SKA suffers defeat in Yekaterinburg, Dynamo eases past Salavat Yulaev. October 8 round-up

Avtomobilist made it five wins in a row with an OT success against SKA, and sent the Petersburg club spinning to a fifth successive loss. In Wednesday’s other game, Dynamo Moscow won 4-1 against Salavat Yulaev, halting Ufa’s mini-revival after two games.  

Avto records fifth win, SKA suffers fifth loss

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 SKA St. Petersburg 1 OT (0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)

This game followed the form guide – but ended up closer than recent results might have suggested. Avtomobilist arrived with four straight wins, while SKA had lost its previous four games. The home team, meanwhile, saw yet another addition to its lengthy injury list when Stepan Khripunov was ruled out. That meant a chance for Dmitry Isayev, one of the stars of the junior team who played on today’s fourth line.



SKA replaced the suspended Sergei Plotnikov with Nikolai Polyakov, but there was still no place for Nikolai Goldobin after criticism from head coach Igor Larionov.

The visitor’s weapon of choice this season has been pacy counterattacking hockey. From the start, SKA deployed that here. Home goalie Evgeny Alikin was called into his first save after 20 seconds when Marat Khairullin surged forward; soon after, Matvei Korotky had an odd-man rush before Igor Larionov Jr fired over the top. At the other end, Avto also threatened on the breakaway: Andrei Pedan fouled Reid Boucher when he was bearing down on Artemy Pleshkov’s net. From the subsequent penalty shot the American outwitted the goalie but could not elevate his shot at the last moment.

That was one of the relatively few chances in the first period, and almost all of them came from attacks from deep rather than extended spells in opposition territory. Alikin read SKA’s counterattacking intentions well, while the home team’s best chances came from Alexander Sharov’s line.

The opening goal came in the second period. SKA took the initiative following a power play. Valentin Zykov squandered a good chance, but Avto failed to clear its lines and a breakdown in communication among the defense allowed Sergei Sapego to skate in from the blue line and score from close range.
It took the fourth line to get Avtomobilist down the ice. The youngsters managed to press SKA into its own, with Ilya Ovchinnikov going close. The next shift saw the top line gain a toehold in the game for almost the first time and win a power play. Then the second power play team found the tying goal: Yegor
Chernikov got free on the slot and tucked away a deflection off Markus Phillips.

The third period has been problematic for SKA in recent games, and Avtomobilist looked dangerous at times. Today, though, the visitor managed to avoid giving up a goal in the final frame, killing two penalties to take the game to overtime.

The extras did not last long. Chernikov pressured the SKA defense and set up a chance for Roman Gorbunov to win the game.
 

Salavat’s progress stalls in Moscow

Dynamo Moscow 4 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 (2-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Salavat Yulaev’s mini-revival came to an end at Dynamo. Viktor Kozlov’s team won its previous two games, making up ground at the foot of the table, but lost in Moscow.



For Dynamo, another team that made an uncertain start to the season, Wednesday’s win makes it six wins from seven games and lifts Alexei Kudashov’s men to fifth in the Western Conference.

The home team got an early boost when Vladislav Yefremov went to the box in the third minute. And the visiting forward had barely returned to the game when he upset the officials for a second time and Dynamo had another power play. Neither of those chances produced a goal, but the pressure was building up on Ufa.

Eventually the opening goal arrived on 14:13, just six seconds after Yaroslav Tsulygin completed his punishment for a holding minor. Yegor Suchkov lost possession and Dynamo launched a swift attack. Max Comtois set up Dylan Sikura to make it 1-0 from close range.

A minute later, Cedric Paquette doubled the lead, this time with a short-handed tally. Daniil Pilenkov produced a fantastic feed from his own zone, finding Paquette on the Ufa blue line. The Canadian advanced to the right-hand circle and shot past Semyon Vyazovoi.

Salavat Yulaev responded at the start of the second period when Tsulygin’s quick goal halved the deficit. But Dynamo responded immediately to restore its two-goal advantage thanks to Nikita Gusev. After that, the visitor continued to press and had more of the play in the middle frame. Yet the closest we came to another goal was Dynamo defenseman Kirill Adamchuk firing against post in the 30th minute.

Dynamo began the third period on the power play. Despite failing to score, the home team was able to eat up time. Salavat Yulaev struggled to make an impression as it could not find a way back into the game and Devin Brosseau added a fourth goal for the home team in the 48th minute.

Comtois almost added a fifth right away, and as the period moved into the last few minutes Salavat Yulaev ran into further penalty trouble. Dynamo played five-on-three – Tsulygin took his third penalty of the night – but the Blue-and-Whites could not force a breakthrough.

It wasn’t until the last five minutes that Vladislav Podyapolsky came under meaningful pressure. The first big chance for Salavat had a slice of good fortune about it; an unexpected bounce off the boards gave Jack Rodewald a good look that the home goalie saved. A minute later, Podyapolsky was relieved when he missed Evgeny Kulik’s shot but saw the puck rebound off the post to safety