Podyapolsky wins his first of the season, Lada ends long losing streak

Last season’s beaten finalist fell to a shoot-out loss in at Dynamo despite retrieving a 0-2 deficit in the last 90 seconds of regulation. Vladislav Podyapolsky was denied a shut-out but claimed the verdict in his first appearance of the season. Earlier, Lada won for the first time in 10 games, beating Neftekhimik 4-1.  

Lada snaps nine-game skid

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Lada Togliatti 4 (0-1, 1-0, 0-3)

Lada’s long losing streak came to an end. After nine successive defeats, Thursday’s 4-1 victory at Neftekhimik earned Pavel Desyatkov his first win since replacing Boris Mironov behind the Togliatti bench.



Nikita Mikhailov, Lada’s leading scorer last season, has missed of this term’s struggles. He was injured in the opening-day win over Avtomobilist and only return to action on Sep. 28. Today he scored his first goal of the season, putting the Motormen in front at the start of the third period. That proved to be the game-winner, with a couple of empty-netters sweetening the deal in the final minutes.

The visitor shaded the first period, and grabbed a lead six seconds before the intermission through Danil Bashkirov. But Neftekhimik, which had won its previous four games and is riding high in the East, hit back after the break. The home team peppered Ivan Bocharov with shots at the start of the frame and eventually tied the scores on a Evgeny Mityakin tally.

Then came Mikhailov’s goal. A wayward pass from Neftekhimik’s Damir Zhafyarov went straight to Andrei Altybarmakyan between the hashmarks. Unselfishly, he dished off the puck for his team-mate to rifle home his first of the season with an angled shot past Filipp Dolganov 36 seconds into the final frame.

Neftekhimik never really recovered. Although the home team had the better of the play in the third period, it had a hard time opening the Lada defense and getting good looks at Bocharov. In the 57th minute, a home power play encouraged Neftekhimik to call Dolganov to the bench and play six-on-four, but that led to an Altybarmakyan empty net goal from deep in his own territory. Then, with 63 seconds left, Riley Sawchuk scored another empty-netter to make the final score 4-1.
 

Traktor falls in shoot-out despite late fightback

Dynamo Moscow 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 SO (0-0, 1-0, 1-2, 0-0, 1-0)

Vladislav Podyapolsky made a winning start to his season – despite allowing two goals in the last two minutes as Traktor staged an impressive fightback.
The goalie missed most of the opening month of the campaign through injury, but was named as back-up against Neftekhimik on Sep. 29. Today he got on the ice for the first time, prefered to Maxim Motorygin, and for 58 minutes he kept Traktor at bay.



By that time, Dynamo was up 2-0 and seemed to have the game sewn up. However, Traktor produced a fantastic fightback to force overtime before Nikita Gusev saved the Blue-and-Whites’ blushes with a shoot-out winner.

Nine seconds after visiting goalie Sergei Mylnikov went to the bench, Traktor pulled a goal back. Alexander Kadeikin spun the puck out of the corner, Josh
Leivo helped it on and Logan Day fired a shot over Podyapolsky’s glove to give the visitor hope. More impressive, Traktor scored on the penalty kill with Grigory Dronov in the box.

When Dronov had served his time, the visitor was up to six skaters and, once again, the extra man made the difference. Leivo got another assist, firing the puck to the back door for Mikhail Grigorenko to score from a tight angle.

In overtime, Dynamo had more problems. Nikita Gusev took a penalty and Traktor put more pressure on Podyapolsky’s net. The home goalie made four saves in the extras to force a shoot-out.

Again, Podyapolsky played a big part, saving Semyon Der-Arguchintsev’s opening attempt. Jordan Weal traded goals with Leivo before Gusev put Dynamo in front. Then Podyapolsky won his duel with Pierrick Dube to give the home team the win.

That was far more fraught than seemed likely after the home team got on top. Dynamo dominated a goalless first period and finally made the breakthrough in the 33rd minute through Devin Brosseau’s third of the season. After that, Max Comtois twice caused chaos in the visiting defense, but it remained 1-0 through the second intermission.

Maxim Dzhioshvili extended the home lead with a power play goal at the start of the third, assisted by the eye-catching Comtois. And when Alexei Kudashov’s challenge called back a Traktor goal midway through the third, it seemed that Dynamo would cruise to victory. But the visitor’s late flourish ensured a nerve-jangling finale before the home team secured two points.