Goals for Severstal, Hayes leaves Ak Bars. September 21 round-up

Severstal doubled its goal tally for the season in one night, ending a 238-minute drought with a 4-1 win at Amur. Andrei Kozyrev’s team previously had just four goals from its first six games. CSKA began its Far East tour with a shoot-out win at Admiral in Monday’s other early. There was big news from Kazan, where summer signing Kevin Hayes announced his retirement hours before Ak Bars faced Lada. In the absence of the American forward, Ak Bars needed overtime to beat the struggling Motormen.

Severstal on the goal trail at last

Amur Khabarovsk 1 Severstal Cherepovets 4 (0-1, 1-1, 0-2)

Severstal found the net at last and snapped a run of four straight losses. The last three of those came with Andrei Kozyrev’s men failing to score a goal, and the drought extended a full 238 minutes before the team got on target in Khabarovsk.

Amur came into the game buoyed by a 4-0 win over Dynamo Moscow. However, goalie Maxim Dorozhko was surprisingly absent from today’s team, replaced by Alexander Trushkov. Severstal continued to shuffle its attacking options in search of a winning formula: Kirill Tankov and Ilya Reingardt were back on today’s team.

The visitor’s long-awaited breakthrough came on 17:17 of the first period. Ilya Ivantsov’s well-placed shot from the circle snapped the dry spell and opened the scoring in today’s game.

Throughout the first period, Amur’s players were uncharacteristically sloppy in possession. Another turnover at the start of the second led to another goal: Timofei Davydov claimed a loose clearance on the blue line, Alexander Skorenov potted the rebound from his angled shot. The Tigers responded quickly through Vasily Machulin, with 17-year-old Yaroslav Dyominsky’s assist bringing his first point in the KHL. It remained 2-1 at the second intermission, although Yaroslav Likhachyov missed a great chance to tie it up just before the break.

The game-breaking goal arrived in the 55th minute. Nikita Popugayev, playing only his second game since joining Severstal from Shanghai Dragons, squeezed a shot over the line; it took a video review to confirm the goal. And Denis Yan completed the win with an empty-netter: four goals in one game for a Severstal team that had managed just four in its previous six games.

Admiral Vladivostok 3 CSKA Moscow 4 SO (0-1, 2-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

At the start of its Far East tour, CSKA recorded a third straight win – but only after a battle with Admiral.

The home team was unchanged from its 2-0 victory over Severstal, while visiting head coach Igor Nikitin continued with his usual rotation despite back-to-back wins at Sochi and Torpedo. Dmitry Gamzin got the start in goal, 19-year-old Ivan Yukin was seventh defenseman, and Klim Kostin was elevated to the first line. That prompted moves for Prokhor Poltapov and Derek Barach, who dropped to the third and fourth lines respectively.

The second line was the only one left untouched and it opened the scoring on 12 minutes when Denis Guryanov got a touch on Nikita Nesterov’s point shot. That was the only goal of an evenly-matched first period.

However, Admiral turned things around in the second. Dmitry Mukhtarov tied the game with his first KHL goal, then after a fight between Kostin and Konstantin Luchevnikov put the home team on the power play, Yegor Chesganov made it 2-1. When Kostin returned to the game, the young forward tied the game at twos, with Yukin collecting an assist as the teams went into the third level.

And Kostin thought he had grabbed a winning goal in the 58th minute when Pavel Karnaukhov set him up in the slot. Admiral responded by replacing Nikita Boyarkin with a sixth skater, and Anthony Camara grabbed a tying goal off a similar play to Kostin’s.

Neither team could win in it overtime, and the shoot-out saw just one successful attempt from Marat Khairullin to win it for CSKA.

Byvaltsev edges Ak Bars past Lada

Ak Bars Kazan 3 Lada Togliatti 2 OT (1-1, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0)

Alexei Byvaltsev’s first goal of the season secured an overtime win for Ak Bars against a battling Lada. The visitor suffered a sixth loss in seven games, but picked up a bonus point for the third time this season.

The big news pre-game was Kevin Hayes’ retirement. The American forward, who moved to Kazan in the summer, played just five games in the KHL before deciding enough was enough. In a statement released Monday afternoon, the 34-year-old winger said that his body would no longer allow him to play at his best.

“I cannot accept not being in top form,” he added.

In Hayes’ absence, Ak Bars struggled early in the game. The home team killed the first power play but Lada continued to press and opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Nikolai Makarov’s shot through traffic tested Timur Bilyalov, Evgeny Groshev was alert to the rebound and scored from the slot.

Anvar Gatiyatulin’s team got back into the game thanks to a five-on-three power play, with Makarov one of the penalized Lada players. Grigory Denisenko was the scorer after Semyon Terekhov’s point shot rattled around in front of Andrei Mishurov’s net. After that, the game was more even and the teams were tied at the intermission.

Lada began the second period on the power play but could not capitalize. Instead, Ak Bars went ahead a minute after Yegor Sokolov returned to the game. Albert Yarullin forced a turnover and spread the puck to Alexander Chmelevski on the left wing. He American forward advanced to set up Dmitry Katelevsky for a goalbound shot from the circle, making it 2-1.

Subsequently, Bilyalov came to the fore. The home goalie made 14 saves in the second, the best of which denied Ben King after Rasim Shakirov found a defense-splitting pass in the 26th minute.

But the lead lasted just nine seconds into the third period. Mitch Miller was caught in possession in center ice and Nikita Setdikov did superbly to steal the puck and release Nikita Mikhailov for a wrister that gave Bilyalov no chance.

Both teams had chances to win it after that, with Raul Yakupov perhaps closest to securing a home victory in regulation. However, it wasn’t until the 62nd minute that Byvaltsev finished the job, scoring from close range after brilliant set-up play by Nikita Lyamkin.