SKA halts slump, Severstal holds on to beat Lokomotiv. October 13 round-up

Monday’s two games saw the end of two long streaks. SKA ended a run of five losses with a 2-1 victory over Avtomobilist, which had won its six previous games. And Severstal edged Lokomotiv 4-3 after the Railwaymen battled back hard from 0-4 at the second intermission.

Fightback falls short for Loko at Severstal

Severstal Cherepovets 4 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 (2-0, 2-0, 0-3)

Lokomotiv launched a huge third-period fightback in Cherepovets but came up short. Severstal beat the defending champion at the third attempt, after twice losing in Yaroslavl this season.



The home team got an early lead and, despite some intense pressure from the visitor, padded that to a 4-0 advantage by the end of the second period. But Byron Froese got Lokomotiv on the scoreboard at the start of the third and Georgy Ivanov scored twice midway through the final frame to set up a tense finale.

The opening frame was somewhat contradictory. Lokomotiv had more of the play and dictated much of what was happening out on the ice. However, Severstal grabbed an early goal when David Dumbadze played a no-look feed from behind the net for Daniil Veryayev to rifle home the opener in the third minute.

That was Severstal’s first shot of the game, and for a long time its only effort on target. The next one arrived after 13 minutes, and led to a second goal. Veryayev’s effort was blocked, but Dumbadze was alert on the slot to stuff home the rebound. Immediately after that, Maxim Shalunov took the only penalty of the first period, giving Severstal’s defense a couple of minutes’ respite. However, Lokomotiv finished the frame strongly and looked capable of riding that momentum into the second period.

Yet the middle frame was a complete contrast. The visitor was unable to get its offense going and managed just one shot at Alexander Samoilov through 20 minutes. Admittedly, Yegor Surin hit the frame of the goal, but in general Severstal had the better of the play. And the home team turned that into two more goals thanks to Mikhail Ilyin in the 32nd minute and Ilya Kvochko during a five-on-three power play just before the intermission.

The fightback began in the 43rd minute. Mark Ulyev’s point shot was padded away by Samoilov, but the puck went straight to Froese for a simple finish. Then Ivanov scored twice in four minutes. His first came from a swift counterattack, finishing off after Alexander Radulov’s shot was saved. Then Radulov fired the puck in from the corner, Ulyev played it across the front of the net and Ivanov turned it in to make it a one-goal game with nine minutes to play.

Severstal called a time-out and managed to shift play away from its net. The home team tried to keep the action tied down in center ice, eating up time as Lokomotiv looked for a tying goal. On 58:10, the Lynx iced the puck and Loko called a time-out. Daniil Isayev made way for a sixth skater before the face-off, but even an extra man could not conjure up a game-saving goal for the visitor. Severstal improves to four wins from five; Lokomotiv slips to three losses in four.

Pedan’s goal ends SKA’s skid

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

Two big runs came to an end here. SKA snapped a five-game skid, and called a halt to Avtomobilist’s six-game winning streak. Andrei Pedan, who only returned from injury at the start of this month, assisted on his team’s first goal then potted the winner at the start of the third period.



Head coach Igor Larionov brought back forward Nikolai Goldobin, a healthy scratch for the two previous games. Rocco Grimaldi made way for him as SKA looked for the right formula on offense.

But for much of the opening frame, neither attack was all that prominent. Avtomobilist adopted a high press, looking to stifle SKA in center ice. The home team was forced to rely on individual skill, and eventually made a breakthrough in the 17th minute. Pedan’s long pass cut through the press and Matvei Korotky exchanged passes with Joseph Blandisi before advancing on goal. The young forward waited for Evgeny Alikin to commit himself before firing to the short side to separate the teams at the intermission.

Early in the middle frame, SKA got a five-on-three power play but could not convert. And that looked costly in the 33rd minute when Curtis Valk tied the scores. The Avto forward made his first appearance of the season on Friday after a long injury, and got his first point of the campaign with a shot from a dead angle that bounced off Artemy Pleshkov and into the net.

At the start of the third, young Avto defenseman Nikita Ishimnikov was agonizingly close to his first KHL goal. The 20-year-old saw his shot deflected onto the post before bouncing to safety.

Buoyed by that reprieve, SKA soon got the lead itself. In the 46th minute, Marat Khairullin surged down the wing then turned and sent the puck back to the blue line. Pedan collected it and thundered in a shot that beat Alikin to his short side.

After that, the home team worked hard to keep the play to the perimeter. Much of the action was along the boards, and Avtomobilist struggled to bring the puck to the SKA net. Gradually, though, the visitor picked up its offense and a spell of pressure culminated in a penalty on Trevor Murphy. The power play brought more danger, and Alikin left his net in the 57th minute as the Motormen went six-on-four.

However, shortly after Murphy served his time, Dmitry Yudin’s hooking minor deflated the visitor’s fightback. SKA took the opportunity to get out of its zone and even though Avtomobilist successfully killed the penalty, there was too little time to salvage the game once back to equal strength.