CSKA wins thriller over SKA, Amur halts Neftekhimik’s surge. September 29 round-up

Two contrasting games on Tuesday in the KHL. CSKA and SKA shared 11 goals in Moscow before the home team took a 6-5 verdict and extended its hot streak to 6 games. Earlier, just one goal was enough for Amur to take the verdict over Neftekhimik. The visitor had 18 goals in its previous three games but could not beat Maxim Dorozhko.

Tigers silence Neftekhimik offense

Amur Khabarovsk 1 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

Kirill Pilipenko’s third-period goal and Maxim Dorozhko’s shut-out saw Amur snap Neftekhimik’s three-game winning streak. Dorozhko’s 25 saves blunted an in-form offense that had plundered 18 goals in its previous three games.

Visiting head coach Igor Grishin freshened up the team that won 5-3 at Admiral. Timur Khairullin and Timur Kol were added to the defense, while German Tochilkin returned to the attack.

Amur also made changes despite an impressive 3-1 win over Lokomotiv last time out. Experienced defenseman Slava Voynov returned to the team, with Artyom Shvaryov and Ivan Klimovich back on the forward lines. Homegrown talent Andrei Kraskovsky made his KHL debut.

Neftekhimik faced a long road trip on the way to this game, but showed little sign of weariness early on. Ivan Nikolishin had an early test for Dorozhko, while at the other end Vitaly Abramov drew a good save from Yaroslav Ozolin. The two goalies continued to be the key figures in the game as the game remained scoreless through two periods.

In the second period, both teams had power play chances. However, the closest we came to a goal was at equal strength when Amur’s Yegor Voronkov hit the post.

The Tigers got in front on 43:51. Pilipenko started the move with a great pass from behind the net. On the slot, Abramov stretched in a bid to force the puck home, but was squeezed out by the defense. However, as he fell, he managed to get the puck to the back door where Pilipenko was waiting to bang it in.

Neftekhimik had a chance to save the game late on when Shvaryov went to the box in the 55th minute, but Amur neutralized that advantage. And in the final moments, another home penalty saw the Wolves play six-on-four for the last 29 seconds, but Dorozhko held firm for his second shut-out of the season.

Karnaukhov’s hat-trick lifts CSKA to victory

CSKA Moscow 6 SKA St. Petersburg 5 (2-1, 3-2, 1-2)

Pavel Karnaukhov’s hat-trick was the highlight of a memorable game in Moscow. The CSKA captain led his team to a sixth successive victory in a barn-burner against SKA.

The visitor seemed to be done when CSKA went up 6-3 in the 45th minute, but roared back with two quick goals to make it 5-6 with 10 minutes to play. However, SKA could not complete the job and drops to third in the Western Conference behind today’s host.

Igor Nikitin recalled Nikolai Kovalenko and Dmitry Buchelnikov after the Muscovites returned home from a successful five-game trip. SKA was also in good form, completing a fourth straight win at Barys (5-3) in its previous outing. Rocco Grimaldi and Andrei Pedan replaced Valentin Zykov and Vladislav Syomin.

The tempo was lively from the off, and SKA got ahead on the first power play of the night when Vasily Atanasov struck after five minutes. It would be the only time the visitor would lead on the night, and the lead would not last long. Karnaukhov got his first of the game five minutes later when he reacted sharply to Nikita Nesterov’s point shot. The momentum swung to CSKA, and Nikolai Kovalenko made it 2-1 in the 14th minute.

At the start of the second, Atanasov’s second put SKA level, again on the power play. Kovalenko was the man in the box, and he returned after the goal and almost immediately restored the home lead. The goals kept coming. Grimaldi made it 3-3 before the midway point, but when Karnaukhov scored twice in the dying minutes of the middle frame, it seemed to have built a decisive advantage.

The advantage looked even more secure when a SKA power play failed at the start of the third. Sergei Plotnikov was close to scoring, but his shot rebounded off the piping. Worse followed for the visitor: Pedan’s error saw Dmitry Buchelnikov pad the lead to 6-3.

Then came a fightback. Nikita Dishkovsky and Vladislav Romanov hauled the visitor right back into contention. That set up a fiery finish, but SKA’s late surge came up short and CSKA held on for a spectacular win.