Goals and tight battles. October 3 round-up

Saturday’s key word? Competitive. Three games went to overtime – one after a pulsating 5-5 tie in regulation – and Dinamo Minsk edged a seven-goal battle against Lokomotiv. The only one-sided game of the day came in Sochi, where Nikita Gusev’s debut ended in a heavy loss to Torpedo.

Shoot-out settles Petersburg thriller

SKA St. Petersburg 6 Admiral Vladivostok 5 SO (1-2, 3-1, 1-2, 0-0, 1-0)

This game had it all. Goals, a lead that changed hands repeatedly, and finally a shoot-out win for the home team, thanks to Artemy Pleshkov keeping his net intact. At the other end, Danil Aimurzin and Matvei Korotky were on target to win it for SKA.

Admiral was the clear outsider ahead of Saturday’s game. SKA’s 5-6 loss to CSKA last time ended a four-game winning streak, while the Sailors had just a shoot-out success at Severstal to celebrate from its last four games.

But the visitor was never overawed. Vladislav Tsitsyura needed just 23 seconds to stun the home team with an opening goal, and even after Vasily Glotov’s leveller, Admiral continued to push. Late in the first, Anthony Camara made it 2-1, shooting home low from the left-hand circle.

The SKA power play made the difference in the second, though. Sergei Plotnikov tied it up again after Nikita Yefremov sat for a cross check. Kyle Olson produced a lovely play to create the 3-2 goal for Dmitry Zavgorodny, but another PP saw Nikolai Goldobin haul the host back level.

And Goldobin’s red hot start to the season continued with a second goal in the 34th minute, giving SKA its first lead of the game. Plotnikov found him on the slot, where he rounded Nikita Boyarkin and squeezed home a shot even as he fell to the ice.

SKA held that lead to the intermission, and seemed to have the game under control. The home team had more possession in the middle frame and generated more scoring chances.

But Admiral was going nowhere. Ivan Yanchenko made it 4-4 early in the third, and even after Plotnikov claimed his second of the night, Camara dragged us to overtime with a 57th-minute marker, scoring with a wrister that clipped the underside of the bar on its way past Pleshkov.

Admiral went on to dominate overtime, but could not press home that advantage. And in the shoot-out the Sailors were unable to score as SKA claimed the verdict in a pulsating battle.

Letunov hat-trick not enough for Dynamo

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

Famously, the formbook goes out of the window in local derbies. All the pre-game indicators pointed to a comfortable CSKA win. Igor Nikitin’s team was on a seven-game hot streak and, unusually for a notoriously cautious head coach, it led the Western Conference in scoring with 37 goals.

Dynamo, meanwhile, was stuttering. Just one win in six, and that in overtime against Dinamo Minsk. The only teams to allow more goals in the West currently lie outside the playoff spots. A betting man would have this as a home banker.

Our gambler may not have lost his shirt on that bet, but he could hardly have felt that those winnings were easy money after the home team edged a shoot-out verdict. Dynamo gave CSKA a real battle, with Maxim Letunov’s hat-trick of power play goals earning a deserved tie through 60 minutes.

From the opening face-off, the Blue-and-Whites dictated the play. And when they got the first PP of the game, Letunov converted it into a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. The former Torpedo man got the decisive touch as Daniil Pylenkov’s point shot flew though a crowded slot.

If there was a flaw in Dynamo’s start to the game, it was wayward finishing. The visitor outshot CSKA 12-3 in the opening frame, but instead of building on its lead it went to the intermission locked at 1-1. The host didn’t attack often, but when it did, it was effective. A well-worked play in the 18th minute saw Derek Barach’s pass send Dmitry Buchelnikov into the zone, where he got away from Sergeyev and outwitted goalie Maxim Motorygin.

In the second period, Dynamo got another power play and once again Letunov converted it. He had already gone close to redirecting a long-range effort in the manner of his opening goal, but the next play brought a reward when he got free at the back door to bang home Nick Merkley’s feed.

This time, CSKA reacted btter. Marat Khairullin added to his double against Dinamo Minsk with a tying effort, then Prokhor Poltapov put the home team ahead for the first time with a PP goal in the 36th minute.

But Letunov responded 11 seconds before the intermission with yrt another power play goal. This one owed more to the home defense, though: Nikolai Kovalenko attempted to clear th puck from the slot, but fired it straight at Nikita Nesterov and the deflection sent it into the net. Letunov was the last attacking player to touch it, so he was awarded the goal.

The third period was goalless, although CSKA had the better of the closing stages and looked the more likely winner. The home team also came close to scoring in overtime, but Dynamo held on and even mounted a late, albeit unsuccessful surge.

Then came the shoot-out, with Klim Kostin the only man on target as CSKA claimed local bragging rights and an eighth straight win.

Kvotchko halts Dragon’s run

Severstal Cherepovets 2 Shanghai Dragons 1 OT (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)

The Dragons’ four-game hot streak came to an end in Cherepovets, where Severstal took an overtime verdict.

The win moved the Lynx up to sixth, just one point behind the Dragons.

Severstal enjoyed early pressure, and got on a power play in the second minute. That came to nothing, but the opening goal was not long in coming. Alexander Skorenov made it 1-0 after six minutes, and that separated the teams at the intermission.

If the home team shaded the opening session, Shanghai hit back in the second. The visitor had much the better of the play, and Riley Sutter continued his great start to the season with a power play goal to tie it up in the 25th minute. Sutter is on a five-game productive streak after two assists in his belated debut this season on Sep. 22. Today was the third game in a row in which the Canadian has scored, moving him to 7 (4+3) points on that run.

Severstal managed to even up the play in the third period, but neither team could find a winning goal. Instead, it went to overtime before Ilya Kvotcho’s second of the season proved decisive.

Kvartalnov beaten on Minsk return

Dinamo Minsk 4 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 (0-1, 3-1, 1-1)

There was no happy return to Minsk for Dmitry Kvartalnov. Lokomotiv’s head coach spent the past two seasons in Belarus, but was unable to overcome his previous employer in Saturday’s game.

The defending champion led twice here, but lost control in the middle frame and never recovered.

There wasn’t much wrong with Loko’s first period: the Railwaymen outshot Dinamo 11-4 and got a deserved lead late on through Artur Kayumov’s first goal since his return from injury on Wednesday. During a four-on-four passage, he redirected Nikita Cherepanov’s point shot beyond Vasily Demchenko.

Dinamo quickly tied it up with a power play tally of its own in the second. Daniil Sotishvili hit the target. Andrei Pustovoi restored the Loko lead, but in the second half of the frame, the Belarusians stepped it up. Sam Anas saw a goal called back on a coach’s challenge, then the American forward hit the crossbar. The penalties continued, and Sergei Kuznetsov rattled Daniil Isayev’s helmet from close range.

The lead looked ever more precarious, and Sotishvili tied the game for the second time in the 34th minute. Then came a PP goal for Stanislav Galiyev, putting Minsk up at the second intermission.

Galiyev’s second of the night brought some breathing space for the home team after 45 minutes. And that proved crucial: Lokomotiv raised a storm in the closing stages and Alexander Radulov grabbed a last-minute goal to keep the tension sky-high until the very end.

Gusev silenced as Torpedo runs riot

HC Sochi 0 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 6 (0-3, 0-0, 0-3)

The stage was set for Nikita Gusev to write tonight’s script. Sochi’s new signing, the most expensive player in the club’s history, was set for his debut following his arrival during the week.

Instead, the 2018 Olympic Champion was overshadowed by the opposition as Torpedo stormed to an emphatic win.

The game was 90 seconds old when Pavel Kraskovsky put the visitor ahead, and that lead was never seriously tested. Mikhail Vorobyov’s shorthanded tally doubled the advantage, with Daniil Seroukh getting an assist on his return to his former club. Michael Vecchione made it 3-0 before the intermission as Sochi suffered.

Vecchione was involved in the main incident of the second period, getting into a fight with home forward Ilya Fedotov – once of Torpedo – at the midway point.

What of Gusev? Well, he had 20 minutes on the ice, and banged in six shots at Dmitry Shugayev without finding a way through.

The visiting offense had no such difficulties. The final stanza brought three more unanswered goals: Amir Garayev and Matvei Polyakov sandwiched Vorobyov’s second of the night.