Wagner’s dream Dragons’ debut, Avto move to third. October 4 round-up

Austin Wagner claimed three points on his KHL debut to help Shanghai Dragons edge a 5-4 OT verdict against Traktor. The Canadian winger scored twice and had an assist as he made a bright start to his career in the league. In Saturday’s other action, Avtomobilist won 5-2 at Neftekhimik to move ahead of its host in the Eastern Conference.

Motormen leapfrog Neftekhimik into third

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 5 (1-0, 0-2, 1-3)

Avtomobilist recorded a third victory in a row, making light of its injury worries to shoot down Neftekhimik. The result means the teams change places in the Eastern Conference, with the visitor up to third and the home team slipping back to fourth.



After defeat against Lada, Neftekhimik head coach Igor Grishin made minor changes to his team. Jean-Sebastian Dea and Bulat Shafigulin changed places, while Nikita Khlystov missed the game. Avtomobilist welcomed back Maxim Denezhkin after illness but the visitor still has a formidable injury list to contend with.

The home team made a strong start with Dea – supported today by family members who travelled to Russia to see him in action – to the fore. The Wolves looked faster and more imaginative, looking to outplay the opposition with superior technique. For a long time, Avtomobilist was limited to counter-attacks, but came close to scoring when Yaroslav Ozolin faced three close-range shots in three seconds from Nikita Shashkov and Danil Romantsev.

However, Neftekhimik opened the scoring when Vladislav Barulin converted the first power play of the game midway through the first period. He faked a pass before firing a shot into the far corner, and that goal separated the teams at the intermission.

Avto is typically strong in the second period and here the visitor took full advantage of the long bench. Denezhkin brought play into Neftekhimik territory, drew the defense towards him and sent Shashkov away to set up Stepan Khripunov’s equalizer.

The Wolves continued to look for creative solutions, but the execution could not match the standards of the first period. And an error led to Roman Gorbunov putting the Motormen in front: he intercepted an ambitious yet wayward pass from Andrei Belozyorov and turned it into the go-ahead goal.

The ever-lively Khripunov-Romantsev-Shashkov line created a neat play early in the third period for Romantsev to make it 3-1. Then, with Neftekhimik looking punch-drunk, Alexander Sharov added a fourth.

There was time for the home team to get a goal back thanks to Nikita Khoruzhev’s power play tally, but almost immediately Dmitry Yudin made it 5-2 to stem any potential fightback. Instead, there were two fights in the closing stages: Artyom Kashtanov clashed with Matvei Nadvorny, and Luka Profaca took on Dmitry Isayev. 
 

Wagner makes winning debut for Dragons

Shanghai Dragons 5 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 OT (1-0, 2-2, 1-2, 1-0)

Two goals on debut from Austin Wagner helped the Dragons to victory over Traktor, lifting Gerard Gallant’s men into the top four in the Western Conference. Saturday’s win over Benoit Groulx’s team also maintains Gallant’s perfect head-to-head record against Canadian coaches in the KHL; earlier this season he beat Bob Hartley’s Lokomotiv 4-1.



But this game was all about Wagner, who finished with two goals and an assist. The 28-year-old joined Shanghai at the end of last month from Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Previously the Canadian winger had 178 games through four seasons in the NHL, where he was mostly used as a two-way option in the lower lines and contributed 42 (23+19) points.

He made a fast start with his new club, opening the scoring in the ninth minute of this game. Wagner got free at the back door to convert Ryan Spooner’s feed from behind the net and give his team a flying start.

Things got better for the Dragons early in the second period when Borna Rendulic doubled the lead. But Traktor hit back hard: a fluffed line change enabled Grigory Dronov to grab a power play goal in the 31st minute, then Andrei Nikonov tied the scores on 34:15.

That set the stage for Wagner’s second act – another go-ahead goal. He flew down the left wing, driving deep into Traktor territory before angling a shot that was too good for Chris Driedger. The teams had been level for just 27 seconds.

Traktor pushed hard to tie the game again in the third period, and managed to do so in the 54th minute on a goal from Pierrick Dube. Once again, though, the Dragons responded quickly and Wagner played another big role.

This time the new boy picked up an assist as he brought play into the Traktor zone. Drawing two defensemen towards him, Wagner dropped off the puck for Spooner to score at the second attempt.

Traktor refused to surrender and managed to tie the game in the last minute thanks to a powerful Mikhail Grigorenko shot while Patrik Rybar was screened in the home net.

That took the game to overtime, where Shanghai claimed the verdict – unusually without a further contribution from Wagner. Gage Quinney took the play down the left-hand channel and steered the puck back to the deep slot for Nick Merkley to rifle home the winner 54 seconds into the extras.