Spartak shoots down Traktor, Tyanulin sets Sochi record

Tuesday’s action brought a high-scoring game in Moscow, where Spartak defeated Traktor for the second time in 10 days. Pavel Poryadin had four points in a 6-3 success. Artur Tyanulin overtook Ilya Krikunov to become Sochi’s all-time scoring leader. He had two assists in a 4-0 win over struggling Lada, moving to 124 points for the Black Sea team. 

Poryadin plunders four points in Spartak win

Spartak Moscow 6 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 (3-1, 1-2, 2-0)

Pavel Poryadin seems to enjoy playing against Traktor. The Spartak forward had a four-point show in today’s 6-3 win, and his two games against last year’s beaten finalist have yielded 6 (3+3) points in two victories for the Red-and-Whites.



There were just 10 days between the two games, with Spartak winning in Chelyabinsk on Sep. 21. However,  between times the Muscovites lost twice while Traktor rebounded with a 5-1 win over Avangard.

Poryadin got to work early today. His deft drop pass in the third minute set up Nikita Korostelyov for the opener. Then, after 13 minutes, he doubled the home lead with a power play goal after collecting Daniil Orlov’s pass down the left.

Right after that, Traktor saw a goal ruled out when a bench challenge spotted an offside in the build-up to Andrei Svetlakov’s effort. The visitor had to wait until its first power play of the night, late in the opening frame, for Mikhail Grigorenko to halve the deficit. But within a minute Grigorenko took a penalty and Poryadin grabbed his second power play goal of the night.

Traktor replaced starting goalie Chris Driedger with Sergei Mylnikov at the start of the second period. The visitor battled back and tied the game. Vladimir Zharkov’s hard work on the slot made it 2-3 midway through the session, then Svetlakov got a legitimate marker on the power play in the 36th minute. But the penalties kept coming, and a home power play saw German Rubtsov restore the home lead.

In the final frame, Traktor pushed forward in search of a tying goal. Although the shot count was locked at 10-10, the visitor had three times as many attacking minutes (6:10 vs 2:03) and Spartak was forced to block 12 attempts on Dmitry Nikolayev’s net. But, crucially, the home team grabbed an early goal in the third when Korostelyov got his second of the night.

With just over four minutes to go, Mylnikov returned to the bench on a delayed penalty and stayed there as the power play got underway. Traktor’s hopes were hampered when Grigorenko went back to the box, evening out the numbers, but Mylnikov again made way for the extra skater as soon as possible.
However, with Spartak back at full strength, the next goal went to the home team: Poryadin’s second assist of the game set up Adam Ruzicka for an empty-netter to secure a 6-3 final score.
 

Tyanulin breaks club record as Sochi sinks Lada

HC Sochi 4 Lada Togliatti 0 (1-0, 2-0, 1-0)

A comfortable home win over Lada lifts Sochi into the playoff spots. The Leopards go to nine points after this shut-out success, moving into eighth place ahead of Dynamo Moscow by virtue of winning more games in regulation.



Lada, meanwhile, continues to struggle. The Motormen fell to a ninth successive loss and have allowed 11 unanswered goals since opening a 2-0 lead at CSKA on Sunday. Not surprisingly, Pavel Desyatkov’s team is already adrift at the foot of the Western Conference, five points behind 10th-placed Severstal.

This was a big day for Artur Tyanulin, with the Sochi forward collecting two assists to set a new club scoring record. He moves to 124 (43+81) points and overtakes Ilya Krikunov’s tally.

Before that, Mark Verba gave the home team an ideal start with a goal in the fourth minute. However, the opening frame proved a competitive affair: Lada more than matched the home team for attacking possession, and the shots were tied at 15-15 as both goalies had work to do.

Tyanulin’s record-breaking moment arrived on 26:50. He battled with Andrei Chivilyov behind Lada’s net before emerging to set up Amir Garayev. A shot from between the hash-marks was too good for Alexander Trushkov and Sochi led 2-0.

Lada never really recovered from that. Sochi had the better of the second period and increased its lead further on a Pavel Dedunov short-handed goal in the 35th minute.

Dedunov’s goal prompted Desyatkov to swap his goalies. Ivan Bocharov came off the bench to see his first action since playing for Torpedo on March 15. The 30-year-old brings experience to the Lada net and in the third period he prevented an even more lopsided scoreline. Sochi outshot Lada 12-3, but it wasn’t until the last minute that Bocharov was beaten. Tyanulin was again the provider as Noel Hoefenmayer scored on the power play to make the final score 4-0.