Trophies for Lokomotiv, SKA, Dynamo Moscow

The last three pre-season trophies were awarded on Sunday. First up, Lokomotiv clinched the Blinov Cup in Omsk after a shoot-out win over Severstal. Then SKA defeated its farm club to secure the Puchkov Trophy in St. Petersburg. Finally, Dynamo Moscow defeated Dinamo Minsk to lift the Mayor of Moscow Cup. 

Mayor of Moscow Cup

Gold-medal game

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

Dynamo Moscow took the trophy, defeating Dinamo Minsk in the gold-medal game of the new-look Mayor of Moscow Cup. The year’s eight-team format left teams with little margin for error on the road to the cup, and Leonids Tambijevs’ team found the necessary consistency to take the title.

Two goals in the eighth minute put the Muscovites in control of this game early on. First, Nick Merkley launched a counter attack down the right and dished off a perfect feed for Jordan Weal to beat Zak Fucale in the Minsk net.

Then, 39 seconds later, Dynamo converted a power play to double the lead. Yegor Rimashevsky fired in a shot from a dead angle and got the bounce off Fucale’s pad to add to the two goals he scored on Avtomobilist yesterday.

Late in the second period, the Muscovites added to their lead. Igor Martynov, who began his KHL career with Dinamo Minsk, is a new signing for Dynamo Moscow this summer. Here, he showed his ability to command the slot, getting to Andrei Nikonov’s feed ahead of the defense to make it 3-0.

The Belarusians responded at the start of the third period with a goal from Josh Brook. Sergei Kuznetsov did enough in front of the net to prevent Maxim Motorygin from freezing the puck, and Brook stepped into the right-hand circle to shoot home his team’s first of the game.

But that was not the start of a Minsk fightback. Dynamo protected its lead until the closing stages, then wrapped up the verdict with an empty-net goal from defenseman Sergei Zborovsky. The final minutes dissolved into a series of scuffles between disgruntled opponents as the siren sounded on a Muscovite summer success.

Bronze-medal game

CSKA Moscow 5 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (0-1, 3-1, 2-1)

CSKA secured third place in the Mayor of Moscow Cup after twice coming from behind against Avtomobilist.

In a cagey first period, CSKA had more of the play and outshot Avto 8-4. But the only goal went to the Motormen when two summer signings combined. Adam Ruzicka created the chance, Alexander Barabanov finished it off.

CSKA tied it up in the second period on a power play goal from Maxim Sorkin. But in the 36th minute another PP saw Avtomobilist regain the lead. Barabanov turned provider as Alexander Kadeikin made it 2-1.

CSKA’s response was quick: within two minutes Yegor Zamula put the teams back on level terms, then Nikolai Kovalenko put the Muscovites up 35 seconds before the intermission. Early in the third, Dmitry Buchelnikov made it 4-2 but the Motormen hit right back through Alexander Sharov. That made it a one-goal game with 14 minutes to play, but Avtomobilist could not complete its fightback. Instead, Kovalenko scored his second of the night into an empty net to seal the verdict.

Placement games

Earlier in the day, Ak Bars secured fifth place with a 4-0 win over Shanghai Dragons. Torpedo had an entertaining overtime win, 7-6, against Spartak, condemning the Red-and-Whites to last place.

Ak Bars Kazan 4 Shanghai Dragons 0 (1-0, 2-0, 1-0)

Goals: 1-0 Katelevsky (Yevseyev, Denisenko) 18:17 PP; 2-0 Denisenko (Yarullin, Terekhov) 36:35; 4-0 Denisenko (Byvaltsev) 37:15 SH; 4-0 Byvaltsev 53:21 SH, empty net.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 7 Spartak Moscow 6 OT (3-3, 2-1, 1-2, 1-0)

Goals: 0-1 Filin 2:34; 1-1 Vinogradov (Seroukh) 4:15; 2-1 Tkachyov 6:05; 2-2 Bychkov (Gutik) 15:58; 3-2 Vinogradov (Goncharuk) 19:05; 3-3 Galchenyuk (Pashin) 19:42; 4-3 Belevich (Goncharuk, Shavin) 22:43; 4-4 Pivchulin (Gutik, Keane) 23:56; 5-4 Fyodorov 31:07; 5-5 Kholodilin (Belyayev) 51:14; 6-5 Skvortsov (Vecchione) 52:25; 6-6 Petrov (Galchenyuk, Pashin) 56:49; 7-6 Kraskovsky (Vinogradov) 61:04. 

Puchkov Trophy

SKA St. Petersburg 3 SKA-VMF 1 (0-0, 2-0, 1-1)

A 3-1 victory over SKA’s farm club completed three wins from three for Igor Larionov’s men at their home tournament. SKA lifted the trophy ahead of KHL rivals Barys and Admiral, as well as SKA-VMF of Russia’s second-tier VHL championship.

Throughout the tournament, the VHLers have provided stern opposition for their KHL opponents and today was no exception. SKA struggled to break down a team comprised of its own reserve players, and VMF’s men did their prospects no harm at all in front of the organization’s senior coaching staff.

It took until the 34th minute for SKA to open the scoring and it was Swedish import Linus Weissbach who did the damage. The former Frolunda man was first to the rebound after Andrei Pedan’s point shot bounced free in front of the net.

Four minutes later a home power play saw SKA double its lead. Igor Larionov Jr and Vasily Atanasov combined for Daniil Miromanov to score and send the game into the intermission at 2-0.

That was enough to decide the outcome. VMF continued to battle, but never looked like recovering the deficit. The third period saw the teams trade goals: Nikita Zaitsev added a third for SKA (Atanasov again with an assist) before Matvei Kabush potted a consolation for the VHLers late on.

Barys Astana 6 Admiral Vladivostok 5 OT (2-2, 2-2, 1-1, 1-0)

A high-scoring game ended with Barys claiming second place in the tournament with an overtime verdict. American defenseman Chase Priskie got the decisive goal, snapping a 5-5 tie after just 26 seconds of the extras.

The Kazakhs made a fast start, with Dinmukhamed Kaiyrzhan opening the scoring inside three minutes. But the Sailors responded fast. Ivan Muranov tied it up on 5:17 and, 10 minutes later, Admiral got in front on a power play goal from Dmitry Zavgorodny. Semyon Simonov replied to make it 2-2 at the first intermission.

It turned into a game where the lead kept changing hands. The second period saw Barys down 2-3 then up 4-3 before Muranov’s second of the night tied it up 18 seconds before the break.

Anthony Camara had Admiral back in front early in the third, but that was as good as it got for the Sailors. Alikhan Omirbekov’s second of the game sent us to overtime, and Priskie settled it in the extras. 

Blinov Cup

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

An epic shoot-out featuring 22 attempts in total went Lokomotiv’s way to give the Railwaymen the title in Omsk.

Incredibly, 21 penalty shots were saved or missed before youngster Kirill Yemelyanov managed to beat Alexander Samoilov in the Severstal net and win the game for Loko. Alexei Melnichuk won 11 consecutive duels with the Severstal forwards to keep his goal intact.

Severstal, which won this tournament last summer, was in with a chance of defending its title. To do, it would need to beat Lokomotiv on Sunday and then win the final game of the competition against Sibir the following day.

Andrei Kozyrev’s team had the advantage of a rest day before this game and the head coach named a strong line-up. Lokomotiv, whose game against Avangard on Saturday went to a shoot-out, switched things up as Dmitry Kvartalnov rested several key players.

Despite that, Lokomotiv made the brighter start but failed to turn early pressure into goals. Instead, Severstal got in front in the 16th minute when Yegor Graf converted a five-on-three power play. Andrei Sergeyev soon tied it up for Loko.

Midway through the second period, the Severstal PP struck again with Semyon Kizimov making it 2-1. Lokomotiv replied at the start of the third thanks to Ilya Nikolayev and it finished 2-2 before that prolonged shoot-out.

Avangard Omsk 4 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 (3-1, 1-1, 0-1)

A second successive win for tournament host Avangard ensures the Hawks escape last place, leaving Neftekhimik at the foot of the standings.

The damage was done in the first period as Avangard moved into a 3-1 lead. Kirill Dolzhenkov opened the scoring after seven minutes, and 51 seconds later Josh Leivo doubled the advantage with a power play goal.

A rare spell of Neftekhimik possession brought a goal for Sevastyan Sokolov, but Andrew Poturalski added a third for the host before the intermission.

Poturalski was on target again in the middle frame, restoring that two-goal cushion after Wolves’ debutant Timur Kol found the net in the 25th minute. Early in the third, Neftekhimik scored again through Andrei Belozyorov’s power play effort. But there were no further goals as Avangard closed out the win.

Although Lokomotiv has already won the tournament, there is one more game tomorrow. Sibir faces Severstal with the winner taking second place in the standings.