SKA hammers Sochi, Korotky pots hat-trick. October 24 round-up
Matvei Korotky’s first KHL hat-trick helped SKA to a crushing 8-1 win over struggling Sochi. It was a second win in 10 games for the Petersburg club, while the Leopards fell to a seventh straight loss. Elsewhere, Dinamo Minsk edged a shoot-out success after a 1-1 tie with Shanghai Dragons. Barys beat Amur 3-1 at home in a battle between two playoff rivals in the East. Lada snapped a four-game skid thanks to a shoot-out verdict over Torpedo.
Kazakhs beat playoff rival
Barys Astana 3 Amur Khabarovsk 1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1)
Today’s opponents came into the game tied on 17 points in the Eastern Conference, and found themselves in seventh and eighth place. Amur welcomed Evgeny Svechnikov into the team for the first time this season, and also handed a KHL debut to defenseman Ivan Sherstnyov. Barys, which lost its previous game to Ak Bars in a shoot-out, recalled goalie Adam Scheel in place of Andrei Shutov.
The first period belonged to the home team. Barys outshot Amur 9-3 and opened the scoring when Jake Massie’s backhander found the net from close range. That pattern continued in the middle frame, with Barys extending its lead. First, Alikhan Omirbekov converted a three-on-two break with a devastating wrister. Then Tyce Thompson fired one in from the left-hand circle to chase Maxim Dorozhko from the game. Damir Shaymardanov replaced him in the Tigers’ net.
The final frame saw the visitor claw one goal back. With just 36 seconds on the clock, Kirill Petkov robbed Scheel of his shut-out to offer Amur some late consolation.
Bocharov makes 48 saves, Lada wins shoot-out
Lada Togliatti 3 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 SO (1-1, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
At the fourth attempt, Lada finally defeated Torpedo this season. Today’s shoot-out win, which owed much to goalie Ivan Bocharov, also snapped the Motormen’s four-game skid and avenged a 3-5 loss in Nizhny five days earlier.
Lada recalled Ivan Romanov and Danila Dyadenkin, but experienced Sergei Shumakov was a scratch. For Torpedo, Ivan Kulbakov got the nod as starting goalie and Sergei Boykov appeared on defense.
The game began with more than four minutes’ uninterrupted play until Lada opened the scoring. Andrei Chivilyov’s individual effort saw him beat Kulbakov. After falling behind, Torpedo stepped up its game and tied the scores in the 15th minute. Andrei Belevich produced a fine shot into Bocharov’s top corner, with 17-year-old Viktor Fyodorov getting an assist to open his KHL account.
After an open first period, the second was a tighter affair. Both teams began to take penalties and the play was stop-start. That seemed to suit the visitor, who dominated on the draw, enjoyed greater possession and outshot Lada. Nonetheless, the home team was just 32 seconds away from keeping the game tied at the second intermission, only for Shane Prince to pot his third goal in the last two games and give Torpedo the lead.
Lada responded with a fast start in the third and tied it up on Georgy Belousov’s first goal for the club. After that, Torpedo again created more chances – Bocharov would finish with 48 saves on a busy night for the goalie – but could not force the winner. Overtime saw more great work from Bocharov to take the game to a shoot-out, where Belousov potted the winner.
Dragons slip to third loss in a row
Dinamo Minsk 2 Shanghai Dragons 1 SO (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
After climbing as high as second in the Western Conference, the Dragons may be suffering a touch of altitude sickness. Gerard Gallant’s men suffered a third straight loss in Minsk today. That’s Shanghai’s worst run of the season so far, but it’s worth noting that all three encounters went to a shoot-out.
Dinamo got on top in the first period. The visitor was disrupted when starting goalie Patrik Rybar had an equipment issue and Andrei Tikhomirov came off the bench for four minutes. Rybar’s return coincided with the first power play of the game, and the Belarusians took advantage to open the scoring through Sam Anas midway through the session. Shanghai picked up two more penalties before the intermission, helping Dinamo dominate the play but not allowing any more scoring.
Early in the second, Greg McKegg scored his first KHL goal in only his second game for Shanghai. But despite tying the scores, the visitor still found itself struggling to generate offense. Through 40 minutes, the shot count was 31-11 in Dinamo’s favor, with Rybar doing a fine job of frustrating the home forwards.
The third period was goalless and got increasingly cautious as the clock ticked down. Both teams seemed fairly happy to go to overtime, and both had chances in the extras. But it went to a shoot-out, where Dinamo had the edge. Tikhomirov replaced Rybar once again for Shanghai, but he was beaten by Vitaly Pinchuk and Darren Dietz. At the other end, Vasily Demchenko won both his duels as Dinamo claimed a win and moved level on points with today’s opponent.
Korotky treble leads SKA rout
SKA St. Petersburg 8 HC Sochi 1 (2-0, 5-0, 1-1)
Matvei Korotky’s first KHL hat-trick powered SKA to an emphatic victory over lowly Sochi. The 19-year-old opened the scoring after five minutes and potted two more in a second-period surge that saw the home team up by seven inside half-an-hour.
This was a much-needed victory for SKA, which was on a run of just one win in nine games. But Sochi’s seventh successive loss was a horror show one week ahead of Hallowe’en. From a defensive collapse to gift the home team the opening goal to allowing two shorthanded goals on the same power play, this was a night when everything that could go wrong, did.
It started in the sixth minute. Sochi coughed up the puck as it tried to clear its zone. Vladislav Romanov took possession and quickly set up Korotky for the opener. Within a minute, it was 2-0; Nikita Nedopyonkin claimed his first KHL assist as Matvei Polyakov doubled the lead.
SKA continued to dominate the opening frame, but could not add to its lead. However, at the start of the second, the home team grabbed another quickfire double. Sergei Plotnikov struck on the power play, then Romanov again set up Korotky to make it 4-0 in the 22nd minute. That prompted a goaltending change, with Maxim Tretiak replacing Alexei Shchetilin in the Sochi net.
Rapid pairs of goals were the theme of the day. In the 25th minute, SKA’s Sergei Sapego was assessed a tripping minor for a foul on Daniil Seroukh. In the 26th, Nikita Dishkovsky sent Korotky away on the counter for his hat-trick goal. Another 41 seconds elapsed and SKA had another shorty thanks to Mikhail Vorobyov.
On 29:22, SKA made it seven when Rocco Grimaldi got clean through on Tretiak. He was fouled by Joel Hoefenmayer when making his initial shot, but picked himself up to convert the penalty shot and bring Shchetilin back into the game after just eight minutes on the sidelines.
In the latter half of the middle frame, Shchetilin kept SKA at bay. But after allowing five goals on 15 second-period shots, Sochi was interested purely in damage limitation. SKA added another early in the third through Joseph Blandisi before a power play brought Jean-Christophe Beaudin his second goal of the season to offer the visitor a hint of respectability.
