Double delight for Far Eastern hosts. September 19 round-up

There were shut-out wins for both of the KHL’s Easternmost teams in Saturday’s play. Amur’s home opener brought an emphatic 4-0 success against Dynamo Moscow, while goalshy Severstal failed to score for the third game in a row, falling 0-2 at Admiral.

Tigers maul Muscovites

Amur Khabarovsk 4 Dynamo Moscow 0 (2-0, 0-0, 2-0)

The home opener in Khabarovsk brought a great result for Amur, dominating Dynamo in a 4-0 victory. Artyom Shvaryov led the way, scoring twice at the end of the first period. That built a lead that Dynamo never seriously threatened as Maxim Dorozhko secured his first shut-out of the season.

The visitor will point to a 16th-minute decision as the turning point. Dynamo thought it had the lead, but Magomed Sharakanov’s breakaway goal was disallowed due to Nick Merkley’s aggressive hit on Yaroslav Likhachyov. To make matters worse, a review then assessed the forward a major penalty.

Amur too full advantage of the reprieve, scoring twice during that five-minute power play. Shvaryov got them both. First, he banged in Alexander Filatyev’s feed at the back door, then he potted the rebound after Oleg Li’s attempt to grab a wraparound tally.

Li added to his pair of first period assists with a goal in the 48th minute as Amur made the game safe. And a power play marker from Vitaly Abramov soon after made the final score 4-0.

Goalshy Severstal fires blanks again

Admiral Vladivostok 2 Severstal Cherepovets 0 (0-0, 1-0, 1-0)

A shut-out for Nikita Boyarkin on his home debut for Admiral left Severstal’s misfiring offense without reward for the third game in a row. After a 0-8 loss to Spartak and a 0-2 reverse at Dynamo, the Lynx remain on just four goals in six games – the lowest return in the KHL.

Admiral, meanwhile, claimed its second win of the season and its first on home ice.

Severstal made a lively start. In the first period, the pressure was very much on Nikita Boyarkin in his home debut for Admiral. The visitor led the shot count 10-5, Admiral had to kill Mikhail Grass’s minor penalty, but the game was scoreless at the intermission.

In the middle stanza, the Sailors managed to even up the balance of play. Ivan Yanchenko, who scored his first KHL goal in Thursday’s loss to Dynamo, kept up his streak with the opener after 37 minutes. Another Admiral prospect, Oskar Bulavchuk, set off on a counter down the right wing and dished off a pass that sent 22-year-old Yanchenko through on goal to beat Boyarkin.

Once in front, Admiral staged a defensive masterclass. In the third period, despite Severstal’s dominance of possession, the home team limited the Lynx to just six shots on goal. The defense blocked 13 efforts as Andrei Kozyrev’s team continues to struggle with scoring. It ended with a shut-out for Boyarkin, a third successive blank for Severstal and an empty-net goal from Grass to seal the win.