SKA snatches victory at Dynamo, Trushkov defies Minsk. November 8 round-up

Trevor Murphy grabbed a late winner for SKA to snap Dynamo Moscow’s six-game winning streak. In Minsk, Dinamo suffered a similar fate as Alexander Trushkov stopped 49 shots to give Lada a 1-0 victory. Lokomotiv won 3-1 at home to Ak Bars, CSKA stopped the rot with a 4-0 win over struggling Sibir and Severstal took a 4-2 verdict at Shanghai Dragons. 

Dumbadze at the double for Severstal

Shanghai Dragons 2 Severstal Cherepovets 4 (0-1, 0-0, 2-3)

In front of almost 10,000 fans at SKA Arena, including a sizeable contingent of Severstal supporters, Andrei Kozyrev’s team grabbed a 4-2 victory. That avenged the 3-6 loss suffered on home ice against this opponent last week and put the Steelmen back into the top three – albeit briefly before Dynamo’s evening game against SKA.

The traveling fans saw their heroes open a 3-0 lead in this game. David Dumbadze got two of them, opening the scoring in the sixth minute. However, that was the end of the scoring for some time. Shanghai has struggled for goals in recent weeks – that prolific afternoon in Cherepovets was something of an exception – and the game remained at 1-0 until the 45th minute. Good work from goalies Konstantin Shostak and Andrei Kareyev including saves to deny clear-cut chances, meaning any goal in the third period would likely prove crucial.

And the breakthrough came once again from Dumbadze. He banged in a shot direct from a face-off win and Kareyev was too slow to react. A couple of minutes later, Dumbadze started the play that brought Ivan Podshivalov a third goal for Severstal.

That stung the Dragons into action. Kevin Labanc quickly pulled a goal back and the home team went for broke. A long spell of pressure kept Severstal pinned into its own zone, but the second goal had to wait until 58 minutes when Troy Josephs got his first for the club.

By then, Kareyev had returned to the bench, and Severstal made it safe with 10 seconds left thanks to Ruslan Abrosimov’s empty-netter.

Radulov gets two points on former team

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Ak Bars Kazan 1 (1-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Western Conference leader Lokomotiv reeled off a fifth successive victory, sending Ak Bars to a third straight loss. That represented revenge for Bob Hartley’s team, beaten 1-0 in Kazan earlier this season.

The home team was without the injured Richard Panik, which meant a return for Stepan Nikulin. Ak Bars replaced Semyon Terekhov with Artur Brovkin. First choice goalies Daniil Isayevand Timur Bilyalov occupied their usual starting roles.

Right at the start, Vladimir Alistrov had a good chance for Ak Bars but after that the teams largely failed to generate much offense. It took a Lokomotiv power play to shift things: the home team didn’t exactly pour forwards, but managed to grab the momentum and began to work Bilyalov. He made several saves, but could not deny Daniil Misyul the opening goal. Soon after, Alexander Radulov might have doubled the lead but he lacked space at the crucial moment.

The visitor didn’t spend much time on the attack, but still managed to find the net. However, after two video reviews that play was whistled off due to interference on Isayev.

After the intermission, Ak Bars tried to change the pattern of play. Now the visitor had more of the puck and more than once called Isayev into action. However, Lokomotiv still posed an offensive threat and a counterattack saw Artur Kayumov set up Radulov for a goal on his former club and a second point in the game.

A power play got Ak Bars back into the game. Nikita Lyamkin fired a shot right into Isayev’s mask and the deflection took it over the line to give the D-man his second goal of the season.

Lifted by that goal, Ak Bars could see a way back and the third period saw Isayev to the fore. He had to neutralize several dangerous attacks to preserve the home team’s lead. But any chance of late drama was ended with just over three to play when Denis Alexeyev’s first of the season made it 3-1 and helped increase Loko’s lead in the West.

Gamzin blanks Sibir, ends CSKA skid

CSKA Moscow 4 Sibir Novosibirsk 0 (2-0, 2-0, 0-0)

Two crisis-hit teams met in Moscow, with CSKA grabbing a vital win to halt its four-game skid. Saturday’s shut-out leaves Sibir on a run of nine straight losses.

Home goalie Dmitry Gamzin was again preferred to high-profile signing Alexander Samonov and rewarded Igor Nikitin’s faith with a shut-out. Injury-hit Sibir had to make do without in-form defenseman Yegor Alanov who was unavailable due to illness.

The teams began at high speed, producing energetic hockey. That suited CSKA just fine and the home team opened the scoring in the seventh minute: Prokhor Poltapov’s redirect was enough to beat Sibir goalie Anton Krasotkin. The Muscovites continued to press after taking the lead and the visitor was limited to just three shots at Gamzin in the opening frame. And the host doubled its lead five seconds before the intermission on a goal from Dmitry Buchelnikov, who was presented with an open goal after a kind bounce put the puck on his stick.

After the break, Sibir stepped up its game and started testing Gamzin more frequently. Even so, CSKA continued to look the more threatening and padded its lead in the 27th minute. Vladislav Provolnev got his first goal of the season when he scored on the wraparound. And the Muscovites’ superior finishing told once again when Daniel Sprong added a fine individual goal to his pair of assists.

Sibir’s head coach Vyacheslav Butsayev sent 21-year-old goalie Semyon Kokaulin into the net for the third period. He was saved by the crossbar early on, and later got some help from the post, but managed to get through 20 minutes’ play unscathed. At the other end, Sibir continued to look for at least a consolation goal, but could not solve Gamzin.

Trushkov denies Dinamo

Dinamo Minsk 0 Lada Togliatti 1 (0-1, 0-0, 0-0)

This was the Alexander Trushkov show. Lada’s goalie pulled off 49 saves in Minsk to ensure that Georgy Belousov’s first-period goal proved decisive. Dinamo saw its six-game winning streak come to an end. It was Trushkov’s first shut-out since March and he became the first man to stop Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team from scoring this season.

When the teams met last month in Togliatti, Lada failed to score. Today the visitor resolved that issue after just eight minutes. Riley Sawchuk came through the middle and dished the puck off to Nikita Mikhailov on the right. Mikhailov awaited Belousov’s arrival from deep and set him up for a one-timer that brought his second goal of the season.

That was one of just four shots on Zach Fucale’s net in the first period, but it was enough to secure a lead at the intermission. Lada opted to play defensive hockey and focused on keeping the Bison at bay – with significant success. Through the first two periods, Trushkov stopped 36 shots and his defense blocked 19 more. Even a full minute of five-on-three power play could not bring a breakthrough for Minsk. A glove save to deny Stanislav Galiyev while sprawling on the crease typified Trushkov’s ‘no passaran’ attitude, frustrating the home team.

And that frustration spilled over in the final frame. After getting through 40 minutes without requiring the penalty kill, Dinamo then picked up four separate penalties in the third. That meant too much time was wasted on defense as the clock ran down and Lada closed out a narrow win.

Murphy gets another winning goal

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

For the second time in as many games, Trevor Murphy grabbed a winning goal for SKA. This time, his late tally snapped Dynamo’s six-game hot streak and keeps the Petersburg club level on points with eighth-placed CSKA.

Murphy’s big moment came on 57:30, snapping a 2-2 tie in the capital. His powerful shot, under pressure from Max Comtois, finally found a way past Vladislav Podyapolsky to secure back-to-back wins.

Earlier in the game, Dynamo grabbed a seventh-minute lead through Jordan Weal. He was the beneficiary of good work from Dylan Sikura, who won the puck on the end boards and got to the puck to set up his team-mate. The first period saw the Blue-and-Whites fail to convert power play chances – something that proved costly after the intermission.

SKA got its first PP opportunity in the second period, and duly tied the scores. Joseph Blandisi was the scorer, assistant Marat Khairullin collected his 300th KHL point along the way. At the other end, Comtois came agonizingly close to restoring the home lead with a shot that hit both posts but somehow stayed out of Yegor Zavragin’s net. But the next goal went to the visitor, with Khairullin converting a feed from Mikhail Vorobyov to make it 2-1 at the second intermission.

With a winning streak on the line, Dynamo came out for the final frame in determined mood. A fast start soon produced a tying goal for Sikura on the power play. Maxim Dzioshvili’s screen took Zavragin out of the game as the Canadian forward fired a wrister home from the circle.

Neither team was willing to settle for overtime, but the clock was pointing towards overtime before Murphy grabbed his winning goal.