Red-hot Kazan up to second, SKA suffers another loss. October 22 round-up

Ak Bars edged a 1-0 verdict over Lokomotiv to secure an eighth successive victory and climb to second in the Eastern Conference. Torpedo goes second in the West after Shane Prince scored two late goals in a 3-1 win at Sochi. SKA lost for the seventh time in eight games, dropping a 3-4 verdict at home to CSKA. Lada paid the penalty at home to Dinamo Minsk, allowing three power play goals in a 0-4 loss.

Power play powers Minsk

Lada Togliatti 0 Dinamo Minsk 4 (0-0, 0-2, 0-2)

The Dinamo power play made the difference in this game, converting its first three chances with an extra man to secure the win in Togliatti.
Wednesday’s win halts a two-game losing streak for the visitor while condemning Lada to a fourth successive loss.

However, the Western Conference struggler might have enjoyed a different outcome if it had made more of a strong first period. Lada outshot Dinamo 14-6, with Zach Fucale working hard to keep the game deadlocked at the first intermission.

It looked like that home dominance might continue in the middle frame, with Lada getting on the power play early in the session. But, for the second time, the Motormen’s PP came up short. After that successful PK, Dinamo began to control the game. Lada found it tough to get away from its net and only sporadically threatened.

Pressure led to a penalty on Ivan Savchik, and the Belarusians scored on that power play. Sam Anas played the puck to the slot where Vitaly Pinchuk could not get a shot off but instead returned it to his team-mate, who beat Ivan Bocharov from a tight angle. Lada contributed to its own problems by challenging the play, claiming that the goalie was impeded. The review saw otherwise, awarding Anas his 10th goal of the season, and Dinamo immediately had another power play.

That, too, brought a goal: Anas turned provider for Stanislav Galiyev to double the lead. And Galiyev got his second of the night in the 45th minute as Lada slipped to 0-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The home team eventually managed to kill a penalty, but by then Alex Limoges already had Dinamo’s fourth to complete a convincing win. Fucale stopped 25 shots for his third shut-out of the season. 

Alistrov’s goal keeps Ak Bars perfect in October

Ak Bars Kazan 1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

A third-period goal from Vladimir Alistrov saw Ak Bars complete a great eight-game winning streak after edging past the defending champion. Anvar Gatiyatulin’s men climb to second in the Eastern Conference and continue their perfect record this month.

There was incident from the start in this game. In the second minute, home forward Grigory Denisenko handed his former club an early power play, and Lokomotiv twice tested Timur Bilyalov in the Ak Bars net. But the visitor could not press home that advantage: a fluffed line change brought a too many men call, and the PP was over. Subsequently, Ak Bars had the better of the game and outshot Loko 10-4 through the first period despite taking three penalties. Daniil Isayev performed strongly in the visitor’s net to keep the game goalless.

It felt like the home team had control of the game. However, in the second period the action moved away from the O-zones as the teams shared just 11 shots between them. Much of the time was consumed by puck battles around the boards and chances were hard to come by.

The breakthrough came midway through the third. Alexander Radulov, playing against his former club, ended up in the box. Alistrov, who had scored in each of his last five home games, preserved that streak with a power play tally 23 seconds later. While Ilya Safonov screened Isayev, Alistrov shot home from the left-hand circle.

Belatedly, the Lokomotiv offense stirred. A couple of decent attacks led to Alexei Marchenko – another man up against his former club – taking a tripping minor. On the power play, the Railwaymen pressed forward. At one point Bilyalov was left without his stick in the home net, later it took a video review to confirm that he trapped the puck beneath his pad before it could cross the line. Somehow, Ak Bars survived.

In the final moments, Isayev made way for a sixth skater and the home team was reduced to icing the puck in a desperate bid to keep it away from the net. It was scrappy stuff from Ak Bars at the end, but the clock came to the rescue as time ran down on a 1-0 victory.

CSKA maintains progress, SKA still struggles

SKA St. Petersburg 3 CSKA Moscow 4 (1-0, 0-2, 2-2)

Typically this game is a battle for supremacy in the Western Conference. But over the past couple of seasons, things have not gone to plan for either team. Both clubs changed coaches over the summer, yet they went into this encounter placed eighth and ninth in the Western Conference.

Igor Nikitin’s CSKA could at least point to back-to-back wins on the way to Petersburg; Igor Larionov’s SKA had just one victory in eight games, a 2-1 verdict over Avtomobilist on Oct. 13.

Yet the start of the pair’s first clash of the season went the home team’s way. Nikolai Goldobin put SKA up in the third minute, collecting his first goal since Sep. 8. The early goal did not inspire open, attacking hockey: the teams shared just nine shots on goal in the opening stanza. That was partly down to some dedicated defense from the Muscovites, who blocked seven shots in the first period.

After the intermission, it was CSKA’s turn to make a fast start. Joseph Blandisi’s trip put the visitor on the power play 18 seconds into the frame, and Nikolai Kovalenko tied the scores of a Dmitry Buchelnikov feed. That fired up the visiting offense and by the midway point in the period, the shot count was 10-0 in CSKA’s favor.

A go-ahead goal followed in the 34th minute after Daniel Sprong won the puck on the boards and fired in another shot. Yegor Zavragin could not hold it, and Ivan Drozdov was on the spot to put away the rebound.

There was little sign of the home forwards, but in the 38th minute SKA got the puck in Dmitry Gamzin’s net again. This time, though, Marat Khairullin’s effort was called back after CSKA made a successful bench challenge for offside.

The third period brought another quick goal, this time for CSKA defenseman Colby Williams. Zavragin got a glove to his point shot, but could only deflect the third goal into the net. SKA got a pathway back into the game midway through the session when Vladislav Romanov made it 2-3, but almost immediately the home team was reduced to three skaters. That had predictable consequences: Sprong added to his earlier assist and restored his team’s two-goal advantage.

There was more to come. In a final surge, Mikhail Vorobyov got it back to 3-4 with 75 seconds on the clock. Larionov called a time-out and after the restart, SKA continued with six skaters. However, CSKA kept the puck on the boards to close out a win, and climbs to seventh ahead of Dynamo Moscow.

Prince strikes late to sink Sochi

HC Sochi 1 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 (0-1, 1-0, 0-2)

Two late goals for Shane Prince – his first since joining Torpedo – lifted his new club back to second in the West. Sochi, beaten for the sixth successive game, remains at the foot of the conference standings.

This visitor made a great start to the game, with Yegor Sokolov opening the scoring after 74 seconds. That was rough on goalie Alexei Shchetilin, making his first KHL start for the home team. After that shock, Sochi battled back into the game. The Leopards produced a hard-hitting display – 18 checks in the first period alone – and arguably shaded the play in the first period despite trailing 1-0 at the intermission.

In the second period Sochi tied the game, helped by some indiscipline from Torpedo defenseman Daniil Zhuravlyov. With his team already on the PK, he earned himself a major for kicking Matvei Guskov as he lay on the ice in front of Denis Kostin’s net. The two-man advantage brought a tying goal for Timur Khafizov, with Will Bitten and Daniil Seroukh combining to create the chance. Those two were involved in both Sochi’s goals in the previous game, and their form will be crucial in any revival beside the Black Sea.

But that revival will have to wait for another game. In the third period Torpedo dominated the game, outshooting Sochi 18-4. The decision to pepper Shchetilin’s net with shots paid off, but only in the last couple of minutes. Prince snapped a 1-1 tie on 57:54, then added another with six seconds left to seal the win.