Loko takes top spot, Sibir gets key win. March 9 round-up

An overtime success at home to Severstal secured first place in the Western Conference for Lokomotiv. Georgy Ivanov snapped a 3-3 tie after late drama in Yaroslavl. Second-placed Dinamo Minsk can no longer catch the defending champion after its 4-6 loss at Dynamo Moscow. In the East, Sibir held its nerve to beat Avangard in a shoot-out and open a five-point gap over ninth-placed Amur. The Tigers will hope to reduce the deficit in tomorrow’s home game against Barys.

Vital victory for Sibir

Avangard Omsk 1 Sibir Novosibirsk 2 SO (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Sibir grabbed a shoot-out verdict in Omsk and collected two priceless points in its battle to secure a playoff spot. The Siberians are now five points clear of eighth-placed Amur, but have played a game more than the Tigers.

For the final Siberian derby of the regular season, Avangard welcomed back Slava Voynov after several months out. Another long awaited return saw Alexander Volkov back on the forward line after two months injured.

The game got off to a busy start. Avangard looked more active in the early exchanges, but failed to test Anton Krasotkin in the visitor’s net. It took Sibir some time to conjure up any sort of a threat for Nikita Serebryakov at the other end, but when the visitor launched a counterattack in the sixth minute it brought instant results. Ilya Fedotov and Vyacheslav Leshchenko travelled the length of the ice, exchanging passes as they went, before the latter opened the scoring.

After that, Avangard tried to overload the slot and hoped for rebounds and redirects to find a way through, but Sibir defended well. The visitor continued to rely on a counterattacking game and managed fairly regular sorties into Hawks’ territory. Fyodor Gordeyev had a couple of good looks but lacked the accuracy to extend the lead.

The start of the second period began as a mirror image of the first. Now Sibir was getting more shots on goal and Avangard was relying on counterpunches where possible. Serebryakov made several good saves to keep the scoreline down and his team-mates created little until midway through the session. But the pattern of play changed, the Hawks got on top in the closing stages and Voynov tied it up just before the intermission with a shot that bounced off a defenseman’s skate.

The third period could not produce a winner. Avangard found too many of its shots were blocked, Anton Kosolapov fired narrowly wide on a Sibir counter. The game calmed a little going into the last 10 minutes of regulation and the action moved into overtime. Sibir had to kill a penalty during the extras, and went on to win the shoot-out. Krasotkin made three saves while Mikhail Abramov was the only man to convert his attempt.

Sikura, Rimashevsky lead Dynamo to victory

Dynamo Moscow 6 Dinamo Minsk 4 (0-1, 3-2, 3-1)

An entertaining game in Moscow saw Dynamo snap a two-game skid with victory over Dinamo Minsk. The home team moves up to seventh in the standings.

The Belarusians made a fast start, with Lyle Brady opening the scoring on his team’s first shot of the game. That goal featured an assist from Sam Anas, who continues to hunt down Nikita Gusev’s all-time scoring record of 89 points. With a goal added to his helper, the American is now up to 82 points; Dinamo has four games left this season.

However, Gusev matched that 1+1 haul and Dylan Sikura finished with 2+1 as the Muscovites won an entertaining game.

Gusev got the tying goal in the 27th minute, triggering a flurry of scoring at both ends. Vitaly Pinchuk immediately restored Minsk’s lead, only for Roman Kalinichenko’s first Dynamo goal to tie it up again midway through the game.

In the 32nd minute, Yegor Rimashevsky put the home team up for the first time, chasing Zach Fucale from his net. Later, the same shift brought two tripping minors and the teams played four on four for two minutes. But when Stanislav Galiyev’s time was served, he jumped straight onto the rush and fired the Belarusians level from the right-hand circle.

The third period saw Dynamo Moscow get its first power play of the night, and Rimashevsky quickly converted it to restore the home lead. Sikura assisted on that one, and padded the lead midway through the final frame when a point shot bounced kindly for him off Lyle’s skate.

Vasily Demchenko left the game in the 57th minute as Dmitry Kvartalnikov switched to six skaters, and soon after Anas brought the game back to life, beating Vladislav Podyapolsky at the second attempt. However, Sikura had the last word, finding the empty net in the final seconds to seal a home win.

Late goals secure top spot in West

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 Severstal Cherepovets 3 OT (2-1, 0-1, 1-1, 1-0)

The defending champion secured top spot in the Western Conference ahead with four games to spare thanks to a shoot-out win over Severstal. Bob Hartley’s team moves to 93 points, 10 clear of second-placed Dinamo Minsk. With only eight points available to the Belarusians, they can no longer catch the Railwaymen, who will begin their playoff campaign at home to the eighth seed in the west.

But the home team was just 30 seconds away from defeat here before Maxim Shalunov forced a 3-3 tie. Lokomotiv was playing six-on-five and both coaches had called their time-outs in a tense finish. Then Martin Gernat played the puck along the blue line, Richard Panik’s pass found Shalunov and the forward unleashed a wrister to tie the game.

In the extras, an interception saw Georgy Ivanov get a quick winner for Loko. He cut out Thomas Gregoire’s attempted pass, skated away and put a backhander past Alexander Samoilov to win the game and the conference.

Earlier in the evening, Severstal battled back from 0-2 to lead in the closing stages. Everything seemed to be going to plan for Lokomotiv in the first period when Slovak duo Panik and Gernat opened a two-goal advantage. In between Andrei Sergeyev clipped the crossbar as Loko looked to extend its lead.

But late in the frame Ruslan Abrosimov pulled a goal back, and just before the intermission there was an anxious moment for the Railwaymen when Alexander Skorenov raced away and shot narrowly wide.

Lokomotiv wasted two good chances early in the second period, then allowed a power play goal to tie the scores. Vladislav Tsitsyura got the puck to the net, Adam Liska finished it off. The home team might have regained the lead in the middle frame, but despite some good chances there was no way past Samoilov.

Daniil Isayev made a good save to deny Severstal at the start of the third period, but the visitor got in front with 11 to play thanks to David Dumbadze. His initial shot went wide, but the rebound came back to the visiting forward and he beat Isayev at the second attempt. However, that wasn’t enough to win the game as Loko managed a late recovery.