barys Astana 1 (0-0, 1-1, 1-0)

There wasn’t much riding on the concluding game in Magnitogorsk, but Metallurg at least managed to finish with a win after losing its two previous engagements. Andrei Razin was close to a full-strength line-up, although he rested Yegor Yakovlev and Derek Barach.

Barys, likewise, went with a strong team as Mikhail Kravets named a roster as close to full strength as he can muster right now.

The first period produced no goals, but Barys suffered a blow when leading defenseman Adil Beketayev was ejected for unsportmanlike conduct. That was one of several penalties in a fractious opening and Kazakh goalie Andrei Shutov performed brilliantly to keep the scores level when Metallurg got a five-on-three power play late in the session.

And Shutov continued to impress in the second period until he was finally beaten by Roman Kantserov in the 27th minute. Teenage defenseman Alexander Siryatsky fired in a point shot and Kantserov steered it home. The penalties kept coming and Barys tied it up on the power play thanks to Ansar Shaykhmeddenov in the 35th minute.

However, Metallurg regained the lead at the start of the third period when Dmitry Silantyev produced a memorable effort to the top corner. Later, Vladimir Tkachyov was close to making the game safe but Shutov’s diving save kept Barys in contention.

However, the visitor could not retrieve a one-goal deficit and Metallurg held on to take its first win of the tournament. 

Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup

Dube on target as Traktor wins cup

Traktor Chelyabinsk 5 Amur Khabarovsk 2 (1-0, 1-0, 3-2)

After dropping the opening game 0-3 against Amur, Traktor had to do it the hard way to win its home tournament. But a 5-2 revenge win over the Tigers in Friday’s final secured the hardware for Benoit Groulx’s team – and summer recruit Pierrik Dube got his first goal for the club along the way.

Amur goalie Maxim Dorozhko had fond memories of the opening game: his 47 saves were the highlight of a shut-out win. Today, though, he was beaten inside 10 minutes and Traktor went on to open a 3-0 lead. That took some time: after Jordan Gross opened the scoring, Andrei Nikonov doubled the advantage in the middle frame with his first goal since joining the club, and a power play goal from Andrei Svetlakov made it three in the 47th minute.

Oleg Li got Amur on the scoresheet in the 52nd minute, but that wasn’t enough to trigger a fightback. Sergei Telegin added a fourth before Dube’s big moment on the power play arrived 26 seconds later. The game, and the tournament, was settled, but there was still time for a consolation effort from Ilya Talaluyev in the last minute.

Motormen win third-place playoff

Lada Togliatti 3 HC Sochi 2 OT (0-0, 2-1, 0-1, 1-0)

It took overtime to settle the third-place playoff, but Andrei Chivilyov’s goal after 63 minutes secured the win for Lada. It was Togliatti’s second win over Sochi in this tournament: on opening day, the Motormen won 3-1.

Today’s win was achieved despite the absence of several key players. Sochi, which got its first win in yesterday’s game against Amur, made fewer changes but gave Rafael Bikmullin his first pre-season outing.

The opening frame was goalless, but that owed much to Pavel Khomchenko in the Leopards’ goal. He stopped 15 shots as Lada dominated the game and enjoyed two power plays.

After failing to take its chances, Lada suffered at the start of the second when Daniil Seroukh opened the scoring. Danil Bashkirov was the luckless defenseman who steered the puck into his own net after Seroukh drove it to the slot. Lada tied the game midway through the session thanks to Josh Lawrence then went in front with a short-handed goal in the 39th minute. Danila Dyadenkin got on the counter and beat Khomchenko to take a lead into the third period.

Nikita Tulinov replaced Khomchenko for the third stanza. He denied Lada any more goals, and in the 53rd minute Sochi tied the game after Alex Cotton went to the box. Bikmullin marked his first game of the summer with a goal, putting away a rebound on the slot to score on his former club.

However, Sochi could do no more. In overtime, Chivilyov’s goal secured third place for Lada.

Mayor of Moscow Cup

Quinney’s double gives Dragons first win

Spartak Moscow 2 Shanghai Dragons 3 (1-1, 0-1, 1-1)

The new-look Shanghai Dragons made their first appearance under head coach Gerard Gallant on day two of the Mayor of Moscow Cup.

It isn’t just the name and coaching that has changed from the Kunlun Red Star days: this was almost an entirely new line-up against Spartak. Only the Foo brothers, plus goalie Patrik Rybar and defensemen Adam Clendening and Doyle Somerby were on the team last season.

And in their first action, the Dragons suggested that they might be capable of a playoff spot this season. In an entertaining encounter, they got the better of Spartak thanks to two goals from Gage Quinney and a further marker from defenseman Jake Bischoff.

Quinney scored Shanghai’s first goal in the 13th minute. After the Dragons forced a turnover, he picked up possession in the right-hand circle, advanced on the net and beat Sergei Nikolayev with a fine shot to the top corner.

However, Spartak tied the game before the intermission. A five-on-three power play put pressure on Rybar’s net and the Red-and-Whites carefully moved the puck around in search of a shooting lane. Finally, it opened for Nathan Todd to fire home a wrister from a tight angle on the left.

Quinney struck again at the start of the second. He stormed into the Spartak zone down the left channel and looked to feed Ivan Chekhovich. However, fortune went the forward’s way when his attempted pass was deflected into the net off a defenseman. The Muscovites’ misfortune was compounded when Alexei Zhamnov challenged the play, but the review rejected his call for offside and the Dragons got a power play.

After killing that penalty, Spartak began to have more of the game and Rybar was busy to deny his former club another tying goal. Instead, the next goal went to the Dragons when Bischoff scored on the power play midway through the third.

That felt like it might be decisive, especially in a final stanza that was short on scoring chances. However, Andrei Mironov got Spartak back into contention with a goal in the 53rd minute and set up an anxious finish.

In the end, Shanghai held on to take the win – and it can top the group with victory over CSKA on Saturday.

Still no win for Torpedo

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Dinamo Minsk 7 (1-1, 0-2, 2-4)

Day two of the Mayor of Moscow Cup brought the highest-scoring game of the summer to date. Fans saw 10 goals as Dinamo Minsk beat Torpedo, leaving Alexei Isakov’s team without a victory so far in preseason.

Right from the start, these two teams came out to play and it wasn’t long before we saw the opening goals. Torpedo got in front thanks to Nikita Rozhkov, who finished off a slick counterattack with Ilya Chefanov. However, the lead lasted just 19 seconds before Kristian Khenkel’s stretch pass sent Ilya Usov clear on goal to beat Denis Kostin.

Torpedo outshot Dinamo more than two-to-one in the first period, but could not convert that into a lead. The game was tied at the intermission, and the middle frame saw the Belarusians get ahead with two unanswered goals. Alex Limoges put Minsk up in the 28th minute, stuffing one home from the slot, then Josh Brook punished a Dmitry Shevchenko error to make it 3-1 in the 36th.

Torpedo fought back at the start of the third and tied the game. Ty Smith’s mistake enabled Yegor Vinogradov to pull one back, then Chefanov tied the game in the 46th minute. But immediately after the restart, Vladislav Firstov took a needless penalty in center ice and Sam Anas converted the power play to restore Dinamo’s lead. After that, there was only one winner: Daniil Sotishvili, Vadim Moroz and Vitaly Pinchuk fired in three goals in four minutes to wrap up a convincing final score.

Torpedo is now set to face Spartak in the 5/6th place playoff on Sunday. Dinamo Minsk plays Dynamo Moscow tomorrow to determine who will top the group and progress to the gold-medal game.

Warm-up game

SKA St. Petersburg 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (0-0, 1-1, 1-0)

After beating SKA yesterday to win the Puchkov Cup, Avtomobilist played its Petersburg rival again in a warm-up game. This time, the result went the other way with the home team getting a revenge win.

Igor Larionov sent out a roster that was built on last year’s JHL line-up for SKA-1946. That team was reinforced with Nikolai Goldobin, Valentin Zykov, Rocco Grimaldi and Sergei Sapego from the KHL ranks.

The Motormen iced a strong line-up. Nikita Tryamkin, Evgeny Alikin and Maxim Osipov were rested, but otherwise the likes of Stephane da Costa, Reid Boucher, Jesse Blacker, Stepan Khripunov, Curtis Valk, Brooks Macek and Alexei Byvaltsev were all present and correct.

Not that it helped the visitor get control of the game. The first period was goalless and the opener went to SKA late in the second after Vladislav Romanov set up Matvei Korotky to make it 1-0.

Avto thought it had an equalizer midway through the third when da Costa redirected Semyon Kizimov’s point shot. However, the Frenchman was ruled to have fouled Yegor Zavragin and the goal was whistled off. The next shift saw Zykov extend SKA’s lead with what proved to be the winning goal.

There was still time for da Costa to make things interesting with a legitimate goal five minutes from time. But there was no further scoring as SKA claimed the verdict.