Away day joy

All four of Tuesday’s KHL games ended in road wins. The highlight was Spartak’s shoot-out success at CSKA, coming after a pulsating 5-5 tie in Moscow. Torpedo reeled off a fifth successive win, beating Sochi 3-0 to stay out in front. Lokomotiv hit six at Lada with Artur Kayumov enjoying his return from injury. And Metallurg beat Severstal 5-2 in Cherepovets.

Kayumov sets club record in big win for Loko

Lada Togliatti 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 6 (0-1, 0-4, 1-1)

Artur Kayumov returned from injury and contributed three assists as Lokomotiv thrashed Lada. The defending champion halted a two-game skid, while the Motormen slipped to a third successive loss.

The visitor made an aggressive start, repeatedly threatening Maxim Tretiak’s net. However, while the teams were at equal strength, Lada was able to stay in the game, even if it struggled to get forward at any stage.

The breakthrough came midway through the session. The home team took two penalties in a row and Lokomotiv took advantage. Rushan Rafikov was the scorer, with Kayumov’s assist moving him to 249 points and making him Loko’s all-time KHL scoring leader. Before the intermission a great combination from Maxim Shalunov and Maxim Beryozkin had the puck in the net again, but an offside call ruled it out.

In the second period, the Railwaymen took the game away. The first minute brought two goals just 21 seconds apart as Yegor Surin and Georgy Ivanov opened a commanding lead. Little more than a minute later, Daniil Misyul scored his first goal since returning from North America, chasing Tretiak from the net in favor of Alexander Trushkov.

Next came a fight between the captains Vladislav Syomin and Alexander Yelesin, a bout that ended in a tie. But there was still time for a goal on Trushkov before the intermission: Alexander Polunin emerged from the penalty box in time to fire home Pavel Kraskovsky’s feed.

The visitor was intent on more goals in the third period, but found Trushkov in good form. Surin, Kayumov and Beryzokin all went close but could not beat the goalie. Late on Polunin got his second of the game off a third Kayumov helper; Riley Sawchuk’s late marker was little consolation for Lada. 

First win for Razin in Cherepovets

Severstal Cherepovets 2 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 (0-0, 0-4, 2-1)

After a successful trip to Kazan, Metallurg continued its winning road trip in Cherepovets. Severstal, by contrast, is now 0-for-2 on home ice; head coach Andrei Kozyrev made Canadian defenseman Thomas Gregoire the fall guy for the weekend loss to CSKA, replacing him with 18-year-old Makar Fomin among several changes.

The home team had historical grounds for hope here. It was almost five years since Metallurg had won here, with Andrei Razin yet to enjoy victory in Cherepovets after leaving Severstal in the summer of 2023.

That record looked entirely defensible in a goalless first period that saw evenly matched play. But the middle frame brought a Severstal collapse. At the start of the session, 18-year-old Magnitka forward Mikhail Fyodorov opened the scoring with his first KHL goal. Soon, Derek Barach added a power play goal to double the lead. Another two minutes later, Andrei Kozlov added a third and Vsevolod Skotnikov came off the bench for his first action of the season in the Severstal net. He was soon beaten as well, with Barach getting another power play goal.

It was hard to see a way back from there, but the Lynx came out for the third period and grabbed two goals almost immediately. Ruslan Abrosimov forced home his first from close range on 40:31. Metallurg challenged the play unsuccessfully, giving Severstal a power play and Abrosimov time enough to rest and play on the power play unit. And, 10 seconds after his first goal, he converted the power play to make it 2-4 and collect his 100th KHL point. Could he trigger the impossible fightback?

Not tonight. Metallurg managed to get things back under control and Ruslan Iskhakov added a fifth at the other end. The visitor secured the win and moves to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. 

Keane’s double outweighs Sprong’s hat-trick

CSKA Moscow 5 Spartak Moscow 6 SO (1-1, 4-3, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)

A Moscow derby for the ages saw Spartak rally from 2-5 to defeat CSKA in a shoot-out. Two goals from Joey Keane saved the Red-and-Whites before Nathan Todd won it. All that overshadowed Daniel Sprong’s first KHL hat-trick for the home team.

There was action from the start here. CSKA’s Vladislav Provolnev took a penalty in the first minute, and he was joined in the box by team-mate Nikita Nesterov. Spartak created a couple of dangerous PP chances then converted its five-on-three advantage through Daniil Orlov in the third minute.

But CSKA responded fast. Back at equal strength, Nikolai Makarov tested Spartak goalie Dmitry Nikolayev before Denis Guryanov tied the game. After that, the flashpoints kept coming and the teams finished the frame with 14 penalty minutes apiece. However, there was no more scoring: many of those penalty incidents came from skirmishes that brought coincidental tariffs.

The second period was even more incident packed. CSKA looked to be running away with the game at one stage. Sprong scored two quick goals at the start of the stanza to open a 3-1 lead, then a brilliant power play goal from Pavel Karnaukhov made it four in the 27th minute.

Alexei Zhamnov called a time-out, replaced Nikolayev with Artyom Zagidulin and immediately saw Nikita Korostelyov pull a goal back. However, the fightback was impeded when Alexander Pashin went to the box and Sprong completed his hat-trick on the power play. That’s the latest Dutch first of the season: the Amsterdam-born forward is the first man from the Netherlands to play in the KHL, and this was his first treble of the campaign.

But Spartak wasn’t done. Korostelyov struck again in the 36th minute, and a power play late in the second period saw Keane get it back to a one-goal game after 40 intense minutes of play.

After so many goals, it seemed unimaginable that the score could stay at 5-4 for any length of time in the third. Yet, in reality, the teams suddenly found it harder to create big chances. Spartak, not surprisingly, had more of the play and the visitor got a huge boost with two minutes of five-on-three power play in the 52nd minute. However, CSKA saw off that danger and seemed to be closing out a win until late on.

Then came Keane. The American defenseman got his second of the night on 57:59. The Red-and-Whites kept CSKA trapped in its own zone, German Rubtsov moved the play from the boards to the slot, where Adam Ruzicka won the puck battle to set up Keane at the back door for his second of the night.

In overtime, Denis Zernov might have won it quickly for CSKA, Ruzicka went close for Spartak, then Takhir Mingachyov hit Zagidulin’s post as the home team almost settled the outcome. Instead it went to a shoot-out and Todd kept his composure to end the visitor’s three-game skid. 

Kulbakov blanks Sochi, Torpedo stays unbeaten

HC Sochi 0 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 (0-0, 0-1, 0-2)

Despite stubborn resistance from Sochi, Torpedo maintained its 100% start to the season with its biggest win to date. Ivan Kulbakov recorded his first shut-out of the campaign, stopping 38 shots as the Leopards generated plenty of pressure on his net.

At the other end, Nikita Shavin broke the deadlock late in the second period and that laid a platform for the visitor to take the win. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s the first time in a five-game hot streak that Torpedo has won by more than a single goal.

Yet the visitor did not look like a table-topper in the first period. Sochi, enjoying an upswing in fortune of its own under veteran head coach Vladimir Krikunov, made a great start and will feel it should have led after the first period. The home team outshot Torpedo 18-3, starting as early as the fourth minute when Bobby Nardella’s foul lead to an early power play.

None of that pressure could force a breakthrough, though, and the second period saw Torpedo claim its fair share of the play. Both teams created chances, but the opening goal had to wait until 19 seconds before the intermission when Shavin found a way through. There didn’t seem to be much on for the 23-year-old when he brought the puck down the left wing. However, Sochi’s defense backed off, allowing him to shoot from the top of the circle and his low effort beat Pavel Khomchenko to the bottom corner.

In the third period, the home team restored its earlier dominance. After 55 minutes, Sochi outshot Torpedo 11-4 in the frame as it went in search of a tying goal. Krikunov called Khomchenko to the bench early, on 55:29, and his players did a good job of keeping Torpedo under pressure.

However, the visitor got scoring chances. One effort went wide of the empty net, the next saw Sergei Goncharuk hit the target. Sochi went to six skaters again, and Yegor Vinogradov applied the final touch to a 3-0 victory.