Loko thrashes CSKA, Torpedo wins again

Former Lokomotiv head coach Igor Nikitin did not enjoy his reunion with his former colleagues. Nikitin’s CSKA team suffered a 1-5 loss at home to the defending champion. That was very much the scoreline of the day. Torpedo beat Lada 5-1 in Togliatti to continue its perfect start to the season, and Metallurg won 5-1 at home Barys.  

Old-boys haunt Barys

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 Barys Astana 1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1)

After back-to-back road wins at Ak Bars and Severstak, Metallurg returned home to overpower Barys. Goals from former Barys men Nikita Mikhailis and Alexei Maklyukov helped the Steelmen to a big scoreline.



The most memorable moment of the first period was a fight between the home team’s Luke Johnson and visiting forward Alikhan Asetov. The Kazakh man won the bout, but with the pair in the box Roman Kantserov potted the opening goal just 20 seconds later. He caught Andrei Shutov by surprise with a shot to the top shelf.

In the second period, Magnitka took control of the game. It started with a Mikhailis power play goal, set up by Daniil Vovchenko. At the other end, Alexander Smolin made a smart save to deny Kirill Savitsky on the breakaway. But Metallurg was always a step ahead and extended the lead on a power play goal from Johnson in 29th minute. Then Maklyukov added a fourth just before the second intermission, taking the game away from the Kazakhs.
The visitor found its way onto the scoreboard in the final frame when Canadian defenseman Jake Massie pulled a goal back to deny Smolin a shut-out. Michael Vecchione almost got a second for Barys, but the home goalie did well to stop a dangerous shot.

Any hopes of a fightback were soon snuffed out: Derek Barach found the net for the third game in a row to make it 5-1. Later, the American forward gave away a penalty shot after Robin Press’s blunder left the home defense exposed. However, Smolin read Vecchione’s feint and got his pad behind the shot to preserve the four-goal winning margin.

Torpedo stretches winning streak

Lada Togliatti 1 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 5 (1-2, 0-1, 0-2)

Torpedo made it six wins from six to stay out in front at the top of the early-season standings. Today’s win over Lada was Alexei Isakov’s second success against the Motormen in less than a week, having won 4-3 on home ice on Sep. 12.



Lada responded by releasing two of its summer signings: defenseman Yegor Rykov and forward Alexander Khokhlachyov left the club during the week. Head coach Boris Mironov also reshuffled his lines in search of improved results.

The new-look line-up had little to celebrate. After just 23 seconds, Vasily Atanasov gave Torpedo the lead with the first of his three points in the game. Denis Kostin pulled off a good save at the other end to deny the home team a tying goal, but Dmitry Kugryshev beat the visiting netminder midway through the opening stanza.

After that, though, this was all Torpedo. Sergei Goncharuk scored his third goal against Lada this season and, going back to last season, his productive streak is now 10 (5+5) points in seven games.

Torpedo was noticeably on top in the second period and only good work from home goalie Alexander Trushkov kept the score down. He was beaten in the 29th minute when Vladislav Firstov potted a rebound on the power play. Lada had a five-on-three power play and finally got the puck to the other end, but could not find a goal.

In the final frame, two more power play goals completed the scoring. Atanasov’s shot on the turn brought him his second of the night, and Yegor Vinogradov completed the scoring. The visitor continued to pepper Trushkov with shots: despite the 1-5 scoreline, the home goalie made an impressive 51 saves but could not prevent a fourth successive loss for his team.  

Nikitin suffers against former club

CSKA Moscow 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 5 (1-1, 0-3, 0-1)

After leading Lokomotiv to last year’s Gagarin Cup, Igor Nikitin came face-to-face with his former team for the first time since defecting to CSKA. The head coach’s decision to return to Moscow was one of the hottest topics of the summer, and left many in Yaroslavl disappointed that a key figure on the championship team was apparently unwilling to stay and try to defend the title.



If his former charges were unhappy with their old boss, they made the point eloquently in the capital on Thursday. After an even opening, the Railwaymen hit form in the second period with three unanswered goals building a decisive lead.

The teams traded first-period goals. Georgy Ivanov put Lokomotiv ahead in the seventh minute after Alexander Radulov’s pressing forced the home defense into a turnover. But CSKA tied it up on its second power play of the night, with Denis Guryanov scoring.

That middle-frame blitz started in the 23rd minute. Alexander Polunin led the counter and rounded Spencer Martin, only to take the puck beyond the goal line. His feed to the back door was met by Rushan Rafikov and the defenseman continued his bright start to the campaign with his third goal in six appearances.

And Rafikov was involved again as Loko made it 3-1 on the power play in the 34th minute. Nikolai Kovalenko, another former Yaroslavl player, sat for just seven seconds as Artur Kayumov won the face-off, Rafikov shot and Yegor Surin directed the puck past Martin.

After 36 minutes, Martin left the game to be replaced by Dmitry Gamzin. The last action he saw was a powerful point shot from Alexander Yelesin, but unfortunately he saw it too late to make the save.

Gamzin was beaten for the first time in the 47th minute as Kayumov added a fifth Lokomotiv goal. That completed the scoring, and the closing stages brought a couple of scuffles amid some big hits from the younger players on the two rosters.