Avto clinches playoffs, Amur closes on Sibir. February 22 round-up
Sunday was all about the Eastern Conference playoffs. Avtomobilist booked its place thanks to a 4-1 win over Shanghai Dragons – a result that leaves the Chinese franchise close to elimination. Amur’s win at Avangard, coupled with a 0-1 loss for Sibir at Neftekhimik, closes the gap to six points between eighth and ninth. Elsewhere, Spartak won an entertaining game at Salavat Yulaev, Severstal and Metallurg earned overtime wins over Barys and Admiral respectively.
Tigers gain ground in playoff race
Avangard Omsk 3 Amur Khabarovsk 4 (2-1, 0-2, 1-1)
The Tigers clawed back a deficit to win in Omsk and close the gap on eighth-placed Sibir to six points.
Despite falling 2-1 behind after a couple of quick home goals midway through the first period, Amur hit back strongly. The second period saw the visitor turn the score around, and Yaroslav Likhachyov added a fourth after 55 mjnutes. A late strike from Damir Sharipzyanov kept the game alive to the end, but Amur held on for a valuable victory.
Despite a typically fast start from Avangard, the first power play of the game went to Amur. And that brought the first goal when Grigory Kuzmin redirected Ivan Mishchenko’s shot home in the third minute.
The response came from Andrew Poturalski, who tied it up with a fine solo effort after seven minutes. Three minutes later, he turned provider as Joseph Ceccone scored his first KHL goal when his shot looped off Artur Gizdatullin and dropped behind Maxim Dorozhko.
Amur was undaunted. The visitor started strongly in the second period and tied the game in the 24th minute through Mishchenko. Barely 30 seconds later, the Tigers led once again thanks to Oleg Li’s sharp reactions after Likhachyov won possession on the slot.
Lifted by that lead, Amur continued to look the better team. The better offensive play came from the visitor, while Dorozhko was rarely tested at the other end. It wasn’t until the end of the frame that Avangard began to pose a threat, although there was little serious danger of a tying goal.
That ushered in a third period with Avangard playing much better hockey. But, once again, there was a lack of incision around Dorozhko’s net even though Amur’s attacking presence almost evaporated. With seven to play, an Amur power play brought some relief. The home PK survived, but the momentum swung sufficiently for Likhzhyov to make it 4-2 after the teams returned to equal strength.
There was still time for drama and, playing with an empty net, Avangard got a goal back through Sharipzyanov. But the clock ran down before the Hawks could finish the job.
Gutik’s double paces Spartak
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Spartak Moscow 5 (1-1, 0-2, 2-2)
A high-scoring game between two teams looking to secure their playoff spots ended in a hard-fought victory for Spartak. Two goals from Daniil Gutik either side of the second intermission swung this one in the Muscovites’ favor.
Earlier, Salavat Yulaev grabbed an early lead thanks to Yegor Suchkov. The 24-year-old forward converted a feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov to open the scoring in the fourth minute. However, that lead did not hold to the intermission. Sheldon Rempal picked up a double minor late in the frame and Dmitry Vishnevsky found a target goal with less than a second remaining on the clock.
And Spartak got in front midway through the second period thanks to Kristian Jaros, who potted his first goal for the Red-and-Whites in his 34th appearance on the blue line.
Then Gutik, a deadline signing from Admiral, got busy. He converted a power play in the 39th minute to make it 3-1, then added a fourth at the start of the final frame on another power play.
Game over? Not yet. Kuznetsov, a revitalized figure following his move to Ufa, scored for the second game in a row to revive home hopes. Kuznetsov now has 10 (2+8) in his last six games and looks to be approaching his best as the season approaches the business end. Next, a player at the opposite end of his career set alarm bells jangling: Alexander Zharovsky celebrated his 19th birthday with a goal to make it 3-4 with two minutes to play.
The game was fully back to life, and it took an empty net goal from Maxim Maltsev with five seconds on the clock to seal Spartak’s win.
Tolchinsky’s pair wins it for Magnitka
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Admiral Vladivostok 3 OT (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0)
After beating Avtomobilist, Admiral took runaway leader Metallurg to overtime. It’s late in the season for the Sailors to save their playoff prospects, but Oleg Bratash’s men won’t go down without a fight.
Bratash restored Pavel Shen and Dmitry Timashev to his team for today’s game, and got a reward midway through the first period. Timashev set up Shen, the latter opened the scoring. Metallurg needed a power play to recover, with Roman Kantserov tying the game a minute before the intermission.
Timashev’s effective return continued in the second period when he assisted on Dmitry Zavgorodny’s goal to make it 2-1. This time, Admiral built on the advantage and Oskar Bulavchuk skated clear on goal to beat Alexander Smolin and make it 3-1.
But once again, Metallurg found a goal just before the break. Kantserov’s line kept Admiral pegged into its zone and Robin Press wired home a wrister on a delayed penalty.
After that, the game was decided by Sergei Tolchinsky. He tied the scores midway through the third period with a well-placed wrist shot off a face-off. Then Tolchinsky found the OT winner to keep Metallurg out in front despite a real battle.
Motormen gear up for playoffs
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 Shanghai Dragons 1 (0-0, 3-1, 1-0)
The Motormen confirmed their playoff spot in some style, cruising to a 4-1 win over Shanghai. Defeat leaves the Dragons 15 points adrift of the top eight in the west; with just nine games and 18 points available, Mitch Love’s team needs a spectacular run to extend its season beyond March.
Yet there was some sign of life in our Chinese franchise as the Spring Festival celebrated the year of the horse. After a goalless first period, Spencer Foo – one of the most dedicated workhorses in franchise history – stunned the home crowd with the opening goal. Avtomobilist already fluffed one chance to clinch its playoff spot in a heavy loss to Admiral on Friday; would lightning strike twice?
Not this time. Avto was lifted by the return of French forward Stephane da Costa from the Olympics, while Daniel Sprong ran the home offense. He got the tying goal in the 33rd minute, then assisted as Brooks Macek made it 2-1 on 37:19. There was more to come in the second period: with the teams playing four-on-four, Maxim Denezhkin padded the lead and left the Dragons in a flap.
The visitor responded with a third-period surge and, for a time, Vladimir Galkin was overworked in the home net. Nikolai Zavarukhin called a time-out, settled his team down and reaped the rewards. Play moved down the ice and while scoring chances were rare in front of Andrei Tikhomirov, Galkin got a much-needed rest. Any lingering doubts were resolved long before Anatoly Golyshev’s empty-needed wrapped up the win and rubber-stamped Avto’s playoff spot.
Aimurzin leads Severstal past Barys
Barys Astana 2 Severstal Cherepovets 3 OT (0-1, 0-0, 2-1, 0-1)
Two goals in 21 seconds saw Barys wipe out a 2-0 deficit at home to Severstal, but the Kazakhs could not escape defeat after Danil Aimurzin settled this one in overtime.
After just one win in four home games, Barys could at least point to regular overtime finishes in its battle to escape second-from-last in the Eastern Conference. But another OT defeat today leaves Mikhail Kravets’ team 10 points shy of a playoff spot.
Severstal moved clear in second place in the east thanks to Aimurzin. He broke the deadlock in the first period, converting his team’s second power play of the game in the eighth minute. Barys had already played almost five full minutes at a one-man disadvantage when he found the net.
For a long time, that was the only goal. But early in the third, Severstal doubled its lead thanks to Kirill Tankov. The on-loan forward picked up his first point since Jan. 26 after 43 minutes and that looked like it might be the end of the game.
Barys had other ideas. Vsevolod Logvin got one back on 52:13, then Mason Morelli completed a stunning comeback on 52:34. The closing stages saw Barys, inspired, bearing down on the visitor’s net in search of victory inside regulation. Alexander Samoilov stood between the Kazakhs and a rare victory: even a penalty shot from Max Willman wasn’t enough to break a 2-2 tie and the game went to OT.
The extras saw Severstal rediscover its forecheck, resulting in Aimurzin getting his second of the night to claim the win. The Lynx are now five points behind Lokomotiv, but have a two-point cushion over third-placed Dinamo Minsk.
Dolganov denies Sibir
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Sibir Novosibirsk 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Sibir’s forwards picked the worst possible time to misfire. After Amur’s win earlier on Sunday, Yaroslav Lyuzenkov’s team was looking for a response to maintain its advantage in the playoff race.
Instead, it ran into some inspired goaltending from Filipp Dolganov and lost out to the only goal of the game at Neftkehimik. With a six-point cushion, it’s still very much advantage Sibir. But Amur has done enough to suggest it could yet make this a playoff battle.
Dolganov finished with 25 saves to frustrate Sibir’s forwards. But much of the damage was done to the visitor in a second period that Neftekhimik dominated from start to finish. Anton Krasotkin stopped 18 shots from Wolves; his team-mates mustered just five at the other end.
Eventually, the pressure paid off. Midway through the third period, Neftekhimik made its breakthrough. Canadian defenseman Luka Profaca claimed his eighth goal of the season. He was the ultimately beneficiary of Damir Zhafyarov’s work in forcing a turnover in center ice. Much-travelled forward Zhafyarov numbers Sibir among his many previous clubs since making his KHL debut for Metallurg Novokuznetsk in 2012.
In the closing stages, Sibir raised the tempo in search of the tying goal it so urgently needed. But Dolganov held firm to secure his third shut-out of the season.
