Summer’s last action starts in Moscow, Petersburg

The last two tournaments of the summer got underway on Thursday, with SKA edging a shoot-out verdict against Barys in the Puchkov Tournament while CSKA enjoyed a derby win over Spartak at the Mayor of Moscow Cup. Elsewhere, Avangard lost on home ice again in the Blinov Cup and Salavat Yulaev took an 11-goal thriller against Lada in Magnitogorsk.

Mayor of Moscow Cup

Ak Bars Kazan 1 Dinamo Minsk 2 (1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

Dinamo Minsk edged a narrow victory in the opening game of the Mayor of Moscow Cup. There was little between the teams throughout, but Daniil Lipsky’s goal at the start of the third snapped a 1-1 tie and proved sufficient to sink Ak Bars.

The Bison once again named youngster Arseny Chukhrayev on their top line alongside Sam Anas and Chris Tierney, but Sergei Brylin is still awaiting the arrival of Nicholas Aube-Kubel.

Long-server Dinamo forward Andrei Stas moved to Ak Bars in the summer and was named against his former club today, but Grigory Denisenko was absent, as was high-profile signing Kevin Hayes.

An early power play saw Anas opened the scoring after six minutes. However, an Ak Bars PP brought a tying goal 10 minutes later when Artyom Galimov beat Zach Fucale.

In a goalless second period, Ak Bars struggled to get the puck away from its net until midway through the session. But Dinamo could not gain a reward for its pressure, and after Kazan improved there were few scoring chances to be found.

But it took barely a minute for Dinamo to regain the lead in the third – and this time, Lipsky’s goal proved to be the winner. Ak Bars goalie Maxim Arefyev was screened by his own defensemen and failed to react to a point shot from the Minsk forward. After that, most of the play was around Fucale’s net as the Tatars struggled to save the game. But the Belarusians held on to take the verdict.

CSKA Moscow 4 Spartak Moscow 0 (1-0, 1-0, 2-0)

Three goals from deflections earned CSKA a 4-0 win over Moscow rival Spartak. The Red-and-White defense had a miserable evening as attempted feeds to the slot repeatedly bounced past Ivan Fedotov off his own team-mates.

CSKA got down to business quickly. A spell of pressure on brought the opening goal in the second minute. Maxim Mamin got the puck to the end boards and tried to fire it back to the slot, getting lucky when it bounced off Will Reilly and into the net.

Spartak created chances to tie the game, but it remained 1-0 at the first intermission. Then the second period produced a similar outcome. This time Marat Khairullin scored the only goal off the session and, again, the Red-and-Whites were undone by a deflection. Khairullin, who joined from SKA over the summer, was looking for a feed to the back door but Veniamin Korolyov unwittingly steered the puck past Fedotov.

And at the start of the third, CSKA added another goal – this time without help from a deflection. A power play for Igor Nikitin’s men saw Maxim Sorkin bury a one-timer in the 43rd minute.

But on a day dominated by deflections, Spartak was undone once again when Ivan Drozdov fired the puck from behind the net and the luckless Andrei Mironov put it in his own net to make it 4-0. In the closing stages, there was something for the Red-and-Whites to cheer when Mikhail Guryanov’s goal was called back following Alexei Zhamnov’s bench challenge. But that was far too late to affect the outcome as CSKA eased to a convincing win.

Puchkov Tournament

SKA-VMF (VHL) 1 Admiral Vladivostok 2 (0-1, 0-0, 1-1)

Admiral opened Petersburg’s summer tournament with a win, seeing off SKA’s farm-club in a clash of two crews of sailors.

But the KHL team had a battle to subdue opposition from a lower league, eventually claiming a one-goal verdict in a low scoring game.

Mikhail Grass gave Admiral an ideal start, opening the scoring after six minutes. The 22-year-old forward, who was traded to Vladivostok by Metallurg in the summer, has limited KHL experience. But the powerfully-built forward has done well this summer, scoring three goals in two games to help the Sailors win the Minsk Cup.

That fast start did not help Admiral seize control of the game. SKA-VMF, revelling in a rare chance to play top-flight opposition at the SKA Arena, battled hard in search of a tying goal and Grass’s tally was the only score until the 56th minute. Then Danila Moiseyev jumped out of the box to set up Ivan Muranov for Admiral’s second goal. There was still time for Maxim Kazakov to pull a goal back, but the KHLers defended the remaining 90 seconds to take the win.

SKA St. Petersburg 2 Barys Astana 1 SO (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)

It took a shoot-out for SKA to open its home tournament with victory over Barys.

Zakhar Bardakov, back at SKA after season with Colorado in the NHL, made an instant impact. However, picking up a minor penalty just 23 seconds into his return probably wasn’t the start the 25-year-old hoped for as he joined Linus Weissback and Vasily Glotov on the top line.

Elsewhere, Igor Larionov rested several experienced players, including last season’s captain Sergei Plotnikov and Valentin Zykov, Andrei Pedan, Nikita Zaitsev, Nikolai Goldobin and Rocco Grimaldi.

In opposition, Barys was close to full strength. Only Alikhan Asetov and Maseon Morelli missed out. Although Mikhail Kravets’ team couldn’t match SKA for technique, it could give a full-hearted battle. That effort helped ensure the first period ended goalless.

It wasn’t until the 28th minute that SKA broke the deadlock, cashing in on a misunderstanding between Logan Day and Jake Massie for Matvei Korotky to open the scoring. Once in front, the host continued with its passing game but struggled to get good looks at Hunter Shepherd’s net.

Instead, Barys got the next goal when Vsevolod Logvin converted a two-on-one rush with four minutes to play. At the other end, Korotky was almost gifted a second goal in the closing stages, but the post denied the young forward after another defensive mix-up.
That sent the game to overtime before Weissback settled the shoot-out in SKA’s favor.

Romazan Memorial

Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Amur Khabarovsk 2 SO (0-1, 2-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)

Day three of the tournament began with a meeting between two teams awaiting their first win of the tournament. Traktor suffered a 2-4 loss to Salavat Yulaev before falling 3-1 to Metallurg, while Amur suffered an OT reverse against Magnitka and lost 1-3 to Lada.

In the first period, the Tigers edged in front. After killing a penalty, Amur opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Vitaly Abramov surged down the left and pulled the defense out of position before setting up Kirill Pilipenko.

Traktor tied it up at the start of the second period through defenseman Ivan Vydrenkov. The former SKA man beat Maxim Dorozhko from long range, then struck again late in the frame with an effort from the top of the right-hand circle. Vydrenkov’s efforts turned the game around and Traktor let 2-1 at the second break.

Midway through the third, Amur tied things up on the power play. Pilipenko set up Yaroslav Likhachyov, who got the puck to the slot for Abramov to steer it in. That line could be a productive one for the Tigers this season, but it could not produce victory in this game. It went to a shoot-out before Stepan Gorbunov won it for Traktor.

Lada Togliatti 5 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 6 OT (2-1, 2-1, 1-3, 0-1)

A barn-burner of a game finished with Salavat Yulaev snapping a 5-5 tie in overtime. Lada never trailed in regulation, and led 3-1 and 4-2, but could not see it through and lost out to Jack Rodewald’s power play goal on 61:10.

The first two periods belonged to the Motormen. Rodewald cancelled out Ivan Savchik’s early opener, but Artyom Karpov ensured that Lada took a lead into the intermission.

The second period saw that lead extended to 4-2, with Ben King and Riley Sawchuk on target either side of a Sheldon Rempal goal for Ufa.

But at the start of the third, Salavat Yulaev turned things around with two quick goals. Devin Brosseau pulled one back on a power play, then Mason Millman went to the box and Rempal pounced to make it 4-4 on 41:55. Lada regained the lead two minutes later through Konstantin Ryzhov, but could not hold on. In a dramatic finale, Maxim Kuznetsov grabbed a short-handed equalizer with 98 seconds to play. Then Savchik was assessed a tripping minor seconds before the hooter, and the Ufa power play got the decider to make it two wins from two games.

Blinov Cup

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 5 Sibir Novosibirsk 2

Evgeny Kuznetsov centered Sibir’s top line for game two of its Blinov Cup campaign – but the Siberians suffered a loss by the same 5-2 scoreline with which they beat Avangard yesterday.

Lokomotiv, which defeated Neftekhimik with a youthful roster yesterday, brought back goalie Daniil Isayev, captain Alexander Radulov and experienced defensemen Rushan Rafikov and Andrei Sergeyev. Between them, they finished with four goals and five assists.

After a goalless first period, Lokomotiv got in front on a power play goal from Radulov when he pounced on a rebound to beat Mikhail Berdin. Six minutes later, another power play brought another goal for Radulov. Sibir got one back through Semyon Koshelev – assisted by Kuznetsov – before Sergeyev made it 3-1 with yet another PP goal seconds into the final frame.

Then it was Rafikov’s turn to mark his first game of the tournament with a goal, making it 4-1 midway through the third period. Young Andrei Pustovoi made it 5-1, scoring the game’s only equal-strength goal on 56:46. In the closing seconds, Anton Kosolapov scored on the power play, giving Sibir a late consolation.

Avangard Omsk 2 Severstal Cherepovets 3 (0-0, 2-1, 0-2)

Host club Avangard blew a 2-0 lead and fell to a second loss at the Blinov Cup as Severstal rallied to start its campaign with a win.

Andrei Kozyrev named a strong team for the visitor, while Avangard made two changes from the team that lost its opener 2-5 to Sibir. Ivan Prosvetov started in goal, while Pavel Leuka replaced Gleb Burlaka on the first line.

There were no goals in a lively first period, although Mike McLeod spurned a great breakaway chance for the Hawks and Nikita Artamonov fired wide of an open net at the other end.

Avangard got in front five minutes into the middle frame. Andrew Poturalski surged down the left, forced Alexander Samoilov to commit himself, and lifted the puck over the prone goalie. Then came a power play marker from Semyon Chistyakov to double the lead.

Severstal had a couple of power play chances of its own, but generated little. However, at equal strength Adam Liska skated away to pull a goal back before the intermission.

The Hawks missed chances to extend their lead early in the third. Yegor Afanasyev hit the post and the home team continued to press after that. But as the frame wore on, Severstal came into the game. Another fruitless power play came and went, but in the 53rd minute David Dumbadze tied the scores from the slot. The winner came with three minutes to play when Kirill Tankov scored on his former club.