Late goals lift Spartak, Lokomotiv. October 28 round-up

Spartak grabbed a 3-2 derby win over CSKA thanks to a last-minute goal from Adam Ruzicka, while Lokomotiv scored twice in the last couple of minutes to come from behind and beat Lada by the same scoreline. There were big wins for Dinamo Minsk (8-2 vs Sochi), Severstal (6-2 vs Amur) and Dynamo Moscow (5-1 at Shanghai Dragons), while Avtomobilist edged a shoot-out verdict after a 1-1 tie at Traktor.

Golyshev grabs shoot-out winner in Chelyabinsk

Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 SO (0-1, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Less than a week after defeating Traktor on home ice, Avtomobilist did it again, this time in Chelyabinsk. A hard-fought game brought a shoot-out verdict for the visitor with Anatoly Golyshev potting the winner.

Traktor, beaten in two of its last three games before a shoot-out win at Sibir, made changes. Yegor Rykov, currently on a try-out, appeared on defense alongside two debutants, Vladislav Yusupov (20) and Yaroslav Fedoseyev (17). Josh Leivo returned to the attack, while Mikhail Goryunov-Rolgizer and Andrei Nikonov were scratched. Avtomobilist, defeated 4-7 at Torpedo last time out, reshuffled its lines and started with Vladimir Galkin in goal.

Rykov did not get off to a great start in his first game of the season. In the fourth minute he failed to prevent Roman Gorbunov from firing home the opener for Avtomobilist. At the other end, Leivo was a constant threat as the home team went in search of an equalizer, while Gorbunov went close to extending the visitor’s lead.

The second period saw Avto on top. However, the Motormen wasted a power play after Gorbunov forced Logan Day into a foul. Then Brooks Macek ran onto Stephane da Costa’s parachute pass but could not beat Chris Driedger in a one-on-one.

It wasn’t until late in the game that Traktor began to seriously press the visiting defense. And, with three-and-a-half minutes left, Leivo set up Semyon Der

Arguchintsev for a shot that went to Mikhail Grigorenko on the rebound. That was Grigorenko’s 11th goal of the season and it took the game to overtime.
In the extras, Traktor captain Alexander Kadeikin took a delay of game penalty. The home team held on, and almost won it late on thanks a Sergei Telegin effort that forced a big save from Galkin. But the shoot-out went to Avtomobilist thanks to Golyshev.

Pilipenko scores twice on return

Severstal Cherepovets 6 Amur Khabarovsk 2 (1-1, 5-0, 0-1)

A five-goal second period led Severstal to an eighth successive victory, keeping Andrei Kozyrev’s team on top of the Western Conference. Amur scored the opening and closing goals of this game but allowed six in between and fell to a heavy defeat. It was Severstal’s second win over the Tigers in 10 days after a shoot-out success in Khabarovsk on Oct. 19.

Severstal controlled the game from start to finish, but managed to allow an early goal against the run of play. Evgeny Svechnikov put Amur in front in the seventh minute, collecting his first goal of the season in only his third game back from injury. However, that was one of just five shots at Vsevolod Skotnikov’s net as the home team largely dominated the play. In the 12th minute, Kirill Pilipenko marked his return from a three-week injury lay-off with the tying goal and, from then on, Amur was destined to struggle.

It was still level at the first intermission, but Severstal put the game out of reach in the second with five unanswered goals. Alexander Skorenov made it 2-1 early in the session, then the home team killed a penalty before padding that lead. In-form Yanni Kaldis made it 3-1 just seven seconds after leaving the box: his five-game hot streak is now worth 8 (3+5) points.

That goal chased starting goalie Maxim Dorozhko from his net, but incoming Damir Shaymardanov fared little better. Within two minutes, he allowed a power play goal from Timur Mukhanov and after another couple of minutes Ruslan Abrosimov collected another on the PP. That was four goals in 6:09, and Severstal led 5-1.

The game was effectively over, but Pilipenko added his second of the night before the second intermission. That tally brought Dorozhko back into the game. Amur had little to say about the final outcome, but at least gained some consolation thanks to an Oleg Li goal in the third.

Four-goal PP shatters Sochi

Dinamo Minsk 8 HC Sochi 2 (3-1, 5-0, 0-1)

Sochi’s struggles continue. This was a ninth straight loss for Vladimir Krikunov’s team, and the second time in three games that it allowed eight goals. Dinamo eased to a third successive win and will find few evenings as comfortable this season.

To make matters worse for the Leopards, Dinamo rattled in its eight goals inside 28 minutes. Two of them came with barely five minutes played: in the second minute, after a face-off in his own zone, Yegor Borikov slalomed between two opposing players to create his own one-on-one rush and beat Alexei Shchetilin. Then Sam Anas doubled the lead, extending his hot streak to seven games. That goal brought Pavel Rudovich into the Sochi net, the 19-year-old making his KHL debut.

At the other end, a goal from Nikolai Popugayev gave the visitor hope of making a game of it. He halted Zach Fucale’s shut-out streak after 81:18, but it wasn’t long before Ilya Usov’s deflected shot restored Minsk’s two-goal advantage.

Late in the opening frame, Sochi’s Maxim Berezin took a major penalty for checking to the head. After the intermission, Dinamo made the most of that opportunity and rattled in four power play goals. Vitaly Pinchuk extended his productive streak to six games, Daniil Lipsky potted his first of the season,

Borikov got his second of the season and Lipsky joined him on two for the night to make it 7-1. Alex Limoges added two more assists in his three-point game. Rudovich left the game after that nightmare spell and Shchetilin returned for the remainder of the action. Barely four minutes later, he was beaten by Vadim Shipachyov, who edges closer to 1,000 points in the KHL.

Any hint of a contest was long gone, but there was some consolation for Sochi in the closing stages. Timur Khafizov claimed a power play goal in the 57th minute to make the final score 2-8. Dinamo climbs to fourth in the West, just one point behind third-placed Torpedo.

Ruzicka’s last-minute heroics

Spartak Moscow 3 CSKA Moscow 2 (2-1, 0-1, 1-0)

The latest Moscow derby went to Spartak thanks to a last-minute goal from Adam Ruzicka. The Slovak international struck on 59:20 to sink CSKA and ensure the Red-and-Whites remain the capital’s top dogs. Alexei Zhamnov’s team is fifth in the Western Conference, two points ahead of Dynamo and three better off than CSKA.

The visitor almost opened the scoring early when Maxim Sorkin hit the post. But in-form Nathan Todd got the opener for Spartak on the power play in the fifth minute. That was his seventh goal in seven games, he also has five assists in that span. Todd’s tally came with Prokhor Poltapov in the box, but he redeemed himself with a tying goal midway through the first period. However, Spartak took a lead to the intermission when another power play saw Mikhail Maltsev on target for the second game in a row.

Special teams continued to make an impact, and CSKA tied the scores again before the midway mark. Daniel Sprong converted another power play, firing home Nikolai Kovalenko’s pass across the face of the net to make it 2-2. That’s a sixth power play goal of the season for the Dutchman. Late in the frame, the home penalty kill almost came up with a shorthanded goal when Luke Lockhart beat Spencer Martin but saw his shot roll along the goal line before bouncing off the post to safety.

CSKA looked the more likely winner for much of the third period. But Spartak defended strongly and, after Pavel Karnuakhov was assessed a holding minor in the 56th minute, the home team grabbed the initiative. It couldn’t score on the power play, but kept up the pressure to the end and won another PP. This time, the Red-and-Whites got it right and Todd set up Ruzicka for the winner.

Loko leaves it late

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Lada Togliatti 2 (0-2, 0-0, 3-0)

After a six-day break, Lokomotiv suffered from a slow start before recovering to beat Lada on two late goals. Previously the defending champion thumped the Western Conference struggler 6-1, but today’s was a far closer encounter.

The visitor had Ivan Bocharov in goal; he spent two seasons with Lokomotiv. Mack Hollowell also made it to Yaroslavl, where he was briefly registered with Loko this summer before he was traded to Togliatti.

The game started slowly, but Nikita Cherepanov’s penalty on 7:03 livened things up. The home defenseman got a double minor for high sticks and Lada took advantage to open the scoring through Dmitry Kugryshev. It took just 29 seconds, not bad for the weakest power play in the KHL this season.

Lokomotiv struggled to retain possession and thus found it hard to score. Lada was not exactly dominant, but a rare attack brought a second goal when Alex Cotton added to his earlier assist in the 17th minute.

Down by two at the intermission, Lokomotiv injected some pace into its game after the break. Bocharov stood between his former club and a road back into the contest. Lada almost claimed a freak goal on a delayed penalty: Lokomotiv went to an empty net and blundered sufficiently to see the puck in its own goal; the play was whistled off because it deflected off a Lada player on the way. The visitor also went close to a third when Andrei Chivilyov hit the post, while Lokomotiv was blank for a fifth successive period.

Bob Hartley responded to that doleful statistic by reshuffling his lines in search of an offensive spark. Eventually, that paid off. In the 52nd minute Yegor Surin got his ninth goal of the season to blow the game open again. Lada continued to defend well, but was undone in the closing stages. Lokomotiv scored twice in 24 seconds through Alexander Radulov and Byron Froese, snatching victory at the last.

Dynamo hands Dragons a fifth straight loss

Shanghai Dragons 1 Dynamo Moscow 5 (0-1, 1-1, 0-3)

Clinical finishing from Dynamo sent Shanghai crashing to a fifth successive loss and the 1-5 scoreline equals the Dragons heaviest margin of defeat this term. The Muscovites scored their five goals on just 22 shots to claim a third victory in four meetings with Gerard Gallant’s men.

The visitor got in front early through Artyom Ilyenko, who neatly redirected Artyom Sergeyev’s low shot past Patrik Rybar. The home goalie had little chance to react. However, his team had a great chance to respond when it got the first power play of the game soon after; Dynamo showed the solid defense that would typify its evening.

Both teams were reduced to three for a time in the opening frame, but Ilyenko’s goal was all that separated the teams at the intermission. In the second period, Dynamo’s 20-year-old forward Sergei Artemyev missed a great chance for his first KHL goal after failing to convert a three-on-one rush. However, midway through the frame, Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi doubled the lead after Anton Slepyshev recycled the puck behind the net.

However, Shanghai was also creating chances and Vladislav Podyapolsky made a big save to deny Vladimir Kuznetsov before Austin Wagner pulled a goal back in the 33rd minute. The home team then had another unsuccessful power play as it looked to be capable of getting back into the game.

Instead, though, Dynamo took control at the start of the third. Dylan Sikura made it 3-1 11 seconds into the final frame, then Ilyenko’s second of the game opened a commanding 4-1 lead. The loss of Max Comtois, ejected from the game for unsporting conduct in the 44th minute, did little to slow the visitor and Cedric Paquette put the seal on a fine victory in the 56th minute.