Lada gets 200th KHL win. January 23 round-up

Lada Togliatti 2 Dynamo Moscow 1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0)

Friday’s only game saw Lada record a third successive victory, edging a 2-1 verdict at home to Dynamo.

The Muscovites’ uneven form continues: this was a fifth loss in six for Vyacheslav Kozlov’s team. Despite defeat at Neftekhimik last time out, Kozlov made just one change to his team. Magomed Sharakanov, who spent last season on a successful loan at Lada, replaced Mario Patalakha on defense.

The Motormen’s recent success was built on solid defense. After shut-out wins over Sochi and Barys, Alexander Trushkov had gone 130 minutes without allowing a goal. Today he picked up penalty in the first minute after dislodging his net. Nikita Gusev was close to punishing that error, but failed to score. It took Lada some time to get started after its penalty kill but soon the home team was testing Vladislav Podyapolsky at the other end. That led to the opening goal in the 14th minute when Vladislav Syomin fired home from the blue line.

Lada held its 1-0 lead to the intermission, and Trushkov secured a club record shut-out streak, beating Vasily Koshechkin’s mark from 2008/2009.

The middle frame began with Dynamo on the PK. Lada took that chance thanks to a fine wrist shot from Nikita Setdikov. Ivan Romanov was close to adding a third soon after, but Podyapolsky shut him down in a face-to-face duel. The penalties kept coming: Sharakanov, Maxim Mamin and Max Comtois all sat as Dynamo’s discipline wavered.

Yet it was the visitor that got the next goal. Kirill Adamchuk’s stretch pass found Mamin coming out of the box and he skated clear to beat Trushkov for the first time in 163:22.

Dynamo began the third period strongly. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev’s pace almost put him through, Mamin was close to his second of the night. Lada responded with some long-range efforts and an effort from Pavel Gogolev that was denied by a defenseman’s skate. As the session wore on, the Muscovites stepped up the pressure. Dylan Sikura came closest to saving the game, beating Trushkov but not the recovering defenseman as Lada held on for a 2-1 verdict.