Sibir ends 13-game skid on high-scoring day. November 20 round-up

Six games produced 45 goals – three of them in one-goal verdicts – in a day of entertaining hockey across the KHL. Sibir took the plaudits: despite blowing a 3-1 lead at Dynamo, the Siberians won in a shoot-out to end a club record 13-game losing streak. The highest scoring game was in Chelyabinsk, where Amur beat Traktor 6-4. Metallurg took a 5-4 verdict at Avtomobilist and Dinamo Minsk scored five on CSKA. Torpedo stays second in the West with a 4-3 success at home to Spartak, and Severstal kept pace with a 3-2 overtime verdict against Admiral.

Life after Groulx remains tough for Traktor

Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 Amur Khabarovsk 6 (2-5, 1-0, 1-1)

For the second game in a row after departure of head coach Benoit Groulx, Traktor lost out at home. Today’s game with Amur was settled in the first period when the visitor scored five goals.

Traktor’s Semyon Der-Arguchintsev replaced Andrei Nikonov on offense, while newly-added defenseman Nikita Smirnov also featured. Amur was missing in-form forward Evgeny Svechnikov, as well as Matvei Zaseda and Evgeny Grachyov. Sergei Dubakin, Alexander Filatyev and Kirill Slepets replaced them on offense; experienced defenseman Yaroslav Dyblenko took over from Raul Akmaldinov.

The home team thought it had the lead in the fifth minute when Arseny Koromyslov found the net. The on-ice call was interference on goalie Maxim Dorozhko, and a coach’s challenge brought nothing more than a delay of game minor. That penalty led to one-time Chelyabinsk prospect Artyom Shvaryov opening the scoring. Alexander Galchenyuk doubled the lead before a surprising solo run from D-man Andrei Pribylsky got Traktor off the mark in the 10th minute.

And that was just the start in an action-packed opening frame. Kirill Petkov and Yegor Korshkov traded goals, then Amur got a fourth through Kirill Urakov. That prompted Rafael-Pier Richer to replace Chris Driedger with Savely Sherstnev only to see the incoming allow Petkov to beat him with the first shot he faced.

Down by three at the intermission, Traktor could only improve. The second period was better, and the home team outshot the Tigers 15-4. But there was just one goal, on the power play midway through the session, when Andrei Svetlakov steered Josh Leivo’s pass into the net.

Leivo made it 4-5 at the start of the third period, with Vitaly Kravtsov’s assist moving him to 7 (2+5) in his first five games since returning to Chelyabinsk. However, Kravtsov has celebrated just one win in that time and was beaten again tonight after Galchenyuk scored his second into an empty net.

Leader edges thriller in Urals

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 (1-1, 0-1, 3-3)

Table-topping Metallurg edged an entertaining Ural derby by the odd goal in nine. Both teams had the lead during the course of Thursday’s action, and there were two markers in the last minute as Magnitka held on for the verdict.

The teams were in an attacking mood from the start. Metallurg applied an early press and got some good looks at Evgeny Alikin but fired wastefully wide of the target. Avtomobilist had a couple of decent chances from close range before opening the scoring on the power play in the 10th minute. Curtis Valk was the scorer. Soon after Danil Romantsev got free of the visiting defense but Ilya Nabokov denied him before Nikita Mikhailis missed a similar chance at the other end.

Metallurg managed to tie the game late in the frame, also on the power play. The visitor retained possession well before 18-year-old Mikhail Fyodorov found himself perfectly placed to score.

The second period was just as competitive, but brought fewer clear chances. However, late in the session Metallurg got ahead for the first time thanks to a trademark wrister from Robin Press.

The final frame began with a pair of quick goals. Alexander Sharov tied it up, only for Derek Barach to restore the lead a minute later. That lead didn’t last long: on the PK, Alexei Byvaltsev took advantage of a wayward shot to launch a successful counterattack down the wing.

Another Avtomobilist penalty proved more costly when Roman Kantserov finished off a finely-wrought combination. Barach’s assist on that play took him to three points from the game and the visitor led once more. With 35 seconds left, and Metallurg again on the PP, Mikhailis found the empty net to make the game safe despite Artyom Kashtanov’s reply with 13 seconds on the clock.

Aimurzin keeps Severstal flying high

Severstal Cherepovets 3 Admiral Vladivostok 2 OT (1-0, 1-2, 0-0, 1-0)

In-form Severstal made it six wins from seven thanks to an OT verdict over Admiral. For the Sailors, a solitary point was not enough to move into the top eight in the East. Leonids Tambijevs’ team is now level on points with eighth-placed Barys but has two games in hand on the Kazakhs.

Severstal was first to show in this game. David Dumbadze has been active during the current hot streak and his seventh-minute opener was his fourth goal in November.

That was all that separated the teams at the intermission, but in the middle frame Admiral turned things around. Arkady Shestakov tied it up, then Dmitry Zavgorodny gave the visitor the lead midway through the session. But there wasn’t much time to celebrate: 70 seconds later, Vladimir Grudinin made it 2-2.

It stayed that way until the end of regulation and there was little to choose between the teams in shots on goal. But the extras saw Severstal take the victory, with Danil Aimurzin scoring on Dmitry Shugayev to settle the outcome. That extended Aimurzin’s hot streak to four games.

Sibir wins at last

Dynamo Moscow 3 Sibir Novosibirsk 4 SO (1-1, 0-2, 2-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Sibir snapped its 13-game skid in a clash between two teams under interim head coaches. While it was little surprise that today’s visitor to Moscow wanted a change amid an on-going slump, Alexei Kudashov’s dismissal from the home team was more of a surprise. His last game was a 3-2 win at Sibir and his team was making steady progress in a competitive Western Conference. Today’s game brought a second successive loss for temporary replacement Vyacheslav Kozlov, while Yaroslav Lyuzenkov celebrated his first win as acting head coach for Sibir.

The visitor even had the luxury of blowing a 3-1 lead in the third period before winning in a shoot-out. Max Comtois’s tying goal with three seconds left was a psychological blow, but Sibir regrouped, survived in overtime and then took the verdict after Anton Krasotkin denied Jordan Weal and Nikita Gusev in the shoot-out. Kirill Rasskazov and Vladimir Tkachyov were on target at the other end.

Dynamo got into difficulties early in the game. The home team allowed a shorthanded goal in the fourth minute. Alexei Yakovlev brought a counterattack down the right, exchanged passes with Yegor Alanov, and fired past Vladislav Podyapolsky to open the scoring.

The Blue-and-Whites responded by upping the offensive tempo but struggled to beat Anton Krasotkin until the 16th minute. The tying goal came from an unlikely source, 20-year-old forward Sergei Artmyev getting his first KHL goal when he redirected Igor Ozhiganov’s point shot. At the end of the opening frame, Dynamo outshot Sibir 17-6 and the visitor blocked 12 further attempts, but the teams were deadlocked.

Sibir managed to tighten up its defense in the second period, allowing just seven more shots at Krasotkin, who saved them all. At the other end, Ivan Chekhovich found the net twice. He put Sibir back in front in the 24th minute with a powerful one-timer off Fyodor Gordeyev’s feed from the end boards. Then, he struck again from a similar position to convert Arkhip Nekolenko’s imaginative feed in the 33rd minute.

In the third period, Dynamo roared back. Once again, the home team dominated possession and shots. However, midway through the session, the Muscovites were reduced to three skaters, cutting into the time available to retrieve at two-goal deficit. Sibir could not convert the opportunity and, in hindsight, might have wished to push harder with a two-man advantage.

Instead, the fightback began late. In the 56th minute, Dylan Sikura scored his sixth goal in seven games to bring the contest back to life. Then, three seconds before the hooter, Max Comtois salvaged a point for his team in dramatic fashion, stumbling as he poked a loose puck under Krasotkin and into the net.

But this was destined to be Sibir’s night as the visitor ended its club record skid.

Torpedo survives Spartak scare

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 Spartak Moscow 3 (1-0, 1-2, 2-1)

Spartak managed one two-goal comeback, but a second proved too much for the Red-and-Whites as Torpedo took a 4-3 verdict to remain in second place in the West. Alexei Isakov’s team is level on points with leader Lokomotiv but has played two games more.

The home team had a good early chance, but Alexander Yaremchuk was unable to capitalize on Andrei Mironov’s error. Yaremchuk got his goal midway through the first period, a shorthanded effort after Yegor Vinogradov won possession and set up the chance.

That was all that separated the teams at the first intermission, although Spartak dominated the shot count 19-5 and was left wondering how it failed to beat Ivan Kulbakov in the opening frame.

At the start of the second, Torpedo had a goal ruled out after Maxim Sokolov kicked it into the net. But midway through the session, Vasily Atanasov had a legitimate effort when Torpedo’s forwards circled the puck around Artyom Zagidulin’s net for him to score.

The first fightback began in the 34th minute when Danil Pivchulin swiftly converted a power play. The 22-year-old forward improves to 7 (3+4) in his last five games. Then, just before the intermission, Ivan Ryabov tied it up with his first goal in a month.

After blowing a two-goal lead, Torpedo built another in two third-period minutes. Daniil Zhuravlyov twice tested Zagidulin before Bogdan Konyushkov followed up to make it 3-2. Then Viktor Fyodorov added a fourth when he got free on the slot.

Spartak began a second recovery mission and Ivan Morozov maintained his good run of form, scoring for the fourth game in a row. He had a chance to tie the scores a couple of minutes later but that 53rd-minute effort was blocked before it reached Kulbakov. Spartak continued to press, but Torpedo defended in depth to close out the win.

Minsk continues to impress in West

Dinamo Minsk 5 CSKA Moscow 2 (0-0, 3-1, 2-1)

There’s a big contrast between these teams at the moment. Dinamo is in strong form and is good value for a place in the top four in the West. CSKA, despite high expectations, is struggling to string together a run of performances and hovers anxiously in eighth. Today’s game saw the Belarusians bounce back from defeat at Severstal, while CSKA failed to build on a good win at Ak Bars.

The outcome might have been different if it wasn’t for Vasily Demchenko in the first period. CSKA, lifted by its Kazan success, started brightly and outshot Dinamo 12-3 in the opening frame. However, while Demchenko was busy, the home defense worked hard to keep the visitor to the perimeter and there were relatively few clear-cut scoring chances.

Dinamo exploded in the second period, scoring three goals in five minutes, with another one disallowed. Yegor Borikov opened the scoring on 21:05. Then came a twice-reviewed play: the on-ice call was no goal, an immediate review established the Dmitry Gamzin’s ‘save’ came after the puck crossed the line but CSKA successfully challenged Vadim Moroz’s play for interference on the goalie and it remained 1-0.

However, right after that Dinamo got the first power play of the night and Sam Anas converted, chasing Gamzin from his net in favor of Alexander Samonov. The former Salavat Yulaev man was beaten inside four minutes when Andrei Stas got another power play tally.

Then CSKA got its first PP of the night and Dmitry Buchelnikov pulled a goal back midway through an action-packed period.

The latter half of the middle frame was a bit calmer and Dinamo preserved a 3-1 lead to the intermission. But CSKA got another one back early in the third thanks to Vitaly Abramov, setting up an intriguing conclusion. The visitor had more than 15 minutes to complete its recovery, but was unable to do so. Instead, Nikita Pishkailo struck on the counter to make it 4-2 and that hit the Muscovites’ hopes. The final nail was driven home in the 59th minute when Danil Sotishvili scored into the empty net to complete a 5-2 win.