Playoff places all filled. March 16 round-up

Sibir clinched the 16th and final playoff spot with a 3-2 victory over CSKA in Monday’s early game. The Siberians cannot finish higher than eighth in the East, meaning the first playoff pairing is also confirmed: regular season champ Metallurg, a 4-3 winner over Avtomobilist today, will start against Sibir. Neither SKA nor Torpedo were able to close on fourth-placed CSKA in the West. Traktor won 2-1 at home to SKA, Torpedo fell 3-6 to Neftekhimik. An entertaining Moscow derby ended in a shoot-out win for Dynamo at Spartak. Severstal beat Ak Bars 4-2 in Monday’s other action.

Sibir books playoff spot

Sibir Novosibirsk 3 CSKA Moscow 2 (1-0, 2-1, 0-1)

A 3-2 victory over CSKA was enough to secure the final playoff space of the season for Sibir. The win moves Yaroslav Lyuznekov’s team five points clear of ninth-placed Amur, with just two games remaining for the Tigers.

Fittingly, forward Anton Kosolapov had a hand in all three goals. Since arriving at Sibir from Torpedo on Nov. 25, he has 36 (20+16) points in 35 games, playing a huge role in leading his team into post-season.

The first period saw plenty of action for home goalie Mikhail Berdin, who stopped 16 shots. It also saw the first significant contribution in an Abramov vs Abramov subplot: Sibir’s Mikhail opened the scoring in the 15th minute off Anton Kosolapov’s feed. Abramov’s goal was only the second shot that Alexander Samonov faced in the CSKA net, such was the visitor’s dominance of the game. But it was enough to separate the teams at the intermission, with the visitor’s offense largely kept to the outside even as it peppered Berdin’s net with shots.

After the intermission, CSKA continued to press and tied the game in the 29th minute on a power play goal from Dmitry Buchelnikov. Vitaly Abramov was among the assists on that play.

However, Maxim Sorkin went to the box late in the frame, and Sibir regained the lead on the power play. Kosolapov had another assist before Chase Priskie made it 2-1. Then Kosolapov scored the third himself, robbing Sorkin of the puck and shooting home five seconds before the hooter.

CSKA tried to generate more aggression in the third period as it looked for a way back into the game. Midway through the session, Vitaly Abramov matched Mikhail’s first-period goal, setting up a nervous finish. And tempers boiled over in the final seconds when Semyon Koshelev was handed a 10-minute misconduct tariff when shot the puck into an empty after the whistle. CSKA’s Nikolai Kovalenko got two minutes for roughing as he reacted to that play.

Fightback win for Magnitka

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (0-1, 2-2, 2-0)

Despite trailing 0-2 at home to Avtomobilist, Metallurg rallied to win it on a late Yegor Yakovlev goal.

The visitor, already certain to finish fourth in the East, came to the regular season champion looking to bounce back from a 0-3 home loss to CSKA.

And the Motormen made the better start to the game. The first period saw plenty of work for home goalie Alexander Smolin, while his opposite number Evgeny Alikin mostly faced tame efforts from the perimeter. It was no great surprise when Avto got ahead, a four-on-one counter concluding with Daniel Sprong finding the net.

Metallurg got a penalty early in the second period, but failed to tie the scores and even allowed a short-handed goal for Maxim Denezhkin. However, the home team turned things around midway through the session with two goals in 33 seconds. Alexander Petunin and Roman Kantserov tied the game, and the next attack saw Valery Orekhov hit Alikin’s crossbar as the host looked to get ahead.

And there was another quick goal on the way – but at the other end. Within two minutes of Kantserov’s equalizer, Stephane da Costa put Avtomobilist back in front when he redirected a Sprong effort past Smolin.

In the 34th minute, Alikin suffered an injury in a collision with Ruslan Iskhakov and was replaced by Vladimir Galkin. He was immediately called into action to kill a penalty, but then Metallurg ran into penalty trouble and was reduced to three skaters. Avtomobilist finished the frame on the attack but could not pad its lead.

In the third period, Metallurg effectively moved play away from Smolin’s net. It wasn’t long before Kantserov potted his second of the game, tying it up at 3-3 in the 45th minute. And Avto’s discipline let it down: midway through the third period, three penalties in a row had the visitor locked into a draining penalty kill. There was no power play goal, but the effort left Avtomobilist exhausted and the closing stages brought a winner from Yakovlev.

Grigorenko shoots down former club

Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 SKA St. Petersburg 1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0)

Two goals from Mikhail Grigorenko led Traktor to victory over SKA. The result leaves the visitor three points shy of fourth place in the West, while Traktor still has a chance of edging ahead of Salavat Yulaev into fifth in the East.

The home team refreshed its defense for today’s game, with Grigory Dronov and Sergei Telegin rested in favor of Andrei Pribylsky and Yaroslav Fedoseyev, the latter making his first appearance since Nov. 11. SKA’s Yegor Savikov took the place of Ivan Vydrenkov.

After a power play apiece produced no goals, Traktor broke the deadlock midway through the first period at equal strength. Josh Leivo pass from behind the net found Vladislav Yusupov. His shot was turned in by Grigorenko, who scored on his former club. Yusupov celebrated his first KHL assist.

SKA tied it up in the middle frame when Rocco Grimaldi broke into the Traktor zone and fired home from the face-off circle. But the home team continued to press and regained the lead late in the second period. Grigorenko was the scorer again, this time aided by a deflection off Danila Galenyuk’s skate. His 23rd goal of the season is a personal best, while Vitaly Kravtsov’s assist puts him level with Anton Glinkin’s club scoring record for Traktor.

There was no further scoring as Traktor halted SKA’s five-game winning streak. Indeed, the visitor struggled to generate good chances in the final stanza, with the home team looking more likely to extend its lead.

Olson double paces Admiral win

Barys Astana 2 Admiral Vladivostok 6 (1-1, 0-2, 1-3)

The Sailors celebrated a repeat of the 6-2 scoreline over Barys on home ice last week, closing the gap at the foot of the Eastern Conference to just three points with two games to play.

Kyle Olson led the way with two goals, while Dmitry Timashev and Yegor Chesganov scored on Barys for the second time in four days.

Yet things started well enough for the Kazakhs. Tyce Thompson, who potted the gamewinner when these two met on March 12, opened the scoring in the fifth minute. And the home team generally had the better of the first period, only to allow Olson a tying goal as the intermission approached.

And Admiral got off to a better start in the second, taking the lead through Nikita Yefremov seconds after its first power play of the night came to an end. The Sailors had another unsuccessful power play, but increased the advantage after 28 minutes when Nikita Soshnikov’s deflected effort from a dead angle was judged to have crossed the line.

The third period saw Olson on target again before Chesganov made it 5-1. Alikhan Asetov got a consolation marker for Barys, but Timashev’s empty-netter was the final word.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 6 (0-2, 2-2, 1-2)

A high-scoring win for Neftekhimik means Torpedo can now finish no higher than fifth in the Western Conference. The home team suffered a third successive loss after falling 0-3 behind here.

Nikita Artamonov, who returned to Nizhnekamsk from Torpedo during this season, led the way with 3 (1+2) points in the game. Another former Torpedo forward, Damir Zhafyarov, was also on target.

The visitor got in front early thanks to a goal from Nikita Popugayev. But Neftekhimik really took control either side of the first intermission. Matvei Nadvorny doubled the lead before the break, then Artamonov struck at the start of the second period.

A power play goal from leading scorer Yegor Vinogradov gave Torpedo hope midway through the session. Three minutes later, Nikita Shavin made it 2-3. But Torpedo’s fightback was undone right before the intermission saw Artamonov assist a Zhafyarov goal.

That wasn’t quite the end of the contest. Vladimir Tkachyov made it a one-goal game once again in the 45th minute and Torpedo had time and chances to salvage something. However, when Nikita Khoruzhev made it 5-3 with five minutes to play, there was no way back. Andrei Belozyorov finished the job with an empty-netter, Neftekhimik celebrated a third successive win.

Dynamo edges Moscow derby

Spartak Moscow 3 Dynamo Moscow 4 SO (0-1, 3-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)

The final edition of the derby series between these teams produced an entertaining game in Moscow. The lead changed hands before a 14-shot shoot-out ended with Semyon Der-Arguchintsev giving the Dynamo the win.

That’s a fourth win in six games against Spartak for the Blue-and-Whites this season, and Vyacheslav Kozlov’s team still has a a shot at pipping CSKA to fourth place in the Western Conference. Spartak remains eighth in the standings.

In the first period, Dynamo got the only goal. It went to Dylan Sikura on his team’s first power play of the night in the 15th minute. The Canadian turned smartly to fire home Jordan Weal’s feed, finding the net for the third game out of four.

Spartak drew level after the intermission. The home team won a faceoff and the puck went to German Rubtsov on the blue line. His shot was pushed away by Vladislav Podyapolsky, but Alexander Belyayev was first to the rebound.

Belyayev was instrumental in the go-ahead goal as well, sending Yegor Filin down the left-hand boards. Filin, in turn, set up Rubtsov, who skated to the net and made it 2-1.

The reply came from Daniil Pylenkov, who became Dynamo’s top-scoring defenseman in a regular season campaign at the start of the month. His goal midway through the second period extends his current hot streak to four games.

But another defenseman, Daniil Orlov, restored Spartak’s lead before the intermission when he fired through traffic from the top of the right-hand circle.
Spartak could not close out the win, though. In the third period, the Red-and-Whites failed to convert a power play then immediately allowed a tying goal.

Sikura got his second of the game, collecting a fine pass from Weal and skating through to beat Artyom Zagidulin in the 47th minute. The home team, which was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1976 Soviet Championship win today, almost snatched a winner late on, but Podyapolsky pulled off a great save to deny Belyayev in the 59th minute.

The extras saw Sikura hit the post for Dynamo before Spartak got a power play chance when Weal went to the box. However, a minute with an extra man was not enough and the game went to a shoot-out.

Ak Bars’ winning run halted in Cherepovets

Severstal Cherepovets 4 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (3-0, 1-1, 0-1)

Three unanswered goals in the first period lifted Severstal past Ak Bars. The result ensures the top four places in the Eastern Conference are now locked, with the Kazan club no longer able to catch second-placed Avangard. Metallurg is the runaway leader, and Avtomobilist will finish fourth.

In the west, Severstal returned to second place, but third-placed Dinamo Minsk has a game in end.

Three goals in four minutes effectively settled this game. Nikita Kamalov broke the deadlock in the 15th minute, Danil Veryayev extended the lead and Vladimir Grudinin made it 3-0 on 18:11.

After that, the intensity dropped a little. Ak Bars pulled a goal back through Ansel Galimov in the middle frame, but Alexander Skorenov made it 4-1 just before the second intermission.

Midway through the third period, Alexei Pustozyorov made it 2-4. That was the end of the scoring as Ak Bars saw a three-game winning run come to an end.