Dynamo gets better of goaltending duel. December 21 round-up

The Moscow derby was a goalie duel to the last: goalless through 65 minutes, Mikhail Ilyenko’s penalty shot was the first and only effort to find the net as Dynamo beat CSKA. Dinamo Minsk had no such problems, scoring seven on Lada to bounce back from a couple of losses. Sochi won 5-1 at Barys, Reid Boucher’s first power play goal of the season helped Avtomobilist beat Admiral 3-2 and Sibir held off an Amur fightback.

Amur’s fightback comes up short

Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Amur Khabarovsk 2 (1-0, 2-1, 1-1)

A third win over Amur in four meetings this season keeps Sibir in contact with the top eight. However, the home team made hard work of closing out a game in which it led 3-0 but needed a last-minute goal to stave off a Tigers fightback.

A stop-start first period underlined why both these teams are battling for a playoff place. The play was often scrappy, but a moment of quality saw Vyacheslav Leshchenko put Sibir in front 90 seconds before the hooter.

At the start of the second, Kirill Petkov missed a couple of good chances for Amur. After that, Sibir took play to the other end. A couple of power plays helped, with the home team converted both opportunities to go up 3-0 by the midway stage. Anton Kosolapov, in flying form since joining Sibir, set up Yegor Alanov for the second goal, then scored himself two minutes later.

But Amur was not done. The visitor got one back thanks to Yaroslav Likhachyov in the 37th minute, then Alexander Galchenyuk made it a one-goal game after 46 minutes. Suddenly, a comfortable encounter for Sibir was fraught with nerves. Kirill Slepets was close to tying it up, but Anton Krasotkin denied him. The Tigers outshot their host 15-4 in the final frame, but came up short when Kosolapov put his second of the game into an empty net to make the final score 4-2. 

Vengryzhanovsky at the double for Sochi

Barys Astana 1 HC Sochi 5 (1-3, 0-1, 0-1)

Sochi stunned Barys with a first win in Kazakhstan since 2017. The home team returned home on a high after wins at Avtomobilist and Dynamo, but crashed to a heavy defeat here.

The damage was done in the first period. Denis Vengryzhanovsky opened the scoring in the fourth minute, getting away from the defense with improbable ease before wiring a wrister beyond Andrei Shutov. A couple of minutes later, Daniil Seroukh doubled the lead with a deft redirect.

Semyon Simonov quickly pulled a goal back for the home team, but the fast start to the game clearly suited Sochi better. The visitor restored its two-goal cushion midway through the first period thanks to Artyom Volkov’s first of the season.

In the second period the game got bogged down in center ice for long stretches. However, Sochi managed to find another goal late in the session when Cameron Lee escaped the attentions of the home defense to make it 4-1.

Barys made a strong start in the third, looking to try and force an unlikely comeback. Pavel Khomchenko made several big saves to preserve Sochi’s lead before Vengryzhanovsky’s second of the game into an empty net wrapped up the verdict.

Boucher leads Avtomobilist

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 Admiral Vladivostok 2 (1-2, 2-0, 0-0)

Reid Boucher’s first power play goal of the season proved to be the game winner as Avtomobilist twice came from behind to defeat Admiral.

The Sailors looked better in the early stages, testing Vladimir Galkin with a couple of good efforts. Defensive leader Libor Sulak had perhaps the best chance of the early stages, while at the other end Adam Huska had just one save to make in the first 10 minutes.

That pressure brought an opening goal in the 13th minute. Admiral’s top line sliced through the home defense before Igor Geraskin steered Arkady Shestakov’s shot beyond Galkin. Avto challenged the play, claiming that Sulak was offside, but the video review awarded the goal. However, Admiral’s power play came to little and soon the visitor was reduced to three skaters. That brought a power play goal from a familiar source, although Brooks Macek’s finish was from an unfamiliar position on the slot. As the power play continued, Boucher almost put the home team ahead from close range. However, the next goal came at the other end when Pavel Koledov sent Pavel Shen in on goal with the home defense in disarray.

During the intermission, Nikolai Zavarukhin opted to change goalie and Evgeny Alikin emerged for the second stanza. He was on the ice as Avtomobilist turned the game around. First, Stephane da Costa tied it up in the 26th minute when he got forward to finish off Alexander Sharov’s breakaway. This time, Admiral challenged the play but the outcome was unchanged.

Then Dmitry Timashov took a major penalty for a head-butt. That five-minute power play brought Boucher’s winning goal with a shot from the right-hand corner. It was the 32-year-old American got his 10th of the season, but his first on the power play. After that, Huska stood up well to prevent the home team extending its lead and keep Admiral in contention.

Huska did not finish the game, with Dmitry Shugayev replacing him at the second intermission. Admiral tried to step up its game in the third period, but the home team was in no mood to give up its lead. Alikin faced some anxious moments but the Sailors never really created the clear-cut chance they needed to salvage anything from the game. With 3:09 to play, the visitor switched to six skaters but even that gambit brought no success.

Defensive Dynamo edges derby verdict

CSKA Moscow 0 Dynamo Moscow 1 SO (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

For the third time this season, Dynamo came out on top in this Moscow derby – but today’s game could hardly have been tighter. Neither team could find a goal through 65 minutes of play before Artyom Ilyenko won it for the Blue-and-Whites in the shoot-out.

CSKA handed a debut to defenseman Mac Hollowell, recently acquired from Lada. In the summer, while Igor Nikitin was head coach at Lokomotiv, the Canadian agreed a move to Yaroslavl but he ended up in Togliatti before playing a game for the Railwaymen. Last week’s trade means he is now, at last, working with the coach who initially wanted him in the KHL.

Dynamo lost its previous game 2-4 at home to Barys, an unhappy start for Vyacheslav Kozlov after he was confirmed as permanent head coach. Today he brought Vladislav Podyapolsky back as starting goalie and replaced Traktor-bound Maxim Dzhioshvili with Artyom Chernov. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, inbound from Chelyabinsk, is still awaiting his Dynamo debut.

The game developed into a goaltending duel. CSKA consistently created more and, by the end of the action, outshot Dynamo 27-13. However, Podyapolsky kept the opposition at bay. At the other end, Dmitry Gamzin had a quieter time, especially in a first period that saw the visitor muster just two shots on goal.

As far as scoring chances went, Prokhor Poltapov twice threatened in the first period and Jeremy Roy hit the crossbar in the second. Dynamo’s offense offered little, although a pacy counterattack gave Anton Slepyshev a chance to test Gamzin’s concentration.

As the game went on, the teams were if anything more cautious. Defenses were on top and nobody was able to find the breakthrough. After CSKA had the better of regulation, Dynamo looked more threatening in overtime with Daniil Pylenkov twice producing dangerous efforts.
Even the shoot-out saw the forwards struggle. The first five attempts were all saved before Ilyenko settled it in the visitor’s favor.

Emphatic win for Minsk

Dinamo Minsk 7 Lada Togliatti 2 (1-0, 4-1, 2-1)

After back-to-back shoot-out losses, Dinamo returned to winning ways with an emphatic success at home to Lada. A dominant display in the second period saw the Western Conference’s leading goalscorer romp to a victory.

The Bison were well on top in the first period, outshooting Lada 11-4. However, the only goal came midway through the session when Ilya Usov put the home team in front.

Things changed fast at the start of the second as Dinamo added accuracy to its domination. Two goals in two minutes saw Daniil Lipsky and Rob Hamilton take the game away from the visitor. Lada responded by replacing starting goalie Alexander Trushkov with Ivan Bocharov. Five minutes later, the visitor pulled one back thanks to Nikita Mikhailov.

However, that was no kind of turning point. Dinamo responded with two more goals in the closing stages of the middle frame. Sam Anas made it 4-1, then added an assist as Sergei Kuznetsov potted the fifth. Alex Limoges assisted on both plays, completing a hat-trick of helpers.

Nineteen seconds into the third period, Vitaly Pinchuk further padded the home lead. Lada challenged the play, claiming interference on Bocharov. However, on a day when little went right for the visitor, the officials upheld the on-ice verdict.

There was some consolation for the Motormen when Andrei Chivilyov pulled a goal back, but this was very much Dinamo’s day. Pinchuk got his second of the night on the power play, with Limoges assisting again, as a comfortable win moved the Belarusians to second in the standings.