Avangard, Dynamo move into playoff places. October 28 round-up

Two of the KHL’s traditional big-hitters climbed into the top eight of their respective conferences after victories on Wednesday. Avangard maintained a good run of form, winning 4-0 at Ak Bars to make it four wins from five and nudge ahead of Admiral into eighth place. And Dynamo Moscow’s 2-1 victory over Amur was enough to jump to seventh in the West ahead of SKA and Dinamo Minsk. The Belarusians lost 0-1 at home to Barys this evening, while CSKA thumped Traktor 5-1 despite trailing at the first intermission.

Hawks fly into top eight

Ak Bars Kazan 0 Avangard Omsk 4 (0-2, 0-0, 0-2)

Avangard moved into the playoff spots in the East with a comfortable win in Kazan. Nikita Serebryakov made 24 saves and his team-mates blocked 18 shots to frustrate the home team, and two goals for Mike McLeod led the Hawks’ scoring.

In a tight section, the Hawks are now just two points behind their host, who dropped to fourth on today’s loss.

Although Ak Bars started brightly – and enjoyed more attacking possession in the first period – it wasn’t long before Avangard got into the game.

And when the Hawks began to press, they showed a more clinical game in front of goal to open a 2-0 lead in the first period. McLeod opened the scoring in the 16th minute when good work on the slot saw him convert Marsel Ibragimov’s blast from the blue line.

Ibragimov was involved again as Avangard doubled its lead a minute before the intermission. He switched play for Mikhail Gulyayev on the left, and his shot deflected off Josh Leivo and into the net.

In the second period the game was more compressed. Avangard was happy to preserve its lead and made it hard for the home offense to produce any kind of expansive play. Ak Bars got the first power play of the night midway through the session, but could not take advantage. Later, the visitor stepped up, helped by two PPs in quick succession. However, neither team could find the net in the middle frame.

On either side of the second intermission, Avangard ran into penalty trouble and Ak Bars briefly had a two-man advantage. But there was still no way past Serebryakov in the visitor’s net. And the power play was barely done when home forward Denis Zernov went to the box and McLeod scored his second of the night, beating Timur Bilyalov at the second attempt.

In the closing stages, Avangard was again reduced to three skaters for a few seconds, but again Ak Bars could not take advantage. Grigory Denisenko was closest to testing Serebryakov, but could not find a way past the visiting goalie. In the 56th minute, Ak Bars moved to six skaters and tried to force the issue on a PP. However, Avangard survived that test and wrapped up the win on Vasily Ponomaryov’s empty-netter.

Simonov settles contest in Minsk

Dinamo Minsk 0 Barys Astana 1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

A solitary goal from Semyon Simonov at the start of the third period was enough to give Barys the verdict in Minsk.

Just 28 seconds into the final frame, Simonov solved Zach Fucale on a broken play. The puck bounced around the Dinamo slot and none of the defensemen could get it to safety. Instead, Jake Massie collected a rebound off the wall and his feed found Simonov in space to shoot home his eighth goal of the season.

At the other end, Andrei Shutov had 28 saves to preserve the Kazakhs’ lead and snap a three-game skid. The result moves Barys to third in the East, a point ahead of Ak Bars and two behind Neftekhimik.

Dinamo drops to eighth in the west, overtaken by Dynamo Moscow following the latter’s home win over Amur.

Five-star CSKA moves clear in the West

CSKA Moscow 5 Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 (0-1, 4-0, 1-0)

After victory in St. Petersburg, CSKA followed up with a convincing scoreline at home to Traktor. The win puts Igor Nikitin’s team two points clear of Lokomotiv at the top of the Western Conference.

Alexander Samonov’s return between the piping was the only change from the team that won 3-1 at SKA. It was a similar story for Scott Gordon’s Traktor, where goalie Henrik Haukeland was the only new face after a 2-1 home win over Sibir.

Samonov had a busy start to his evening as Traktor attacked from the opening shifts. CSKA responded with counterattacks, but the early exchanges belonged to the visitor. Although Nikitin’s men improved and took the initiative as the frame progressed, a needless penalty on Dmitry Buchelnikov saw Boris Katchouk put Traktor in front.

That lead lasted until the first intermission, but not long thereafter. Traktor again tried to force the tempo, only to be undone on the counter. First, Pavel Karnaukhov’s shot dropped right onto Maxim Mamin for the tying goal. Play became frantic, end-to-end, and four breathless minutes later, Dmitry Samorukov claimed the go-ahead tally when his effort deflected off a defenseman and past Haukeland.

CSKA’s progress was almost undermined by another O-zone penalty, but this time Traktor could not take advantage. And in the closing stages of the middle frame the home team took the game away: Ivan Drozdov stuffed home a third amid a wrestling bout on the crease, then Nazar Privalov made it two goals in two games with a redirect on Yegor Zamula’s shot.

Down 1-4, Traktor tried to find a way back in the third but CSKA never looked likely to let its lead slip. The home team had several dangerous counterattacks before Marat Khairullin finished the job with a late power play goal.

Martynov goal earns tight verdict for Muscovites

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

It wasn’t always pretty, but after three losses in overtime, Dynamo managed to get one over the line and move into the Western playoff spots.

The Blue-and-Whites blew 2-0 leads in two of those three defeats. Today, defending a one-goal lead in the third period, they absorbed some serious pressure from the Tigers, who outshot their host 11-4 in the final frame.

But Maxim Motorygin held firm, helped by some solid work from his defense, and the Muscovites took the win.

The scoring started in the 13th minute when Pavel Shen converted a power play. Amur had allowed just two PP goals all season, but the third came when Bulat Shafigullin fired in the puck from the circle and Shen stuffed it home amid a scramble in front of Maxim Dorozhko.

The game was littered with penalties throughout – right after taking the lead, Dynamo had to kill Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi’s slashing minor – and between them the teams had 16 minor penalties. But Amur’s equalizer late in the first came at equal strength. Home forward Mikhail Melikov got bumped off the puck in front of his own net and Vitaly Abramov pounced to make it 1-1.

Dynamo got back in front midway through the second period with a short-handed goal. A turnaround sparked a three-on-two break and Nikita Novikov found Igor Martynov all alone at the back door to make it 2-1.

That was the end of the scoring, despite a determined effort from Amur to save the game. The visitor cut out some of the silly fouls that dogged it earlier in the game to dominate the final stanza, but Motorygin came up big to close out the win.