SKA maintains good form, Dynamo’s hot streak ends.

Today’s stories were largely about the Western Conference. Lokomotiv beat CSKA for the third time this season to extend its lead at the top. SKA took a 3-2 verdict over Ak Bars, improving to five wins from six despite the on-going absence of head coach Igor Larionov. Dynamo made Vyacheslav Kozlov’s role as head coach official, and immediately saw a seven-game winning streak halted by Barys. Severstal and Dinamo Minsk lost ground in the leadership race after losing to Avtomobilist and Salavat Yulaev respectively, and Avangard brushed aside Neftekhimik 3-0.

Motormen recover after blowing two-goal lead

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 Dinamo Minsk 2 SO (1-0, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)

Despite blowing a 2-0 lead, Avtomobilist managed to secure a shoot-out win over Dinamo.

The home team welcomed back Stephane da Costa after the French center picked up an injury on Dec. 3. His returne was just one of several changes to the side that lost at home to Barys on Tuesday.

In the first period, the Motormen looked brighter and managed to turn that into a lead at the end of the session. Nikita Shashkov protected the puck from the attentions of two opponents as he got into the Minsk zone. Then he fired at the net and Stepan Khripunov’s deflection found the target.

The second saw Dinamo step up and dominate the game in almost every aspect. However, the visitor contrived to fall further behind when a blistering counter saw Brooks Macek and Maxim Osipov combine to set up Curtis Valk to make it 2-0 in the 33rd minute.

At last, the Belarusians found a way to goal and 90 seconds later the visitor was on the board. Andrei Stas won an offensive face-off and Vadim Moroz rifled a wrister over Vladimir Galkin’s shoulder. That offered Dinamo a way back into the game, but it wasn’t until the closing stages that the visitor completed its fightback. In the 56th minute, Ilya Usov fired home from a dead angle to take the game into overtime.

Neither team was willing to risk much in OT, but the shoot-out was full of incident. Vitaly Pinchuk converted Dinamo’s first attempt, Reid Boucher tied it up in the second round. Then came sudden death. Sam Anas beat Galkin, but his effort was whistled off for interference. Then Anatoly Golyshev put Avto in front, meaning Anas had to score to keep the game alive. This time, Galkin won the duel and Avtomobilist won the game. 

Flying first period puts Avangard in command

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 0 Avangard Omsk 3 (0-3, 0-0, 0-0)

The Hawks bounced back from Tuesday’s loss at Sibir, taking control of today’s trip to Neftekhimik early on and closing out a solid 3-0 victory.

Avangard got an early lead when Filipp Dolganov could only pad a shot from out wide straight onto Artyom Blazhievsky’s stick. The defenseman needed no second invitation to put it in the net.

And he turned provider five minutes later, setting up a play from the point that ended with Nikolai Prokhorkin turning sharply beside the net and beating Dolganov at the second attempt.

The visitor added a third late in the opening frame when Damir Sharipzyanov’s long-range effort caused chaos in front of Dolganov and Konstantin Okulov stuffed the loose puck home.

Up by three at the end of the first period, Avangard looked to be in a comfortable place. However, the visitor remembered how its previous trip here saw a 4-1 lead turn into a 5-6 loss in a crazy game on Nov. 18.

This time, the Hawks produced a much tougher defensive display and limited Neftekhimik’s scoring chances. The home cause was not helped when Bulat Shafigullin was ejected from the game in the 33rd minute; amid a spot of pushing and shoving with Joseph Ceccone, the forward punched one of the officials in an effort to reach his opponent and, following a review, was removed for misconduct.

Avangard remained unruffled and played out the rest of the game calmly. Nikita Serebryakov finished with 34 saves but rarely found himself dealing with intense pressure from the home team.

Shoot-out gives Loko the edge

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 CSKA Moscow 1 SO (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

Igor Nikitin returned to Yaroslavl for a gritty, low-scoring game. However, while his CSKA team evoked some memories of the carefully structured defense he deployed with Lokomotiv, it could not prevent the Railwaymen taking a shoot-out verdict.

The home team dominated the first period, outshooting CSKA 13-4. However, there was only one goal for the Arena 2000 crowd to celebrate. It came in the 16th minute when Artur Kayumov released Maxim Shalunov down the left. He closed in on the net and, despite the presence of Jeremy Roy, managed to get a backhand shot past Dmitry Gamzin.

At the start of the second period, CSKA managed to tighten up defensively but, for the first five minutes there was little sign of the visiting offense. However, that all changed in the 27th minute. An odd-man rush saw Maxim Sorkin send play right for Vitaly Abramov. Everyone in the arena, including goalie Daniil Isayev, expected a shot but instead Abramov moved the puck on for Prokhor Poltapov to fire into an almost open net and extend his current productive streak to 6 (3+3) points in four KHL games.

Notably, that goal came from only CSKA’s seventh shot at Isayev. Even after tying the game, the Muscovites struggled to force the pace in the second period. Lokomotiv continued to dominate, with CSKA blocking 10 shots during the session as they were held to just four shots on goal and 1:41 on the attack.

That pattern reversed in the third period, with CSKA enjoying the bulk of the offensive play and Lokomotiv forced to block 11 shots. However, neither team was able to test the opposing goalie with any frequency, far less find a winning goal as 12 penalties disrupted the flow of the action.

Overtime saw Gamzin the busier of the goalies, but there was no winner and the game went to a shoot-out. The first three attempts all found the target, but after Isayev stopped Poltapov there was no further scoring. Kayumov’s effort proved to be the winner as Lokomotiv increased its lead at the top of the West.

Fast start lifts Ufa over Severstal

Severstal Cherepovets 1 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 (1-2, 0-0, 0-0)

After three losses in the previous four games, Salavat Yulaev bucked the trend with a good win at high-flying Severstal. The home team had hopes of returning to the top of the Western Conference but found itself down by two after six minutes and never recovered.

Salavat made a great start to the game. Just two minutes in, the visitor took the lead on an emphatic one timer from rising star Alexander Zharovsky. His shot from the right-hand dot was too hot for Alexande Samoilov to handle, opening the scoring after Yegor Suchkov opened up the home defense.

And things got even better for Ufa. The visitor was unable to convert the first power play of the game, but doubled the lead on 6:23 when good work behind the net created a chance for Maxim Kuznestov in space in front of Samoilov’s goal.

Severstal had to kill another penalty but gradually came back into the game. However, the home team’s goal in the final minute of the opening frame came with a large slice of good fortune. Danil Veryayev was battling for possession on the slot, the puck flew out at an unexpected angle and bounced off Devin Brosseau before looping over Semyon Vyazovoi.

A strong finish to the first period carried over into the next. Indeed, Severstal went on to have the better of the play for the remainder of the game. However, Vyazovoi made 36 saves to preserve his team’s advantage and the home team proved unable to build on its win at Lada before the international break.

Barys snaps Dynamo’s hot streak

Dynamo Moscow 2 Barys Astana 4 (0-0, 1-1, 1-3)

Barys halted Dynamo’s seven-game winning streak with an impressive win in Moscow. It’s the second time this season that Mikhail Kravets’ team has got the better of the Blue-and-Whites and, after taking seven points from the last eight on offer, the Kazakhs are firmly in the race for the playoffs.

But it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Dynamo’s strong form saw the club decide to give interim head coach Vyacheslav Kozlov the full-time position and this was his first game as the main man. What should have been a celebration turned into a frustrating evening.

It started off OK. Dynamo had the edge in a nondescript first period, outshooting Barys 9-5. So when Max Comtois put the home team in front with a power play tally in the 28th minute, most of the 8,000-strong crowd felt that the game was following the expected script.

However, Barys was watching a different movie. Ansar Shaikhmeddenov quickly tied the game. Then, at the start of the third period, two goals in two minutes put the visitor in control. Semyon Simonov added to the two he scored on Tuesday at Avtomobilist, then Ian McCoshen got his second of the season to make it 3-1. Mason Morelli’s helper took his hot streak to four games (1+4).

Things got worse before they got better for the host. Dinamukhamed Kaiyrzhan added to his earlier assist with a power play goal in the 53rd minute, taking the game beyond Dynamo’s reach. The home team did not give up and a Nikita Gusev PP marker offered some hope of a revival. However, the last four minutes passed without another goal as Barys closed out the verdict.

Babenko masterminds win over former club

SKA St. Petersburg 3 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (0-1, 1-0, 2-1)

Dynamo’s defeat means SKA is arguably the form team in the West right now. Today’s win over Ak Bars sees Igor Larionov’s team improve to five out of six, beating an opponent who arrived today with a similar record.

Larionov himself missed the action, ruled out by an on-going illness. But his understudy, Yury Babenko, took the verdict against a team where he worked as assistant to Oleg Znarok in 2022/23 season.

His team had to come from behind to get the verdict. Late in the first period, Alexander Chemelevski put Ak Bars in front with a neat redirect on Nikita Lyamkin’s point shot. That was Chmelevski’s 10th goal of the season and his third in four games as he moves to 19 (7+12) points in his first 30 games since joining from Salavat Yulaev.

SKA tied it up early in the second, with Marat Khairullin quickly converting the power play after Grigory Denisenko was assessed a slashing minor. After that, the penalties came thick and fast, starting with Khairullin himself taking a couple of minutes to think about his goal. There was no further scoring in the middle frame, although Valentin Zykov rang the iron just before the intermission.

In the 45th minute, SKA got in front for the first time. Matvei Polyakov did it all himself, stripping Alexander Barabanov of the puck in center ice before advancing down the left. Goalie Maxim Arefyev stopped the first shot, but was then flattened by Mitch Miller as Polyakov lined up the rebound.

Ak Bars continued to find its way to box all too often, and that proved costly in the 53rd minute when Sergei Plotnikov potted his team’s second power play goal of the night. Khairullin fed the puck back to Yegor Savikov on the perimeter and he fizzed a pass to the right for Plotnikov to launch a powerful shot that deflected into the net via former SKA defenseman Ilya Karpukhin.

The visitor continued to make a game of it, and got a lifeline with three minutes left when Brendan Leipsic shot the puck over the glass and got a delay of game minor. Playing six-on-four, Ak Bars pulled one back through Miller. However, the remaining 2:15 brought no further scoring as SKA held on for the win.