Volga Arena parties as Torpedo wins home opener. September 14 round-up

Torpedo celebrated life in its new Volga Arena with a win over Ak Bars. The result lives Alexei Isakov’s team into the top four, level on eight points with Lokomotiv and SKA. Lada got its first win of the season, defeating Dinamo Minsk 4-2. Dynamo Moscow added to Severstal’s troubles, claiming a 2-0 verdict in Cherepovets.

First win for Lada, Minsk’s wait goes on

Lada Togliatti 4 Dinamo Minsk 2 (0-0, 1-0, 3-2)

Two goals from Riley Sawchuk settled that clash of two winless teams in Lada’s favor. He claimed the opener and the game-winner in a 4-2 success on home ice for the Motormen.

For the Belarusians, it was a fourth loss of the season – and the first in regulation time after forcing ties through 60 minutes in its previous three games. Head coach Sergei Brylin reshaped all his offensive lines, with Vladimir Alistrov promoted to the first. He also changed up his defensive pairings, separating Brady Lyle and Xavier Ouellet.

After a 2-7 loss in its first home game, Lada began cautiously here. Dinamo had more possession but could not find a way past Nikita Podskrebalin. Lada’s first and best chance of the opening frame went to Ivan Zinchenko, who raced clear of the defense, saw Zach Fucale save his first shot and put the rebound against the post.

In the second period, Lada got its first power play of the night and took advantage: Sawchuk’s one-timer caught Fucale on the wrong foot. That injected some confidence into Lada’s play, but Dinamo defended well. Late in the frame, the visitor thought it had tied the scores, but a bench challenge saw the goal called back for interference on Podskrebalin.

Down by one going into the third, Brylin assembled an import line with Nicolas Aube-Kubel joining Chris Tierney and Sam Anas. The game was combative, and emotions spilled over in the 50th minute when Arsen Taymazov started a fight with Dinamo’s Sergei Kuznetsov. While they sat out their major penalties, Minsk was assessed a bench minor and Nikita Setdikov converted the power play to double the lead.

The visitor had a chance to fight back when it got on the power play, and with more than five to play Brylin called Fucale to the bench and went six-on-four. However, that presented Sawchuk with his second of the night to make it 3-0 before Kuznetsov finally pulled one back.

Another goal, credited to Mason Millman but scored when Kuznetsov’s misplaced pass found his own empty net, made the game safe for Lada; Anas got a late consolation but the game was done.

Dynamo downs goal-shy Severstal

Severstal Cherepovets 0 Dynamo Moscow 2 (0-1, 0-1, 0-0)

Improving Dynamo made it three straight wins, while Severstal failed to score for the second game in a row. After an 8-0 hammering at Spartak, Andrei Kozyrev made changes. The big news was Ruslan Abrosimov, last season’s top scorer, appearing for the first time this season.

But Severstal is struggling for goals this term, having lost Mikhail Ilyin and Danil Aimurzin, second and fourth in team scoring last season. Despite Abrosimov’s return, and a first game of the season for Daniil Veryayev, the Lynx could not find a way past visiting goalie Vladislav Podyapolsky and now has just four goals in five games.

The Muscovites made a good start and took the lead in the fourth minute. Severstal’s defense got tied up behind its net, the puck went to Nick Merkley and his feed was rifled home by defenseman Daniil Pylenkov from the top of the left-hand circle.

That was the only goal of the first period. Dynamo’s defense worked hard to protect Podyapolsky, blocking nine shots in the opening frame alone, and 21 over the course of the game.

The second period brought another quick strike for Dynamo, this time on the power play. Dylan Sikura, who had an assist on the opener, collected a pass from Pylenkov and fired in his first goal of the season from long range. After that, Severstal struggled to get the same kind of control it enjoyed in the first period, while the visitor dealt with an underpowered home offense.

And that was largely the story of the third as well. Ilyin and Aimurzin contributed 87 points last season, and their absence has not yet been filled. It all helped secure Dynamo’s first regulation-time win of the season.

Housewarming win as Torpedo opens Volga Arena

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (2-1, 1-0, 0-1)

Today’s game marked the culmination of a 15-year dream to build a new arena for Torpedo. The 12,000-seater Volga Arena hosted its first KHL game, and the home team produced a perfect housewarming party beside the river.

But Torpedo had to endure a little jeopardy on the way to an opening-night win, falling behind early on then seeing a last minute goal whistled off when Ak Bars thought it had tied the game.

The first goal at Nizhny Novgorod’s new venue went to Ak Bars in the second minute of the game. Andrei Stas won a face-off on the left, Nikita Dynyak pushed the puck towards Dmitry Katelevsky, and he unloaded a powerful shot to the corner of Denis Kostin’s net.

It didn’t take long for things to turn around. Midway through the first period, Daniil Seroukh wrote his name in Torpedo’s history with the tying goal – his team’s first in its new home. Yegor Vinogradov set him up in the center of the zone, and a low shot beat Timur Bilyalov to tie the game.

And there was more to come in the 16th minute when Igor Geraskin put Torpedo in front. This was a great individual effort, moving off the right-hand boards into a central position before catching out Bilyalov with a wrister.

At the start of the second period, Ak Bars ran into penalty trouble and Torpedo converted its second power play of the game. Vinogradov was involved again, retrieving play from behind the net for Mikhail Vorobyov to drill the puck across the net front where Vladimir Tkachyov was waiting to bang it in.

By the midway stage, Torpedo had a 21-8 lead on the shot count and was good value for its 3-1 scoreline. After that, Ak Bars came into the game more, helped by a couple of power plays in the middle frame.

But it wasn’t until the third period, and a third PP for the visitor, that Ak Bars found a way to reduce the deficit. Sergei Goncharuk’s high stick was punished when Yegor Sokolov got it back to 2-3 in the 47th minute.

That set up a lively finish. Ak Bars tried to force the pace as it sought an equalizer, but Torpedo was keen to look for chances to finish the job on the counter.

And there was last-minute drama when Artyom Galimov stuffed home the puck from close range after Kostin failed to hold a point shot. However, the officials called for a review and found that Alexei Byvaltsev impeded the home goalie, and the goal was disallowed.