Dynamo clinches playoffs, Filin hits hat-trick. February 26 round-up

Seven out of eight playoff places in the West are now full after Dynamo Moscow won 4-1 at SKA to secure its post-season spot. The remaining gap is almost certainly Spartak’s: Yegor Filin’s hat-trick led the Red-and-Whites to victory over Admiral, and the gap to ninth-placed Shanghai is now 17 points. In the East, Salavat Yulaev defeated Traktor in a shoot-out, remaining clear of its visitor in fifth place.

No Kuznetsov, but Ufa edges Traktor again

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 SO (0-1, 2-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)

Despite the absence of in-form Evgeny Kuznetsov, Salavat Yulaev still managed to close out a tight win over Traktor.

Kuznetsov, who had four points in a 6-0 win in Chelyabinsk last week, was unable to face his hometown team today due to injury.

The first chances went to the home team, with Sergei Mylnikov kept busy at the start of the game. Salavat also enjoyed a power play after Michal Cajkovsky’s foul on 1:22. But Traktor held on, and converted its first PP of the evening. Jordan Gross fired in a wrister and Andrei Svetlakov altered the puck’s flightpath to take it past Semyon Vyazovoi. Former Ufa favorite Josh Leivo had a secondary assist.

Traktor held its lead to the intermission, but in the second stanza Salavat Yulaev turned the game around with a couple of quick goals. First, Yegor Suchkov stickhandled his way into a shooting lane and fired into the top corner of Mylnikov’s net. Within a minute, a swift transition from defense to offense saw Vladimir Butuzov set up Denis Yan for a breakaway goal. Yan has scored in both games since returning to action on Tuesday.

The home team might have put the game out of reach at the start of the third. Talented youngster Alexander Zharovsky had a great chance from close range but could not beat Mylnikov. Traktor made the most of that reprieve, tying the game in the 49th minute after creating a chance out of nothing for Maxim Dzhioshvili to turn and shoot home.

That took the game to overtime, and Sheldon Rempal was close to winning it for Salavat Yulaev. Instead, the home fans had to wait until the shoot-out before celebrating victory after two successful attempts from Zharovsky made the difference.

Weal leads Dynamo into playoffs

SKA St. Petersburg 1 Dynamo Moscow 4 (1-1, 0-3, 0-0)

Dynamo booked its playoff spot with a solid win in St. Petersburg. The Muscovites travelled north knowing that any kind of victory would clinch a top-eight finish and Viktor Kozlov’s men produced a strong second period to take that verdict.

The win also moves the Blue-and-Whites back in front of SKA and into sixth place in the Western Conference.

The early action was mostly played out in front of home goalie Sergei Ivanov. SKA had difficulty getting the puck down the ice and eventually that pressure brought a sixth-minute goal. Ansel Galimov started the play, Anton Slepyshev saw his shot gloved away by Ivanov, but Galimov was in position to gobble up that rebound.

The home team responded well: Vladislav Podyapolsky was called into a good save to snuff out Rocco Grimaldi’s one-on-one in the 12th minute, but he was beaten soon after as Nikita Dishkovsky potted a shorthanded goal. Once again, it was a one-on-one chance that sent the young forward racing through the center towards goal and he learned from Grimaldi’s mistake and placed his shot under the goalie’s pad.

A tied scoreline was a fair reflection of the first period, but the second saw Dynamo take control. The tipping point arrived midway through. On 28:56, Yegor Zelenov sat for a high stick. Just 13 seconds later Jordan Weal restored his team’s lead. And on 29:45, with the teams back at full strength, Weal turned provider as defenseman Kirill Adamchuk showed fine predatory instinct to make it 3-1. Nikita Gusev, a former SKA player, assisted on both plays.

It wasn’t long before Weal collected his third point of the game, winning a clean draw in the right-hand circle and steering the puck back to Artyom Sergeyev on the point. The defenseman’s shot was true and Dynamo had a comfortable 4-1 lead.

SKA’s hope of eroding that advantage faltered in the third period. The home team took too many penalties: one early, for Andrei Pedan, then a couple in the closing stages. That helped Dynamo close out the win with little drama. Now the focus shifts to preparing for post season, where both these teams will hope to demonstrate the consistency they’ve lacked during the campaign so far.

Gutik haunts former colleagues

Spartak Moscow 6 Admiral Vladivostok 3 (2-0, 1-2, 3-1)

Admiral rallied from 1-3 to tie this game in Moscow. But a hat-trick from Yegor Filin and two points from ex-Sailor Daniil Gutik proved too much for the visitor.

The first period followed Spartak’s script. The Red-and-Whites opened a 2-0 lead thanks to a power play goal from Filin and a breakaway tally from Mikhail Maltsev. The latter was created by Gutik, who remains second in team scoring for Admiral this season after compiling 28 points in 44 games before joining Spartak.

However, the scoreboard did not reflect an evenly contested opening frame. Admiral tied Spartak on 10 shots and had a similar amount of offensive possession without managing to solve Artyom Zagidulin.

The visitor got its breakthrough midway through the game. Adam Ruzicka, back from Olympic duty, was penalized and Libor Sulak converted the power play. In the 35th minute Joey Keane made it 3-1 and chased Arseny Tsyba from the Sailors’ net. A couple of minutes later another power play brought another Admiral goal, this time with Sulak assist on Oskar Bulavchuk’s marker.

Admiral was very much in this contest: not only was it a one-goal game, but the visitor enjoyed much the better of the second-period play. Thus it was little surprise when the scores were tied in the 48th minute. Sulak got his third point of the night as Dmitry Zavgorodny made it 3-3.

However, Spartak managed to rediscover its game and take the win in the closing stages. Gutik popped up to score on his former club – he’s now on 12 points from 13 games for the Muscovites – and his power play effort in the 53rd minute turned out to be the game winner. Then Filin potted his second of the night, making it 5-3 with five to play, and completed his hat-trick with an empty-netter.

The win gives Spartak a 17-point lead over ninth-placed Shanghai Dragons. If the Dragons fail to win tomorrow, Spartak will secure its playoff spot.