Prokhorkin treble, Limoges double

A Nikolai Prokhorkin hat-trick was the highlight of an 11-goal epic in Omsk. The home forward made the difference as Avangard beat Dynamo Moscow 7-4. In Saturday’s other game, Alex Limoges scored his first goals in the KHL to lead Dinamo Minsk to a 3-1 win at Barys.

Prokhorkin hat-trick leads Hawks past Dynamo

Avangard Omsk 7 Dynamo Moscow 4 (1-3, 4-0, 2-1)

An action-packed encounter in Omsk saw Avangard rally from 1-3 to claim victory in an 11-goal thriller.

Nikolai Prokhorkin potted a hat-trick for the home team, while Dmitry Rashevsky claimed his first goal for the Hawks since arriving from today’s opponent. Ironically, Rashevsky’s last regular season goal for Dynamo was in March’s 4-3 win over Avangard.

There was no waiting around at the start of this game. Exactly 60 seconds in, Cedric Paquette opened the scoring for the Blue-and-Whites, putting away the rebound from Daniil Pylenkov’s shot. But it wasn’t long before Avangard was one the power play and Prokhorkin redirected Konstantin Okulov’s effort to tie the game in the fourth minute.

After that, the home team took the initiative, only to be let down by its discipline. Two penalties in quick succession brought two power plays and two goals for Dynamo. Jordan Weal applied a laser-like finish to Nikita Gusev’s feed, then Igor Ozhiganov lit the lamp from long range.

Special teams continued to dominate proceedings. Avangard began the second period on the power play and Damir Sharipzyanov pulled a goal back on 20:50, giving the home team a vital boost. Next came Rashevsky’s goal, a bizarre, fortuitous affair when his mishit shot somehow ended up with Maxim Motorygin gloving the puck into his own net.

Having tied the game, Avangard went on to complete the turnaround thanks to two more goals from Prokhorkin. First, he won an attacking face-off, advanced to the slot and deflected an incoming puck past Motorygin. A couple of minutes later he got free in the danger zone and fired in a shot that bounced off a defenseman and into the net to make it 5-3 on 36:37.

Dynamo had a chance to reduce the deficit with a power play late in the middle frame, but despite some threatening play the visitor could not score. Then Avangard added a sixth early in the third. Nail Yakupov’s hard work behind the net set up Alexander Volkov, who fired through Motorygin’s fivehole to bring KHL debutant Vladimir Selivanov to the visitor’s crease. He soon showed his mettle with a good save from Rashevsky, and the next attack saw Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi reduce the deficit.

That lifted Dynamo’s play in the closing stages, but Avangard defended well to limit the visitor’s chances. When Max Comtois threatened a fifth goal, Nikita Serebryakov snuffed out the danger.

With more than three to play, Alexei Kudashov called a time-out and the visitor looked to finish with six skaters. However, that led merely to an empty-net goal from Giovanni Fiore to complete a high-scoring game in Omsk.

Limoges leads Dinamo to victory

Barys Astana 1 Dinamo Minsk 3 (0-1, 1-2, 0-0)

After beginning the season with back-to-back wins, Barys came back to earth with a home loss at the hands of Dinamo Minsk. The visitor came to Astana smarting from Thursday’s game, where it blew a 3-0 lead to lose at Neftekhimik.

Alex Limoges was the key man for the Belarusians, scoring twice to pace the win. The American forward moves to three goals in three games since arriving in the KHL.

Limoges opened the scoring after five minutes. He got himself in position in front of Andrei Shutov to redirect Xavier Ouellet’s shot past the goaltender. That was the only goal in the opening frame. Barys had the better of the play, but Zach Fucale made 16 saves to preserve the visitor’s lead.

Midway through the second period, Dinamo got on a five-on-three power play. Adil Beketayev and Reilly Walsh picked up cross-checking minors, and the visitor’s Ilya Usov got into a fight with Alikhan Asetov. The result was three Barys men in the box, with Usov sitting out a fighting major alongside his dance partner.

However, the Bison could not get a goal from that two-minute, two-man advantage. Instead, after killing the penalties, Barys tied the game on Michael Vecchione’s first goal of the season in the 34th minute.

Dinamo responded immediately, with Limoges scoring his second a minute later. Then, in the final seconds of the middle frame, he turned provider for Sam Anas to make it 3-1 at the end of a session that saw the visitor outshoot Barys 23-6.

With a two-goal lead to defend, Dinamo took much of the pace out of the game in the third period. The play was even, but the visitor was closest to adding to its lead when it found the net in the 54th minute. A bench challenge from Mikhail Kravets saw that one whistled back for offside, but Minsk still eased to a second victory in three games.