Late PP snipe for Shanghai, OT verdict for Traktor. October 9 round-up

Shanghai Dragons had to dig deep to halt a Dinamo Minsk fightback. After blowing a 2-0 lead, the home team recovered to win it with a Borna Rendulic power play goal in the last minute. Traktor also took a 3-2 scoreline, edging past Barys in overtime. Severstal blanked Sochi in a 3-0 win and Amur came out on top at Neftekhimik for the second time in three days. 

Home surroundings give Traktor a lift

Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Barys Astana 2 OT (0-1, 2-1, 0-0, 1-0)

A return to Chelyabinsk gave Traktor a boost as Benoit Groulx’s men snapped a four-game skid. But it wasn’t always easy against a Barys team that grabbed an early goal and took the game to overtime before falling to Mikhail Grigorenko’s winner.



There were changes for Traktor today. Sergei Mylnikov got the start in goal and Fyodor Kroshchinsky replaced Sergei Telegin on defense. Mikhal Goryunov-Rolgizer returned to the attack. Barys favored Andrei Shutov in goal over Adam Scheel, Tamirlan Gaitamirov returned from injury to play on defense.

It took little more than a minute for Barys to get ahead. Josh Leivo lost possession in center ice and Ansar Shaikhmeddenov sent Maxim Mukhametov clear on goal to beat Mylnikov. That was a familiar feeling for Traktor, which allowed the opening goal in five consecutive games. The home team had a chance to hit back quickly when Mason Morelli was assessed a major penalty, but failed to capitalize.

Traktor drew level at the start of the second period. Jordan Gross fired in a point shot and Andrei Svetlakov got control of the puck in front of the net before shooting home on the turn. Both teams had power play chances after that without scoring, but in the 33rd minute Barys got back in front. This time, a power play got it right, and Semyon Simonov made it 2-1 to the visitor.

A scuffle involving Shaikhmeddenov and the home team’s Andrei Nikonov raised the temperature and saw both players assessed double minors for roughing. And, just before the intermission, Logan Day’s feed from behind the net set up Alexander Kadeikin to tie the game once more.

Neither team could add to the score in the third period. The play was fairly even, although Traktor was noticeably more willing to shoot than Barys: the home team launched 32 shots, but saw 14 of them blocked and the tally for efforts on target was 14-11.

Barys ended the game on the power play, and carried the extra man into overtime. But Traktor survived that test and, back at equal strength, Grigorenko potted the winner off Leivo’s feed.  

Zaseda enjoys more goals on Neftekhimik

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Amur Khabarovsk 4 (0-2, 1-1, 0-1)

Maxim Dorozhko made 44 saves to backstop Amur to victory at Neftekhimik. The teams net two days earlier, with the Tigers taking a 2-1 verdict, and today’s game brought another win for the visitor.



Home head coach Igor Grishin, faced with three straight losses, recalled defensemen Artyom Chmykov and Nikita Khlystov. Opposite number Alexander Galchenyuk freshened up his team for its fifth game of the current road trip and crucially brought Dorozhko back in.

The previous game saw Neftekhimik start fast but fail to hold its early advantage. Today, despite another lively opening that saw the home team up 7-0 on shots by the seventh minute, there was not even an opening goal for the Wolves.

Instead, Matvei Zaseda scored on Filipp Dolganov for the second game in a row to put Amur in front on nine minutes. He got behind his marker to steer home a feed from Viktor Baldayev. Soon after, Ilya Talaluyev got free of the defense to double the lead from the slot.

Despite trailing by two, Neftekhimik had generated chances in the first period. In the second, the home team stepped it up and dominated the game. Dorozhko faced 18 shots in a busy session, but stopped 17 of them and fell only to Damir Zhafyarov’s power play snipe. At the other end, Zaseda continued to make himself at home in Nizhnekamsk with his second of the game to restore the two-goal lead.

In the third, Amur opted not to take risks. Rather than seek more goals, the visitor closed the game down. Neftekhimik had more of the puck but rarely found a way through a deep defensive set-up. There was no further scoring until late in the game, when Oleg Li found the empty net to compete a 4-1 win. 
 

Goal-shy Sochi suffers once again

Severstal Cherepovets 3 HC Sochi 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)

After a six-game road trip, Severstal returned home and celebrated with a comfortable win over Sochi. This was only the fourth game of the season in Cherepovets, and an earlier home stand brought losses to CSKA and Metallurg before a victory over Barys.



That road trip came at a price, with three regular goalscorers – Ilya Ivantsov, Kirill Pilipenko and Kirill Tankov – all suffering injuries. Andrei Kozyrev was obliged to reshape his team and one of the beneficiaries was Daniil Veryayev, who made just his third appearance for the Lynx.

Sochi’s problems on its three-game tour came in front of goal. Two goals in 120 minutes was followed back a blank today. Alexander Samoilov made 23 saves for his first shut-out of the season as the Leopards proved lacking in bite.

At the other end, after an even start, Severstal began to get on top. A couple of minutes before the intermission, Ruslan Abrosimov opened the scoring, and Nikolai Chebykin’s assist brought up 100 career points.

The goal seemed to undermine Sochi. The second period was a failure for the visitor, which managed just four shots at Samoilov. Severstal attacked at will and, despite some good saves from Pavel Khomchenko, extended the lead thanks to Mikhail Ilyin. His marker at the midway stage extends his productive streak to five games.

At the start of the third period, Abrosimov scored his second of the night, with Chebykin again among the assists. And that proved to be the end of the scoring as Severstal recorded a third win in four games to climb to sixth in the Western Conference.

Rendulic’s late snipe leaves Dinamo deflated

Shanghai Dragons 3 Dinamo Minsk 2 (2-0, 0-2, 1-0)

Late drama in St. Petersburg handed the Dragons a narrow victory over Dinamo Minsk. The teams were locked at 2-2 in the third period, with overtime seemingly inevitable, when Daniil Sotishvili was sent to the box for unsporting conduct.



The penalty came 70 seconds before the end. The Dragons needed just 11 of them. The home team won the face-off, Borna Rendulic exchanged passes with Adam Clendening at the top of the zone, then the Croatian forward roasted a shot past Zach Fucale to claim his team’s third power play goal of the night. That makes it four wins from five for Gerard Gallant’s team, which moves up to seventh in the west.

Dinamo was left to wonder what might have been. The visitor had the better of things for much of the first period, helped by the game’s first two power plays. However, the Belarusians could not find a way to score and Shanghai survived, then thrived. A pair of home power plays in the closing stages brought two goals. Gage Quinnie struck first, breaking the deadlock on 18:16. Then, with 20 seconds left on the clock, Nick Merkley thought he had a goal. The on-ice call was to play on, completing the first period. But a video review established that the puck had crossed the line and Shanghai led 2-0.

That video review brought an unusual situation.. After the award of the goal, the last 20 seconds of play had to be completed before the second period could begin. Thus, unusually, the teams returned to the ice after the break, played 20 seconds, then stopped and changed ends before continuing the game as usual.

Dinamo adapted better to that novelty, scoring twice in the second session to tie the game at 2-2. Nicolas Meloche pulled a goal back in the 23rd minute, converting the latest power play of the night. Then, with 25 seconds left before the second intermission, the Belarusians tied it up. Goalie Zach Fucale had an assist;, Xavier Ouellet got his second helper of the game and Ilya Usov found the net. This time, there was no review and no delay: the period ended with a full 20 minutes in the books.

After that comeback, Dinamo might have hoped momentum would carry it to victory in the third. And once again the visitor had plenty of attacking intent, outshooting the Dragons 16-6. But the crucial contribution came at the other end as Rendulic grabbed the game-winner.