Lada makes history, Severstal beats Lokomotiv. October 15 round-up

A 1-0 win over SKA snapped a 10-game skid for Lada – and ended a 21-game wait for a victory over the Petersburgers in the KHL. Severstal’s 5-2 success at home to Lokomotiv leaves the two teams level on points, two adrift of CSKA at the top of the Western Conference standings.

History in Togliatti

Lada Togliatti 1 SKA St. Petersburg 0 (0-0, 1-0, 0-0)

For the first time in the KHL, Lada got a win over SKA to snap a 21-game losing streak against the Petersburg club.

More importantly in the context of this season, the Motormen halted a 10-game skid in the KHL. For SKA this was a second straight game without a goal and a fifth successive loss.

Igor Larionov responded to those attacking problems by reshuffling his lines and deploying a trio of youngsters – Nikita Nedopyonkin, Nikita Dishkovsky and Ignat Litfullin. Lada welcomed back captain Andrei Altybarmakyan for his first game of the season after injury disrupted his start to the campaign. His return helps to compensate for the departure of Riley Sawchuk, this season’s leading scorer who has joined CSKA.

Despite the home team’s problems this season, Lada began with a couple of promising attacks from Andrei Chivilyov and Ivan Savchik. However, an untimely penalty on Ostap Safin halted that momentum and allowed SKA to gain control of the play. Goalie Nikita Podskrebalin did well to keep the visitor at bay even as SKA outshot the host 14-5.

Lada started the middle frame on the power play, and took advantage just as Danil Aimurzin was leaving the box. Nikolai Makarov opened the scoring with a powerful shot.

After that, the Motormen stretched SKA with a strong forecheck and created a couple of further chances. The visitor added to its troubles with three penalties in a row but escaped unscathed. Then came a five-on-three chance for Larionov’s team, with Valentin Zykov missing a glorious chance to tie it up.

In the final frame Lada defended carefully, and got some help from a series of breakdowns in SKA’s offense. At times it was something of a siege – a 15-3 shot count in SKA’s favor told the story. But Podskrebalin finished the game with 36 saves to secure a memorable win for the home team.

Abrosimov double lifts Sevestal past Loko

Severstal Cherepovets 5 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 (1-1, 1-1, 3-0)

A sixth successive victory sees Severstal draw level on points with Lokomotiv as the two teams chase Western Conference leader CSKA.

The home team twice came from behind in this game, but went on to win with three tallies in the last 10 minutes. Two goals from Ruslan Abrosimov led the way.

Defending champion Lokomotiv got off to a perfect start, taking the lead after 93 seconds. Matvei Kotkov made that breakthrough, converting a counter attack with a wrister over Alexander Samoilov’s glove.

That was the first shot of the game, and it took nine minutes for Severstal to test Daniil Isayev. But once the home team found some shooting form, a tying goal soon followed. In the 12th minute, Ilya Ivantsov won a face-off on the left and got the puck to the slot for Ilya Kvochko to tuck away a backhand shot.

The second period followed a similar pattern. Loko scored early through Giovanni Fiore – again, the first shot of the session brought a goal for the visitor. This time the reply was quicker: Vladimir Grudinin faked a shot and dished off a feed for Abrosimov to crash home from the right-hand circle. Another period short on scoring chances finished with the scores locked at 2-2; Severstal’s two goals came from just eight shots at Isayev.

Lokomotiv’s discipline began to waver in the third. Severstal got the first power play of night in the 46th minute, and converted its second numerical advantage. Thomas Gregoire was the scorer, picking up the pieces after Isayev padded away a Kvochko shot. And the host continued to press, doubling its lead when Abrosimov got his second of the night after 56 minutes. An empty-netter from Ivan Podshivalov completed the win and extend the Lynx’s hot streak.