KHL - Results - Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Dynamo Moscow v Sibir 4-3 OT

An instinctive overtime strike from Martins Karsums ensured that Dynamo settled into its new home with a victory. The Latvian forward got on the end of Maxim Karpov’s pass across the face of goal and pinged the puck upstairs to beat Alexander Salak and snatch victory for the host. But it was far from easy. For much of the first period the Blue-and-Whites looked uncomfortable in the impressive surroundings of the VTB Ice Palace. Sibir punished that sluggish start with a sixth-minute goal; Maxim Shalunov had an unmolested skate behind the net before teeing up Oleg Gubin for the opening goal. Dynamo huffed and puffed but needed a power play late in the stanza to tie the game. Debutant Juuso Heitanen did the honors off a big rebound from Salak.

In the middle session the hosts started to look more fluent. Karpov made it 2-1 and it seemed that Dynamo would ease to victory. However those defensive gremlins struck again as a quick breakaway left Alexander Yeryomenko exposed and Alexei Kopeikin rattled in the equalizer. Ansel Galimov, newly arrived from Metallurg Novokuznetsk, reinstated Dynamo’s lead with a beauty of a shot that rattled off post and bar as Salak was left clutching at thin air.

The third period saw Sibir tie it up once again. Yeryomenko unwisely opted to continue after taking a big hit stopping a one-on-one break and the goalie – visibly uncomfortable – was beaten within four seconds of the restart as David Ullstrom had far too much time and space on the slot. There was no further scoring in regulation, much to the frustration of the crowd, but Karsums finally delivered the decisive blow on 61:10.

Slovan v Admiral 1-3
Incoming head coach Milos Riha finished his two previous stints behind the bench in Bratislava by hoisting the championship trophy. However, he faces a tougher task in the KHL than in the Slovak league, and an impressive performance from a revamped Admiral roster made it clear how much work the charismatic Czech has ahead of him. Admiral got ahead in the 17th minute through Kirill Voronin and doubled the lead just after halfway thanks to Alexander Kuznetsov. Slovan attempted to rally, Michal Sersen pulled a goal back and the final stanza saw the host firing in shots on Ivan Nalimov in the Admiral net. But it was Yegor Yakovlev who found the target at the other end to secure the points for the visitor.
Medvescak v Amur 2-3 SO

Few clubs underwent as big a change in personnel as Amur this summer after the Khabarovsk team welcomed a mass influx from near neighbor Admiral during the close season. And one of those new faces, Vyacheslav Ushenin, got his team off to a winning start by settling a shoot-out in Croatia.

Earlier it seemed that the long trip would be fruitless: after a scoreless first session Medvescak seized the initiative with a double salvo early in the second. Tomislav Zanoski and Tomas Mertl scored within 40 seconds of each other to open up a 2-0 lead but the scores were tied by the 40-minute mark thanks to Vyacheslav Litovchenko and Tom Wandell. Amur’s highly-rated Finnish goalie Juha Metsola outwitted both home attempts in the shoot-out; Ushenin added the game-winner to his earlier assist.
Traktor v Avtomobilist 2-1 SO
There was another shoot-out in Chelyabinsk where Traktor prevailed after a 1-1 tie against Avtomobilist. Andrei Popov gave the home team the lead early in the third but Artyom Gareyev leveled for the motormen with 10 minutes to play. Martin Ruzicka got the winner in the shoot-out.
Neftekhimik v Ugra 2-1
Evgeny Grigorenko got the game winner for Neftekhimik with five minutes left to play against Ugra. He snapped a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the night.