Conference leaders maintain winning form. October 14 round-up

CSKA recorded its 11th successive win thanks to a 1-0 derby success over Dynamo. The Muscovites go two clear in the West, but remain three points behind Metallurg after Vladimir Vorobyov masterminded a 3-1 win at Dinamo Minsk.Spartak Moscow managed the almost impossible and scored a power play goal on Amur. That helped the Red-and-Whites to a 2-1 win in Khabarovsk. Sibir won 4-2 at Salavat Yulaev, repeating the scoreline from its previous visit to Ufa less than two weeks ago. Traktor scored three goals in the first four minutes to win 6-2 at Shanghai Dragons.

Amur pays the penalty at last

Amur Khabarovsk 1 Spartak Moscow 2 (1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

After 13 games without allowing a goal on the penalty kill, Amur finally saw an opponent score on the power play. Spartak’s tying goal in the first period came during a five-on-three passage, and represented only the second goal the Tigers’ PK has allowed this season.

It also paved the way for the Red-and-Whites to record a third straight victory, banishing memories of a recent six-game skid. Amur saw its four-game hot streak come to an end.

Spartak was lifted by two wins at Sochi and made a bright start here. Daniil Gutik should have opened the scoring early, but fired wide of an open net. Amur responded with a counterattack and Vitaly Abramov opened the goal.

However, the home team regularly took penalties in the first period and eventually that mighty penalty kill ran out of chances. Spartak got a tying goal – but at a cost: Dmitry Vishnevsky’s shot flew into the net via Alexander Belyayev’s face and the visiting forward went straight to the locker room. Happily, he was able to return to the game in the second period.

That middle frame saw the two goalies, Maxim Dorozhko and Ivan Fedotov, dominate the game. Spartak had the better of the early exchanges, but Amur got on top in the latter half of a scoreless period.

That pattern continued in the third: both teams had spells of pressure, but neither created clear-cut chances. It was only with five to play that the scoreline changed when Christian Jaros banged in a shot from the top of the right-hand circle. The Slovak defenseman marked his 200th KHL game with the winning goal, Daniil Pivchulin celebrated his 100th game with an assist, and Max Comtois’s helper brought up 100 points in the league. More importantly, they settled the outcome in Spartak’s favor.

Sibir repeats Ufa triumph

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 Sibir Novosibirsk 4 (2-1, 0-2, 0-1)

These teams met for the third time in less than two weeks – and continued a sequence of wins for the road team. Sibir produced a repeat of its 4-2 win in Ufa on Oct. 2, avenging on OT reverse on home ice exactly one week ago.

The visitor brought Sergei Popov into the team ahead of Taylor Beck, while Anton Kosolapov moved to the fourth line. Salavat Yulaev was missing Danil Alalykin and brought Artyom Nabiyev into the team.

The host opened the scoring in the third minute thanks to a kind bounce off the skate of Sibir defenseman Mikhail Orlov. That saw Maxim Kuznetsov credited with his first goal of the season. Sibir responded with hard work on the slot, leading to a tying goal from Ivan Vorobyov. However, the home team immediately regained the lead when Matthew Maggio set up Jack Rodewald with a simple finish to make it 2-1. It might have been three before the intermission, but Yegor Suchkov was denied by the post.

That miss proved costly. Sibir rallied in the second, tying it up through Pavel Tyutnev and proceeding to dictate the play. Stepan Nikulin’s go-ahead goal was well-merited a couple of minutes later and the balance of the game was changed. True, Salavat Yulaev gradually managed to play its way back into contention, but poor finishing meant the host was always chasing the game.

The chase continued, but ended in disappointment. Popov added a fourth goal in the 47th minute and there was no way back from that. Mikhail Berdin was assured in the visitor’s net and a composed defensive display closed out the remaining 13 minutes with little cause for alarm.

Tough debut for Zinaddin, Barys wins fourth in five

Barys Astana 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (1-0, 1-1, 2-0)

Avtomobilist, without injured goalie Vladimir Galkin, gave Lorens Zinaddin his first start in the KHL. For the youngster, who won the Kharlamov Cup with Chayka, it was a baptism of fire. Barys came into the game with the KHL’s most productive offense.

The Motormen were also without Daniel Sprong, who missed last week’s win over Avangard and did not return to action today.

Barys had played twice since Avtomobilist’s last game and the visitor looked sharper at the start. Stronger on the forecheck and more active with the puck, the Motormen came close to opening the scoring when Anatoly Golyshev got a look at an open net but struggled to get the puck under control.

However, the opening goal went to Barys. Chase Priskie’s point shot went through traffic to beat Zinaddin, who will be disappointed to see the puck bounce off him and into the net.

The goalie saw more action in the rest of the first period, and did well to absorb some home pressure and keep the score to 1-0 at the intermission.

The tempo dropped a little in the second period, with neither team committing so readily to the forecheck. That suited Avtomobilist better, and the visitor tied it up when Maxim Denezhin’s pass cut out two opponents to set up Artyom Kashtanov to score.

Kashtanov might have added another from almost the same position, but this time Andrei Shutov’s reactions were sound. It looked like the teams would be level at the intermission, but Barys prevented Avto from getting out of its zone and Jake Massie’s deflected shot left Zinaddin with no chance.

In the third period, the game got increasingly bogged down and puck battles were more commonplace than shots on goal. However, the first power play of the game, which came in the 49th minute, brought a power play goal for Dinmukhamed Kaiyrzhan, deftly redirecting a Priskie shot. Zinaddin was out of luck again for the fourth goal when Alikhan Omirbekov’s attempted pass to the slot deflected into the net off a visiting defenseman.

Vorobyov maintains hot streak for Metallurg

Dinamo Minsk 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (1-0, 0-1, 0-2)

Vladimir Vorobyov’s winning run as Metallurg’s interim head coach continues. The Steelmen made it four successive victories today in Minsk, consolidating their position at the top of the KHL standings.

Magnitka now has a nine-point lead over Neftekhimik in the Eastern Conference, and remains three points ahead of CSKA after the Muscovites’ win over Dynamo this evening.

Dinamo, meanwhile, continues to alternate wins and losses in a run that stretches nine games.

Sergei Brylin’s team grabbed an early lead in this game. Summer signing Rhett Gardner, previously with CSKA, got his first goal of the season on 2:03. Minsk shaded the opening frame, outshooting Metallurg 12-7, but could not build on that fast start.

The second period brought more Belarusian pressure. Helped by an early power play, the home team had substantially more attacking possession. However, Metallurg did a good job of neutralizing that pressure, and proved more incisive when it got forward. Mikhail Fyodorov, 19, netted his first of the season to tie the game in the 28th minute.

In the final frame, the pattern of play was similar. Again, Dinamo had more possession but struggled to generate clear chances. And, again, Metallurg made the most of what it had. Vladimir Tkachyov made it 2-1 with five to play, and that was too much for Minsk to recover. An empty-net goal for Ruslan Iskhakov merely finished the job as the Steelmen continue to make light of Andrei Razin’s absence from the coaching staff.

Single goal seals 11th win

CSKA Moscow 0 Dynamo Moscow 1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

A Moscow derby success – CSKA’s third of the season against Dynamo – stretched the KHL’s hottest current streak to 11 games.

But Dynamo was much improved from the team that lost 2-5 in last week’s edition of this capital city rivalry, eventually falling to a power play goal from Prokhor Poltapov amid a series of big saves by Dmitry Gamzin.

The first period was evenly matched and light on big scoring chances. Dynamo had two power plays but generated little; CSKA had a slight edge on the shot count and almost got in front just before the intermission when defenseman Ivan Patrikhayev tested Vladislav Podyapolsky with a low wrister to the goalie’s short side.

Podyapolsky distinguished himself again in the middle frame, notably with a fine glove save to deny Marat Khairullin. CSKA tightened its grip on the action in the second period but was still unable to force a breakthrough.

The opening goal came midway through the third, after Dynamo’s Nikita Novikov caught Klim Kostin in the face with his stick and was assessed a double minor. With the extra man, CSKA passed the Blue-and-Whites into submission before Poltapov broke the deadlock. Khairullin sent Maxim Sorkin deep into the zone, from where he picked out a pass to the front door for Poltapov to solve Podyapolsky at last.

That goal proved enough to win it, but only after Gamzin made some big saves in the closing moments. First, in the 55th minute, he managed a double stop to deny Bulat Shafigullin and Maxim Letunov. Then, as the game moved into its final moments, the home goalie reacted superbly when Nikita Korostelyov connected with Luka Profaca’s feed to the back door. That was the last meaningful chance of the game as CSKA closed out a tight verdict.

Traktor’s fast start too much for Dragons

Shanghai Dragons 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 6 (0-3, 2-2, 0-1)

Traktor snapped a three-game skid in some style thanks to a blistering start away to the Dragons.

The home team suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season; this heavy defeat followed Monday’s 2-3 reverse against Dinamo Minsk.

Scott Gordon’s team was up 3-0 by 4:20, helped by some lax discipline from the home team. Nic Petan received a tripping minor on 1:20, and 22 seconds later Turner Ottenbreit joined him in the box.

Traktor took full advantage: Mikhail Grigorenko converted the two-man advantage, then Stepan Gorbunov made it 2-0 before Ottenbreit could return to the game. Yaroslav Fedoseyev soon added a third, chasing Amir Miftakhov from his net inside five minutes. That was a first goal of the season for 18-year-old Fedoseyev, who opened his KHL account almost a full year ago in a 6-3 win over Barys.

After that, things calmed down. Pavel Khomchenko prevented any further scoring in the first period, but Shanghai could not make inroads into the deficit.

In the second period, we saw a mirror image of Traktor’s fast start. This time a too many men penalty and an interference call on Alexei Rykmanov came 10 seconds apart. Dmitrij Jaskin and David Chen extracted maximum value from the power plays and it was a one-goal game on 26:47.

But Traktor recovered from that wobble. Alexander Saveliev made it 4-2 in the 30th minute, and Grigorenko got his second of the night to restore the three-goal lead before the second intermission. Saveliev, 23, claimed his first KHL goal after making his debut in the league this season.

The Dragons never recovered. Unable to make an impact in the third period, the home team withdrew Khomchenko in favor of a sixth skater with five minutes to play. But the goalie only sat for 90 seconds before Maxim Dzhioshvili put the game beyond reach with an empty-net goal.