Kuznetsov finds the net at last

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal since joining Metallurg, helping his team to a thumping 6-1 win at Sochi. It was his first marker since March 31 and it came in his 14th appearance of a stop-start season in Magnitogorsk. Wednesday’s other game saw Amur beat Admiral in the Far East derby.

Derby joy for Tigers

Amur Khabarovsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 1 (1-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Life after the international break continued with another derby. This time, Amur came out on top in the Far East battle against Admiral, who had interim head coach Ilnur Gizatullin making his debut behind the bench following the departure of Leonids Tambijevs.

Gizatullin made three changes from the team that lost to Lokomotiv in its previous game, with defenseman Alexander Shepelev and forwards Vyacheslav Osnovin and Arkady Shestakov returning to the team.

Amur also had a change behind the bench, with Alexander Andriyevsky shedding his “interim” title and taking charge of his first game as a fully-fledged replacement for Alexander Galchenyuk Sr.

Andriyevsky’s team made the better start, killing an early penalty then taking the lead, Ignat Korotkikh received the puck on the left point and dished it off to Yaroslav Likhachyov, whose no-look feed set up Oleg Li for the opener. After that, the game was fairly even but despite two power play chances apiece, there was no change in the score by the first intermission.

In the middle frame, Amur extended its lead. In the 36th minute, Evgeny Svechnikov drilled the puck in from the right wing and Ilya Talaluyev managed to force home the rebound even as he stumbled in front of goal. That was Talaluyev’s 50th KHL tally. However, the Sailors responded quickly and Yegor Petukhov halved the deficit before the intermission.

Midway through the third period, the visitor had a great chance to complete its fightback when Evgeny Grachyov went to the box. However, the power play came up short and after returning to full strength the Tigers killed the game. Li returned the favor from his opening goal, picking out Likhachyov at the back door to make the final score 3-1.

Magnitka dominates in Sochi

HC Sochi 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 6 (0-4, 0-1, 1-1)

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal for Metallurg as the league leader enjoyed a convincing victory over Sochi. The star forward also had an assist in the game as he made his first appearance since Nov. 27.

During that time there has been much speculation about the Stanley Cup winner’s fitness and readiness to compete at the highest level. Today’s performance goes some way towards providing answers.

However, it would be wrong to read too much into a game that Metallurg dominated from the off. The visitor was deadly in the first period, scoring four goals off just 11 shots to take complete control of the game. After that, the tempo inevitably dropped a little but there was never any doubt that Magnitka would ease to victory.

It all started when Andrei Razin’s team got the first power play of the game and Mikhail Fyodorov converted it in the ninth minute. A couple of minutes later, Alexander Petunin doubled the lead. Then Kuznetsov intercepted a wayward clearance and instantly fired the puck to the danger zone for Igor Nechayev to make it 3-0 in the 16th minute. And there was more misery to come for Sochi when Derek Barach converted Metallurg’s second PP of the night to make it 4-0 before the intermission.

That was enough to chase Ilya Samsonov – a former team-mate of Kuznetsov during their Washington days – from his net in favor of Pavel Khomchenko. The incoming goalie had a slightly easier time of things, with Metallurg less inclined to push for goals. However, a third power play brought another goal midway through the second period when Petunin and Nikita Mikhailis combined to set up Ruslan Iskhakov for 5-0.

Kuznetsov’s goal came in the 45th minute to wrap up the scoring for his team. He advanced down the right flank and fired in a shot from a tight angle that fizzed under Khomchenko’s pad and into the net.

After that, Sochi managed to kill a penalty for the first time in the game. Then in the 59th minute, the home got a consolation goal through Sergei Popov. But this was very much Metallurg’s day.