Razin gets first win with SKA. October 22 round-up

A battling performance at home to Sibir saw Andrei Razin’s SKA rally from 1-3 to take a 6-3 verdict. That was Razin’s first win as head coach in Petersburg and snapped his team’s losing streak. Thursday’s other games also produced fightback wins: Sochi trailed twice at home to Dinamo Minsk but won in overtime thanks to three power play goals. And Neftekhimik scored two in the third period to take a 3-2 verdict from Omsk.

Wolves fight back to win in Omsk

Avangard Omsk 2 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 (1-1, 1-0, 0-2)

A third-period fightback brought Neftekhimik a third win in four games, moving the Wolves three points clear in second place in the Eastern Conference. Avangard remains tenth in the section, outside the playoff spots, after ending its four-game home stand in defeat.

After a 1-0 win at defending champion Lokomotiv, Igor Grishin recalled Artur Tyanulin, Rafael Bikmullin and Maxim Fedotov in place of Viktor Andreichenko, Matvei Zaseda and Timur Khairullin. Yaroslav Ozolin got the start in goal.

He was in action right away as the Hawks made an active start. A penalty for Yegor Afanasyev slowed the home surge, but back at equal strength Nail Yakupov led a counter and Vasily Ponomaryov converted his set-up to open the scoring.

But Neftekhimik recovered quickly. Damir Zhafyarov stripped Kirill Adamchuk of the puck, Ivan Nikolishin moved it on for Andrei Belozyorov and the club’s leading goalscorer tied it up.

Avangard came out in the second period and raised the tempo once again. That soon brought rewards: Josh Leivo set up Mikhail Gulyayev for a shot, then collected the rebound off the boards to restore the Hawks’ lead. Back in front, the home team played sensible hockey, controlling possession for long spells rather than trying to force the pace. It wasn’t until the closing stages of the middle frame that Neftekhimik managed to move play away from Ozolin’s net but the visitor rarely posed a serious threat to Nikita Serebryakov.

That momentum carried into the third period. Nikolishin went close at one end, then Leivo dinged the piping at the other. Belozyorov almost unlocked the Avangard defense with an individual play, but the tying goal eventually went to Fedotov. He looked to get the puck from the point to the shot, and a deflection took it beyond Serebryakov’s grasp.

That left 10 minutes to decide the outcome. Play got bogged down in center ice as the teams looked for an opposition error or a moment of brilliance. And luck smiled on Neftekhimik: Ilya Pastukhov’s routine punt to the slot was perfectly redirected home by Bikmullin to put the visitor up for the first time in the game.

That proved enough to win it: Avangard deployed a sixth skater with 3:09 to play, but that final storm could not save the home team.

SKA rallies from 1-3, snaps skid

SKA St. Petersburg 6 Sibir Novosibirsk 3 (4-3, 1-0, 1-0)

Andrei Razin’s SKA secured its first win under its new head coach, battling back from 1-3 to snap a six-game skid.

Thursday’s game against Sibir got off to a wild start, with three goals in the first four minutes. Home forward Amir Nugmanov opened the scoring on 2:33 with his first ever KHL goal. The 21-year-old collected a pass on the left, drove forward to the doorstep and scooped a backhand shot into the net via a deflection off goalie Mikhail Berdin.

But the visitor hit back fast. Yegor Korshkov and Sergei Popov scored two in a minute to give Sibir the lead on 3:29. And SKA’s evening got more complicated. Alexei Maklyukov got the first penalty of the game, and Anton Kosolapov converted that power play to make it 3-1 to Sibir on 7:17.

Razin responded decisively. Starting goalie Artemy Pleshkov made way for Sergei Ivanov. And, step-by-step, his team turned the game around. Vasily Glotov scored twice from the slot, tying the game on the power play. And the home team regained the lead in the 17th minute when Rocco Grimaldi rifled home the rebound after Darren Dietz charged down a Maklyukov point shot. Berdin became the second goalie to leave the game, replaced by Anton Krasotkin after the teams traded seven goals in a breathless first period.

Krasotkin was beaten at the start of the second period. Danil Aimruzin’s break saw him send the puck across the front of the net. Sergei Plotnikov could not get to the feed, but Valentin Zykov was right behind him to finish the play and make it 5-3.

Then the scoring slowed. There were still chances: Aimurzin and Plotnikov forced a double save from Krasotkin, Kosolapov had a great look at Ivanov at other end. But the next goal had to wait until midway through the third period, when Vasily Atanasov put the result beyond doubt with a sixth goal for SKA.

Ivanov still had work to do in the closing stages, flinging out a stick to deny Popov a second goal. But SKA held on to take the win and climb to seventh in the Western Conference.

Dinamo pays the penalty in Sochi

HC Sochi 3 Dinamo Minsk 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-0)

SKA moved up to seventh ahead of Dinamo Minsk, who fell in overtime at Sochi. The Belarusians suffered a third straight loss, while basement club Sochi won for the second time in four games. That puts the Leopards just a point behind Lada at the foot of the standings, although both clubs are already some way adrift of the top eight.

Sochi’s power play made the difference here as the home team twice came from behind to win it in the extras. Dinamo started well, getting in front on Daniil Lipsky’s goal midway through the first period. The visitor carried that lead to the intermission fairly comfortably, but arguably should have taken more than a single goal from its efforts.

In the second period, Sochi had a goal disallowed before the home team got its first power play of the night. That saw Kirill Slepets tie the game and the teams were level going into the third.

The visitor regained the lead after 43 minutes as Nicholas Aube-Kubel marked his return to action with a fifth goal of the season. The Canadian is on a four-game productive streak worth 5 (4+1) points, interrupted by almost a full month since his previous appearance at Dynamo Moscow on Sep. 24.

But Dinamo kept picking up penalties. Aube-Kubel’s minor was not punished, but when Pavel Voronov sat for interference, Timur Akhiyarov tied it up midway through the third.

Neither team could win it in regulation, but Dinamo began the extras with a man advantage and should have been able to make it count in four-on-three play. But Sochi survived, then got a power play of its own. Matvei Guskov needed just 10 seconds to convert that into a winning goal, Nikita Gusev got his second assist of the night on the decisive play.