Torpedo wins at last, Hawks down SKA

The final pre-season action of the summer brought four warm-up games on Tuesday. Avangard on 5-3 in a behind-closed-doors game against SKA, Torpedo ended a five-game skid with a shoot-out success against Avtomobilist and Barys repeated yesterday’s victory over Sibir. Admiral wrapped up its schedule with a loss to Belarusian club Neman.

Poturalski lifts Avangard over SKA

SKA St. Petersburg 3 Avangard Omsk 5 (0-2, 2-1, 1-2)

Avangard’s potential strike force for the season – a line of Andrew Poturalski, Alexander Volkov and Nail Yakupov – played a key role in winning the Hawks’ last pre-season game.

Vasily Ponomaryov opened the scoring after 13 minutes, then Poturalski deceived defensemen and goalie before finishing into an open net to double the lead before the intermission.

The atmosphere was unusual. The game was played behind closed doors, and instead of the roar of the crowd the only accompaniment was the crash of sticks and the shouts of the players. SKA’s head coach, Igor Larionov, was in thoughtful mood, perhaps contemplating his team’s difficulties in converting chances. Although the second period brought two home goals, that was scant reward for a dominant performance that saw much of the game played in Avangard territory. Worse, those goals came only after Poturalski set up Ivan Igumnov to make it 3-0 for the visitor.

Marat Khairullin and Matvei Korotky reduced that deficit going into the final stanza, but Avangard still led. And the ever-dangerous Poturalski was involved again with an assist as Yakupov made it 4-2 early in the third. Artyom Blazhievsky added a fifth midway through the third period, and although Trevor Murphy got one back for SKA there was little chance of a fightback.

OT loss for Sailors

Neman Grodno (BLR) 5 Admiral Vladivostok 4 OT (0-2, 2-0, 2-2, 1-0)

The KHL’s Easternmost team spent its entire summer preparations far from home in Belarus. The last stage of pre-season involved a warm-up game against Neman Grodno of the Belarusian championship. However, despite leading 2-0, the Sailors ran aground and eventual lost in overtime.

The first period went well, with Dmitry Timashov and Semyon Koshelev opening that lead for Admiral. But Neman responded to tie the game in the second. In the final stanza, Admiral led twice more with Koshelev getting his second of the night. But it wasn’t enough to win the game. Instead, overtime saw Neman get on the power play and grab the wins thanks to a goal from Patrikeyev. 

Victory at last for Torpedo

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 SO (1-0, 0-1, 2-2, 0-0, 1-0)

Alexei Isakov’s wait for his first win as Torpedo head coach is over. After losing all five pre-season games to date, his team finally got the verdict in a shoot-out success over Avtomobilist.

The host took control from the start and was good value for Vasily Atanasov’s third-minute goal. Avtomobilist gradually got into the game, but it remained 1-0 to the first intermission.

The break came at the right time for the Motormen, who steadily stepped up the pressure on the Torpedo net. The tying goal came from Curtis Valk in the second period, and early in the third Brooks Macek put Avtomobilist ahead for the first time. But a home power play saw Atanasov restore parity and literally a minute later Maxim Letunov steered a Yegor Sokolov shot into the net.

That might have set Torpedo on the road to victory in regulation, but a defensive error presented Yegor Chernikov with the chance to tie the game for Avtomobilist. So the action went all the way to a shoot-out after Semyon Kizimov missed a penalty shot late in regulation. Alexei Kruchinin and Mikhail Abramov converted their attempts to give Torpedo a long-awaited success.

Kazakhs repeat Sibir success

Barys Astana 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 2 (0-0, 2-1, 1-1)

For the second time in as many days, Barys defeated Sibir. After Monday’s 3-1 win, Mikhail Kravets made changes with Artyom Shestakov getting the start in goal and opportunities handed to Ruslan Ospanov, Kirill Lyapunov and Maxim Mukhametov. Sibir started Louis Domingue in goal and recalled captain Sergei Shirokov to add experience to the fourth line.

Both teams had a couple of power play chances in the first period, but neither could find the net until after the break. Sibir struck first through Alexei Yakovlev, but Barys soon forced a penalty and tied the scores when Michael Vecchione’s shot was redirected into the net by Mason Morelli. Morelli scored on the PP once again late in the frame to put the Kazakhs up 2-1, deflected a powerful Riley Walsh point shot.

Early in the third Emil Galimov extended the home lead. Sibir worked hard to save the game, and reduced the deficit three minutes before the end thanks to Ivan Klimovich. But Barys held on to take the win in its final pre-season encounter.