The power of four. November 12 round-up

Four was the magic number in Thursday’s KHL games. All five games were won by a team scoring four goals on the night, and Avtomobilist’s Alexei Kudashov celebrated his 400th win as a head coach. Ak Bars won 4-1 at Salavat Yulaev to claim its third Green Derby success this season. Avangard rallied from 1-3 to take an overtime verdict at Metallurg, and there were 4-2 victories for Avtomobilist and Barys. To complete the set, Amur came from 0-2 to win 4-3 at Spartak with two goals in the last five minutes.

Kazan on top in Green Derby rivalry

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 Ak Bars Kazan 4 (0-1, 0-3, 1-0)

For the third time this season, Ak Bars got the better of Salavat Yulaev and maintained the upper hand in one of the KHL’s defining derbies.

In the first period, the home team had problems taking its chances. Salavat Yulaev had more of the play but could not beat Maxim Arefyev in the Ak Bars net. In contrast, the visitor played on the counter attack and got in front after five minutes when Grigory Denisenko set up Semyon Terekhov for the opener.

That was the only goal of the first period, but the middle frame saw Ak Bars take the game away. Three unanswered goals in Ivan Bocharov’s net came from Nikita Lyamkin, Albert Yarullin and former Ufa favorite Alexander Chmelevski. He got his first goal of the season in October’s 2-1 win in Ufa, and now has two of his four goals against his former club.

Viktor Kozlov responded by replacing Bocharov with Semyon Vyazovoi but there wasn’t much sign of any fightback until close to the second intermission. Belatedly Maxim Zagrebin and Sheldon Rempal created a couple of presentable chances, but it remained 4-0 at the break.

The third period brought a fight between Devin Brosseau and Nikita Dynyak, but for the most part Ak Bars closed out the game with little alarm. A couple of minutes before the end, Yefim Gurkin got a consolation goal for the home team, but the outcome was already beyond doubt.

OT king strikes again

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Avangard Omsk 4 OT (1-1, 2-0, 0-2, 0-1)

Avangard underlined its status as this season’s overtime king, winning in the extras for the seventh time. No other KHL team has more than three overtime verdicts, and the next most successful beyond the 60-minute mark, Dynamo Moscow, has six wins in total (three OT, three SO).

To get its latest OT verdict, the Hawks had to come from 1-3 behind at table-topping Metallurg. The teams traded goals in the first period: Nikita Korotkov put the host ahead when he redirected Alexander Siryatsky’s shot past Nikita Serebryakov, but Avangard replied through Andrew Poturalski in the 17th minute. That goal came with Korotkov in the box and the Hawks enjoying a four-on-three power play.

Avangard began the second period on the penalty kill. The visitor withstood that test, but allowed a goal at equal strength after 27 minutes. Nathan Todd and Sergei Tolchinsky had already threatened in a two-man rush; here they combined with a deft no-look pass from the Canadian picking up his Russian colleague in front of the net to make it 2-1. Avangard ran into penalty trouble, and Valery Orekhov increased the lead on the PP with Todd and Tolchinsky picking up helpers.

The Hawks tried to make inroads into that lead in the middle stanza, but despite a threatening power play late on, there was no further scoring. Then, at the start of the third, Mike McLeod quickly found a way past Alexander Smolin to bring the contest back to life. The home goalie faced a busy time as Avangard pushed for a tying goal, while Metallurg produced some pointed counterplays. Josh Leivo had a great chance to tie it up, but fluffed his lines when through on Smolin’s net.

Metallurg responded by looking for a knock-out fourth goal, but after a long spell of pressure Avangard managed to get play down the ice and land a sucker punch of its own. Alexander Volkov came from behind the net to bring the puck to the slot, where Vasily Ponomaryov banged it home on 57:16.

That sent the game to overtime, where the Hawks underscored their status as masters of the extra minutes. Mikhail Gulyayev got to Smolin’s net and delivered the coup-de-grace in some style.

Kudashov reaches 400 wins

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 Shanghai Dragons 2 (1-1, 1-1, 2-0)

Two goals in the last eight minutes tipped an even contest in Avtomobilist’s favor. Alexander Barabanov and Alexander Kadeikin were on target as the home team turned a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 success.

The Motormen lost Maxim Tarasov to injury in a comeback win at Traktor. That prompted Alexei Kudashov to call up Ilya Ovchinnikov as Tarasov's replacement and persist with the top three lines that finished the game in Chelyabinsk. Shanghai welcomed back Nic Petan after a five-game absence and handed goalie Vyacheslav Buteyets a first start after he did well coming off the bench in the team’s previous game.

Petan made an instant impact, intercepting Yaroslav Busygin’s wayward to create a chance for himself. Nikita Tryamkin could not get the puck away from danger and David Chen was on hand to put away the rebound. It might have been two moments later when two players bore down on Evgeny Alikin’s net with no defense in sight. However, the goalie denied Calen Addison.

Avto created little in the first 10 minutes, but then got a goal from nothing when a slight deflection saw Jordan Gross score with a point shot. That saw the teams level at the intermission, but the Dragons outshot their host 16-5 and arguably should have been in front.

The middle frame was almost the opposite. Now Avtomobilist had the upper hand with a 17-8 shot count. The brought a goal midway through the session when Alexander Sharov dished off a pass for Roman Gorbunov, who advanced to the net and scored. But just as it seemed that the Motormen were taking control, Shanghai hit back. After 35 minutes, Brett Murray tied the game. He initially set up Petan for a shot, then followed up to convert the rebound.

The final frame began with the Dragons pressing once again, and Alikin was relieved to see a wicked deflection take a dangerous shot just wide of his net. Avtomobilist had a five-on-three penalty, but offered so little during 71 seconds with a two-man advantage that it was jeered by the home crowd. A later PP made the difference: Yegor Solovyov picked up a needless minor after spraying Alikin with ice, and Barabanov completed the punishment when he redirected a Gross shot beyond Buteyets. After that, Shanghai struggled to create chances and Kadeikin’s empty-netter secured Kudashov’s 400th victory as a coach in the KHL.

Logvin’s double sinks Sailors

Barys Astana 4 Admiral Vladivostok 2 (1-2, 0-0, 3-0)

The Kazakhs shook off a three-game losing streak thanks to a strong third-period performance against Admiral. The Sailors suffered defeat at the start of a four-game road trip, and lost to Barys for the first time this season after two 5-4 verdicts.

Barys had been on the road for nine games prior to Thursday’s action, but quickly settled in at the home arena. In the ninth minute the host took the lead, with a brilliant combination between Semyon Simonv and Chase Priskie setting up Mason Morelli for the opening goal.

But Admiral snatched the lead in dramatic fashion with two goals in 34 seconds right before the intermission. Daniel Usmanov capitalized on a poor clearance to tie the game on 19:04. Then, on 19:40, Anthony Camara came from behind the net and his shot rebounded for Mikhail Grass to make it 2-1. Grass returned to today’s team in place of Danila Moiseyev.

There was no scoring in the second period, which owed much to 12 blocked shots by Admiral’s players. And in the third, Barys turned pressure into goals. Admiral was caught out by an unexpected deflection in the 47th minute, setting up Arkady Shestakov for a tying goal from the slot. Then, in the 54th, Logan Day’s point shot was cleverly steered into the net by Vsevolod Logvin to put the home team up 3-2. And Logvin had the final say with an empty-netter to seal the verdict.

Late flourish lifts Tigers over Spartak

Spartak Moscow 3 Amur Khabarovsk 4 (1-0, 1-2, 1-2)

Amur left it late to sink Spartak, taking victory on two goals in the last five minutes. Earlier, the home team blew a 2-0 lead on the way to a fourth loss in five games.

The Red-and-Whites absorbed some pressure in the first period, with the Tigers looking lively from the start. But it was Spartak that got the opening goal late in the frame. A two-on-one rush saw Yegor Filin advance down the right and beat his man without needing his team-mate’s help. Alexei Vasilevsky scampered back to block the first shot, but Filin converted the rebound.

Then came a power play goal at the start of the second, with Max Comtois advancing to the right-hand circle to fire a shot around Vasilevsky and beyond Alexander Trushkov in the visitor’s net.

It seemed that everything was moving smoothly for the home team, but late in the middle frame Amur hit back. Ivan Klimovich reduced the arrears with a short-handed goal in the 33rd minute. Then the Tigers killed another penalty before Alexander Filatiev converted an odd-man rush to tie the game before the second intermission.

Both teams went out in search of a winner in the third period, but the game remained deadlocked until the 56th minute. Then Amur forced a turnover in its own zone and launched a devastating counterattack. Konstantin Lukin advanced down the left wing, cut inside and went five-hole on Ivan Fedotov to give the visitor the lead for the first time in the game.

Right after that, Klimovich went to the box. Spartak scented a shot at salvation and went six-on-four, only to allow a second shorthanded goal of the night. Yegor Voronkov fired in a shot from beyond his own goal-line to make it 4-2. There was still time for more drama when Ilya Kotlyarov struck on a delayed penalty, giving Spartak hope with 52 seconds remaining. But Amur survived that last test to take the win and climb to fifth in the East.