Goals and fightbacks. December 3 round-up

Wednesday saw the KHL go goal crazy. Sibir and Spartak led the way, sharing 13 goals as the Red-and-Whites rallied from 0-4 to win 7-6 in OT. It was a similar story in Yekaterinburg, where Avtomobilist led 3-0 but lost 5-6 at home to Metallurg. CSKA and Torpedo played out a 4-4 tie before the visitor claimed a shoot-out verdict, Ak Bars beat Traktor 5-3 and Shanghai took a 3-2 scoreline against Salavat Yulaev. There was only one low-scoring encounter, and that saw Dynamo Moscow claim a 1-0 win at Severstal in overtime.

Two last-minute goals save Spartak

Sibir Novosibirsk 6 Spartak Moscow 7 OT (4-0, 1-3, 1-3, 0-1)

A crazy game saw Spartak rally from 0-4 and 3-6 before grabbing victory in overtime. Alexei Zhamnov’s team scored twice in the last minute before Mikhail Maltsev won it in the extras, securing a fourth successive victory.

Visiting goalie Artyom Zagidulin had allowed just one goal in his previous two games. Today he allowed four in one period as Sibir got off to a flying start. Ivan Klimovich opened the scoring in the seventh minute, then Mikhail Abramov and Anton Kosolapov combined for the next two. The pair recently joined from Torpedo and hit the ground running in Novosibirsk: Kosolapov has 7 (3+4) points and Abramov 5 (2+3) from their first three games. Just before the intermission, Scott Wilson added a fourth on the power play and Sibir looked to be in command.

Spartak began the second period on the power play, and with Alexander Georgiyev replacing Zagidulin in goal. Daniil Orlov pulled a goal back right away, then Daniil Sobolev and Mikhail Maltsev dragged the game back to 3-4 by 25:24. The Muscovites continued to attack, but could not find a tying goal. Instead, late in the frame, Semyon Koshelev added fifth for the home team.

Midway through the third period, Chase Priskie’s power play goal seemed to end Spartak’s hopes. Yet the visitor found three goals in the last three minutes to save the game in dramatic style. Danil Pivchulin started the fightback, then last-minute markers from Adam Ruzicka and Nikita Korostelyov made it 6-6 with 10 seconds to play.

The Red-and-Whites were still in the game, despite never leading. And the visitor claimed the verdict thanks to Maltsev’s second of the night.

Magnitka leaves it late after fightback

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 6 (0-0, 4-2, 1-4)

The drama continued in Yekaterinburg, where Metallurg rallied from 0-3 and won an 11-goal thriller with 1.5 seconds left on the clock.

Some sluggish defense on the first shift almost gifted Avtomobilist an early goal, with Robin Press making a vital intervention to spike a home counterattack. After that, though, there was little sign of the scoring to come in a hard-fought but goalless opening frame.

Metallurg probably shaded the opening frame, something that Avtomobilist looked to put right after the intermission. And the home team produced a great response. Goals from Jesse Blacker and Brooks Macek opened a 2-0 lead inside five minutes, then Maxim Osipov added a third at the midway mark.

Table-topping Magnitka hit back. Nikita Mikhailis scored a well-taken goal on the power play, then Vladimir Tkachyov struck during a four-on-four passage.

Just 27 seconds later the visitor thought it had a tying goal, but a video review ruled otherwise.

Reid Boucher missed a breakaway chance to increase Avto’s lead again, but with 12 seconds left in the period he found the net when Metallurg’s defense failed to clear its lines. Roman Gorbunov’s cross-ice feed set up the American to make it 4-2.

The third period began with another fight. Roman Kantserov had tangled with Gorbunov in the opening frame, and this time Metallurg’s Mikhail Fyodorov went into battle with Kirill Vorobyov, who had injured Daniil Vovchenko moments earlier. The put Magnitka on the power play and Danil Palivko pulled a goal back. Nikolai Zavarukhin challenged the play, but had no success and a delay of game penalty had Avto down to three skaters. Kantserov took advantage, deflecting a shot past Evgeny Alikin to tie the game at 4-4.

The next power play went to Avtomobilist, and Alexander Sharov put the home team back in front. Then, the home penalty kill stepped up to protect the lead, at one point clearing the puck off Alikin’s goal-line. However, the tying goal came on 56:22 in unlikely fashion: under pressure, Dmitry Silantyev simply tried to dump the puck in the home zone. A deflection sent it looping into the net.

With the teams sharing 10 goals, overtime looked likely. But with six seconds to play, Metallurg won an attacking face-off and had time to set up Press for the winning goal.

Sikura settles goalie duel

Severstal Cherepovets 0 Dynamo Moscow 1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Not every game was full of goals. Severstal and Dynamo cancelled each other out for 60 minutes, before Dylan Sikura gave the visitor the win five seconds before the end of overtime.

It was a game dominated by goalies Alexander Samoilov and Maxim Motorygin. Dynamo’s Motorygin finished with 27 saves, while Samoilov stopped 32 shots before Sikura beat him.

The winning goal came on the power play after Danil Aimurzin was assessed a hooking minor on 64:03. Vyacheslav Kozlov called a time-out and, with the extra man, his team found the winner. Sikura exchanged passes with Daniil Pylenkov before wiring a shot home from the right-hand circle.

That extended Sikura’s hot streak to five games, with four goals and three helpers in that time. It also secured a fourth successive win for the Blue-and-Whites. Severstal returns to the top of the standings, but is level on 47 points with Dinamo Minsk.

Barabanov powers Ak Bars to victory

Ak Bars Kazan 5 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 (0-0, 3-1, 2-2)

A four-point game from Alexander Barabanov led Ak Bars to victory over Traktor. A fifth win in six games consolidated the home team’s grip on second place in the East. Traktor fell to second successive loss.

Despite finishing goalless, there was no shortage of first-period action. The teams combined for 28 shots on goal, and many of them asked big questions of Timur Bilyalov and Savely Sherstnev respectively.

The breakthrough came in the 25th minute. Traktor profited from an Ak Bars mistake, Yegor Korshkov claimed possession and beat defenseman and goalie alike to open the scoring.

But after the halfway stage, Ak Bars responded with three quick goals. First came Barabanov, an unstoppable backhand shot. Traktor dinged the piping at the other end, but then allowed two goals in 13 seconds. Mitch Miller and Nikita Dynyak found the net, much to the disgust of interim head coach Raphael Richer.

His anger translated into a second intermission talk that brought a response from Traktor. Arseny Koromyslov pulled a goal back early in the final stanza to keep the game alive. But the Ak Bars response was swift, with Nikita Lyamkin restoring a two-goal advantage.

That wasn’t the end. Late in the game, Andrei Nikonov pulled one back to give Traktor hope of a fightback. Assists came from Mikhail Grigorenko and

Vitaly Kravtsov, both of whom extended their productive streaks to six games. But the final word went to the home team when Dmitrij Jaskin found the empty net.

Zernov scores twice in losing cause

CSKA Moscow 4 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 5 SO (1-0, 1-2, 2-2, 0-0, 0-1)

There were more goals in Moscow, where Torpedo edged a shoot-out verdict after a 4-4 tie at CSKA. The result keeps the visitor in the top four in the West, while CSKA missed the chance to go back in front of SKA and into the top eight.

The game started with an early home goal. Denis Zernov had not scored since Oct. 15, but he opened the scoring today and added a second later in the game. The opening goal was all that separated the teams at the first intermission. In an even first frame, Torpedo had the only power play, but could not find a way back.

In the second period, the visitor turned things around. Vladislav Firstov tied it up in the 27th minute then Maxim Letunov’s power play goal made it 2-1. He was screening Alexander Samonov when Bogdan Konyushkov’s shot came in, and reacted fastest on the slot to stuff home the rebound.

But before the intermission, CSKA got its first power play of the night and tied the game. Max Sorkin found the net in the 37th minute while Firstov sat for tripping.

The action was unrelenting, and the teams shared three goals at the start of the third period. Ivan Patrikhayev put CSKA back in front, but Torpedo scored twice in 66 seconds to turn the game around. Vladimir Tkachyov potted his first since joining Torpedo from Sibir, then Nikita Shavin made it 4-3. The Muscovites fought back, and Zernov’s second of the night tied the game with eight to play. However, neither team could finish it in regulation, nor overtime.

Then came a shoot-out, which also failed to bring a quick conclusion. Tkachyov and Vitaly Abramov scored in the opening phase, but then the crowd saw nine failed attempts before Ilya Chefanov gave Torpedo the win.

Labanc ends Dragons’ losing run

Shanghai Dragons 3 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 (1-1, 1-0, 1-1)

The Dragons snapped a four-game skid, ending Salavat’s three-game winning streak in the process. Kevin Labanc maintained his point-a-game pace with the winner at the SKA Arena.

His goal came in the 49th minute, snapping a 2-2 tie. Earlier, Borna Rendulic gave the Dragons an early lead with a second-minute goal. However, Artur Faizov soon had Ufa level and it was 1-1 at the first intermission.

That was a fair reflection of the first period play, but after the intermission Shanghai stepped up the pace and began to dominate. The home team outshot Salavat Yulaev 13-6 in the middle frame, and got back in front when Nate Sucese scored during a passage of four-on-four play after 26 minutes.

In the third period, the visitor began to pose more of an offensive threat. That led to a power play, and Devin Brosseau scored to tie the game against his former club. Jack Rodewald, another ex-Dragon, albeit from the Kunlun Red Star era, assisted on that play.

But it wasn’t enough to deny the home team a long-awaited victory. Less than a minute after the tying goal, Labanc unleashed a great shot off Gage Quinney’s drop pass to beat Semyon Vyazovoi and win the game.