11-in-a-row for Ak Bars. October 29 round-up
Ak Bars thrashed KHL leader Metallurg 4-0 to record a club record 11th straight victory in Wednesday’s big game. Salavat Yulaev also enjoyed a big win, beating Admiral 6-1, while Avangard edged Barys 4-3 to halt a two-game losing streak. The only Western Conference team in action, SKA, came out on top at home to Sibir.
Barys fightback falls short
Avangard Omsk 4 Barys Astana 3 (2-0, 2-1, 0-2)
After back-to-back losses, the Hawks bounced back against Barys. But after building a 4-1 lead, Avangard almost blew it, allowing two quick goals in the third to give the visitor hope of saving the game.
Guy Boucher’s men sought to apply pressure from the start. Andrew Poturalski went close from the slot, then Nikolai Prokhorkin and Igor Martynov got on an odd-man rush but failed to get a shot away. Barys goalie Adam Scheel was overworked, and the defense was pushed to breaking point before
Konstantin Okulov grabbed two goals late in the frame to put Avangard in control.
The Kazakhs improved in the second period and began spending more time in front of Nikita Serebryakov’s net. That led to the first power play of the game and Tyce Thompson was agonizingly close to scoring before Avangard killed the penalty. Back at equal strength, Damir Sharipzyanov found a great pass off the boards and Dmitry Rashevsky’s one-timer made it 3-0. Barys replied 21 seconds later through Mason Morelli, who got away from Slava Voynov before beating Serebryakov.
Sharipzyanov made it 4-1 with a power play goal in the 33rd minute, chasing Scheel from the game in favor of Andrei Shutov. The incoming goalie was immediately tested with a flurry of shots but kept his goal intact.
Subsequently, Barys began to offer more attacking enterprise. The game was open and entertaining and, for a time, the visitor threatened a fightback. In the 55th minute, Morelli capitalized on a defensive error to make it 2-4, then 35 seconds later Kirill Savitsky made it a one-goal game.
The visitor went in search of the equalizer but a slashing minor for Semyon Simonov cooled the Barys offense. After killing that penalty the charge was back on, but Morelli’s high stick in the last minute gave Avangard the breathing space it needed to run down the clock on a nervy win.
Ufa off the foot of the table
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 6 Admiral Vladivostok 1 (1-0, 4-1, 1-0)
A second-period blitz led Salavat Yulaev to a fourth successive victory, even as Admiral suffered its fifth defeat in a row. The home team recalled Dead Stewart and Alexander Suvorov for the game, while the visitor restored Adam Huska to starting goalie and brought Ruslan Pedan in place of Georgy Solyannikov.
Today’s win lifts Viktor Kozlov’s team off the foot of the Eastern Conference table and puts it within a point of eighth-placed Amur.
The host made a great start. Early pressure forced Stepan Starkov into an error and Yegor Suchkov converted his misplaced pass to open the scoring in the third minute.
At the other end, Admiral played largely on the counter. The best chances fell to Yegor Petukhov and Nikita Tertyshny, but neither could tie the game in the first period.
The play was fairly even until midway through the second. But once Salavat Yulaev got on the power play, it triggered a flurry of goals. Alexander Khokhlachyov made it 2-0, then 32 seconds later 19-year-old Artur Faizov claimed his first ever KHL goal when his shot deflected into the net. Leonids Tambijevs called a time-out and replaced Huska with young Arseny Tsyba. That made little difference as Suchkov prompted potted his second of the night on 34:51.
Starkov pulled one goal back for Admiral after a mistake from Wyatt Kalinuk. However, yet another power play saw Salavat’s Alexander Zharovsky add a goal to two earlier assists.
In the third period, the Sailors created some serious, if intermittent, problems for the home defense. They worked hard to get at least one consolation goal, but to no avail. Yaroslav Tsulygin made the final 6-2 in Salavat’s favor.
In-form Ak Bars sets new club record
Ak Bars Kazan 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0 (0-0, 2-0, 2-0)
The league leader travelled to the team in top form – and had no answer as Ak Bars completed a club record 11th successive victory. The remarkable sequence means that Anvar Gatiyatulin’s team goes undefeated through October, winning nine of those 11 in regulation and climbing to second in the standings, just a point behind Magnitka.
Gatiyatulin made three changes from Monday’s win over Admiral: Timur Bilyalov got the start in goal, while Brandon Biro and Dmitry Katelevsky were scratched in favor of Alexei Pustozyorov and Stepan Terekhov, who played at 13th forward. Young Radel Zamaltdinov took on Katelevsky’s fourth-line role.
Metallurg arrived after a convincing 4-1 win at Avangard and kept largely the same line-up from that game. The visitor backed itself to make a fast start and wasted little time in testing Bilyalov with a couple of shot. Ak Bars also looked lively early on, and Grigory Denisenko was close to scoring when he found space to test Alexander Smolin from mid range. Overall, Magnitka shaded the first period with Vladimir Tkachyov, Ruslan Iskhakov and Mikhail Fyodorov all having good chances. However, Bilyalov stood up well under pressure to keep it goalless at the intermission.
After the break, Ak Bars emerged ready to reverse the pattern of play. Dmitrij Jaskin and Vladimir Alistrov had chances from the slot, Alexander Barabanov threatened on the wraparound and Ilya Karpukhin blasted a dangerous shot from the blue line. At the other end, Metallurg’s pace kept Bilyalov very much in the game. But when the home team got its first power play of the night, Jaskin made the breakthrough when he converted the rebound from another long-range effort.
A minute later, Kazan’s fourth line got on the counter and Zamaltdinov increased the lead. Metallurg had a power play soon after but the home PK was active in the face of the opposition, quickly closing down the puck carrier and making it hard to get shots on goal. Late in the frame, Makar Khabarov was close to getting the visitor on the scoreboard, but his shot hit the piping.
Metallurg came out for the third in search of a much-needed goal and pressed Ak Bars into its zone for a time. But the home team was able to resist, then extend its lead in the 45th minute when a Karpukhin shot deflected past Smolin. And the defenseman sealed the win with an empty-netter as the hot streak continues for Ak Bars.
Back-to-back wins for SKA, Sibir suffers fifth loss
SKA St. Petersburg 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 2 (1-1, 1-0, 1-1)
After an 8-1 thrashing of Sochi, SKA followed up with another victory. However, Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Sibir was a rather tighter affair.
The visitor came to Petersburg after an unhappy home stand that brought four straight losses. But Sibir almost made an instant impression when Nikita Soshnikov fashioned the first good chance of the game in the opening minute.
After that, SKA got on top. The host forced the first power play in the fifth minute and Matvei Korotky took advantage. The youngster potted his first KHL hat-trick in that Sochi romp and opened the scoring here when he was left all alone to steer Marat Khairullin’s feed into the net.
Sibir responded quickly, with Vladimir Tkachyov tying the game in the eighth minute and it remained 1-1 until the first intermission.
SKA began the middle frame on the power play, and dominated the early exchanges. Anton Krasotkin made two big saves to deny Dishkovsky and Khairullin, but the pressure kept coming. It took time to find the way through, but in the 36th minute Yegor Savikov made it 2-1. Mikhail Vorobyov came down the right but was forced behind the net. From there, he managed to find Igor Larionov Jr, who turned to set up Savikov in the right-hand circle. Almost immediately, Sibir had a power play but could not find another tying goal.
The final frame began with Sergei Plotnikov extending the home lead within a minute of the restart. Joseph Blandisi played a big role, setting Plotnikov away down the right to unlock Sibir’s defense.
It took time for the visitor to get back into the game, and SKA enjoyed a big advantage in shots on goal (40-27 through 60 minutes). But the closing stages saw Sibir come back to life. Ivan Chekhovich scored for the second game in a row to make it 2-3 and there was still 1:12 left to play. However, SKA played sensible hockey, holding onto the puck and making it impossible to replace Krasotkin with a sixth skater as it closed out the win.
