KHL - Results - Friday, October 30, 2015

Metallurg Nk v Admiral 3-4
Alexander Gorshkov helped Admiral come from behind to win a shoot-out at Metallurg Novokuznetsk. He tied the scores at 3-3 in the third period then delivered the decisive post-game blow. 
Sibir v Amur 2-1
David Ullstrom scored twice in a minute to turn around Sibir’s game against Amur. The visitors led 1-0 thanks to Oleg Li’s early goal before Ullstrom hit back in the 53rd minute with his 10th and 11th goals of the season.

Severstal v Dynamo Moscow 4-2
Teenage forward Daniil Vovchenko sent Dynamo spinning to a fifth consecutive defeat with a two-goal haul for Severstal. The 19-year-old broke into the KHL this season after featuring for the Steelmen’s junior team, Almaz, and produced his finest performance to date with a quick-fire double early in the third period. That built on Dmitry Kagarlitsky’s early opener as fit-again goalie Alexander Yeryomenko suffered a losing return to the ice. Dynamo rallied with goals from Denis Barantsev and Denis Kokarev but Igor Skorokhodov’s empty net goal snuffed out any hopes of a full recovery and secured Dmitry Yushkevich a victory in his first game as Severstal’s acting head coach.
Dinamo Minsk v Salavat Yulaev 1-5
The league’s more prolific offense was at it again as Salavat Yulaev fired five past Dinamo Minsk. The Ufa team has 85 goals this season, and Friday night’s win was the fifth time it had scored five or more in the current campaign. Denis Khlystov got the scoreboard moving on the three-minute mark and Andreas Engqvist doubled that lead before the first intermission. Matt Ellison pulled one back for Dinamo 17 seconds into the middle stanza but there was to be no recovery. Linus Omark scored twice, one either side of the second interval, before Dmitry Makarov wrapped up another fine way for Igor Zakharkin and his team. Slovan v Ak Bars Kazan 1-2 SO
Vladimir Tkachyov was the key man as Ak Bars claimed a shoot-out win at Slovan. He gave Ak Bars a first-period lead, but Cam Barker tied it up with a power play goal in the 33rd minute. However Tkachyov went on to get the winner in that shoot-out. Goalie Emil Garipov also impressed with 31 saves during the game and two more in the post-game shots.
Torpedo v Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2-4
The big moment came 24 and a half minutes into this game. Topedo, trying to kill a penalty, allowed Sergei Mozyakin to drop back towards the blue line as his team pressed for goal. The penalty ended, Magnitka pushed down the left and Bogdan Potekhin’s pass from behind the red line found Mozyakin unmarked in front of the net. A one-timer to the top shelf left Ilya Proskuryakov with no chance and a little bit of history was made in Nizhny Novgorod. That took Mozyakin to 400 career goals in top-flight Russian hockey, a level reached only twice before in the history of game. Magnitka’s captain reached his landmark with impressive symmetry in his 800th game and now joins Boris Mikhailov and Vyacheslav Starshinov in the record books. Indeed, it is highly likely that the 35-year-old will go on to exceed Mikhailov’s tally of 428, possibly even before the end of this season, and set an all-time record that may never be beaten in an age when many top Russian players opt to play at least part of their career across the Atlantic. Mozyakin’s goal put Magnitka 2-1 ahead after Evgeny Timkin and Kaspars Daugavins traded first-period scores. Tomas Filippi extended that lead early in the third but Dmitry Syomin pulled one back almost immediately for Torpedo. Chris Lee scored into an empty net to complete the win. The outcome was also a landmark win for another Magnitka player, goalie Vasily Koshechkin became the first netminder to record 200 KHL victories.

Medvescak v Lada 1-4
Lada’s improved form continued with a convincing win at Medvescak. Dmitry Vorobyov opened the scoring in the third minute and Martin Zatovic doubled the lead before Andreas Jamtin got the home team on the scoreboard. Anton Krysanov and Anton Shenfeld completed a 4-1 win for Lada, which now has five successes in a row.

KHL - Results - Thursday, October 29, 2015

Traktor v HC Sochi 5-3

Traktor followed up its win over Loko with a 5-3 win over HC Sochi. The home team took a 3-0 lead in the first period, only for Sochi to hit back with three goals of its own in the second period. But two goals in the 38th minute, from Vyacheslav Osnovin and Yegor Martynov, secured the win.
Neftekhimik v Lokomotiv 4-3

After that long winning streak, Lokomotiv suffered a second successive defeat.
Neftekhimik took a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Pavel Kulikov and Maxim Rybin, but Loko hit back in the second period with two quick goals from Jiri Novotny. Andrei Sergeyev and Marat Hairullin scored for Neftekhimik on either side of the second intermission to open up a two-goal lead once again and even a Yegor Korshkov goal late on there was no way back for the league leader.
Jokerit v Ugra 6-1
Jokerit made it 10 goals in two games with a crushing win over Ugra. There was little indication of what was to come in the first period as the visitor took the lead through Igor Bortnikov. Atte Ohtamaa tied it up before the interval with his first goal of the season … and then the floodgates opened. Niklas Hagman and Brandon Kozun put Jokerit in command in the second period, Kozun added to his first-period assist to take his points tally to 24 for the season. In the third period the Finns wrapped it up with two goals from Pekka Jormakka sandwiching one from Topi Jaakola.
Dinamo Riga v Avtomobilist 5-4 OT
Dinamo Riga pulled off a fine finish to snatch an overtime win over Avtomobilist. With two minutes left in regulation Dinamo was down 2-4 after Anatoly Golyshev posted 2+1 for the visitors. But Kaspars Saulietis got one back and Tim Sestito scored his second of the night to tie the game. Lauris Darzins completed the win after 23 seconds of overtime.

NHL - Central - Thursday, October 29, 2015

Colorado Avalanche @ Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1
Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves to lead the Avalanche to a 2-1 win against the Lightning at Amalie Arena. Alex Tanguay and Nathan MacKinnon scored goals for Colorado. Alex Killorn had the lone goal for Tampa Bay. The Lightning are 0-2-1 in the past three games and have scored one goal during that span.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy moved Tanguay and MacKinnon to Jarome Iginla's line after a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. The move paid off as the line was responsible for all of Colorado's offense.
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead with 4:03 remaining in the first period when Tanguay scored his first goal of the season. The goal was allowed after a video review determined that Tanguay's shot crossed the goal line past the pads of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. MacKinnon made it 2-0 at 13:04 of the second period with his fourth goal of the season. As the Avalanche crashed the net, Iginla's shot hit Bishop's pad and landed on the stick of MacKinnon, who fired home the rebound. Iginla had two assists, giving him 1,233 career points. He moved past Phil Housley into 38th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list.
Tampa Bay, which was shut out by the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in the final two games of a road trip, ended its goal drought at 156:03 when Killorn scored at 15:46 of the second period on a power play. Varlamov made a save on a wrist shot from Victor Hedman in the left circle, but Killorn controlled the rebound and hit a wide-open net. The Lightning outshot Colorado 13-5 in the third period and peppered Varlamov with shots in the final five minutes but couldn't score. Ondrej Palat had a good look at an open net with less than 20 seconds left but Varlamov reached out with his stick and knocked the puck away. Roy said Varlamov would play Friday when the Avalanche visit the Carolina Hurricanes. Bishop finished with 24 saves. Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin was a late scratch with a lower-body injury, and coach Jon Cooper said he is day-to-day. Varlamov also stopped a shorthanded breakaway attempt by Palat earlier in the period.

Nathan MacKinnon: "We all can score, it's a good mix, we seem to mesh very pretty well. I thought we controlled the play and were good defensively. Definitely a lot of positives. I was talking to [Iginla] and we wanted some ugly [goals] today and we both got ugly ones and those feel great. It feels like those goals are sustainable."
Alex Tanguay: "We played a good, solid game 5-on-5, I think they only scored on the power play. We'll take the two points; it's two points we desperately need right now. We have to continue to play with that same urgency. We have to want the puck and want to make plays with it and hopefully bounces will come our way."
Semyon Varlamov: "I felt good today. [This] was an important game. It was a huge game for us because we need to bring confidence back to the team."
Alex Killorn: "We scored one but it seems like we've had a ton of chances. Their goalie played well. That's the way things have been going lately, we just have to get over this hump. There's ebbs and flows during the season. It's too bad that a goal drought happens early on but we've been through this before."
Ryan Callahan: "I thought out of the last three games that was our best game chances wise, we had a lot of opportunities. [We had a] bunch of 2-on-1s, couple posts, couple breakaways. We created a lot more opportunities and it's going to come when you're having that many chances."

Chicago Blackhawks @ Winnipeg Jets 1-3

The last thing the Blackhawks wanted to see was Michael Hutchison in goal for the Jets. Hutchinson made a career-high 45 saves to help the Jets complete their six-game homestand with a 3-1 win against the Blackhawks. Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd and Mark Scheifele scored, and Bryan Little had two assists. The Jets, who went 3-2-1 on their homestand, will play eight of their next nine games on the road. A four-game trip begins Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Chicago's four-game winning streak came to an end. The Blackhawks finish a two-game trip Friday against the Minnesota Wild. Patrick Kane scored on a power play for the Blackhawks, and goalie Corey Crawford made 28 saves in his fifth consecutive start. Kane's sixth goal, a one-timer off Artemi Panarin's cross-ice feed to the right circle past Hutchinson 1:26 into the game, gave the Blackhawks early momentum. Wheeler's fifth goal, a snap shot past Crawford's left glove at 8:12 halted Chicago's quick beginning and ended Crawford's shutout streak at 141:33.

Winnipeg took their first lead 5:09 into the second period on Ladd's third goal when he finished Little's rebound on the power play. Scheifele's fourth goal on a wrist shot with 11:56 left in the third period made it 3-1. Hutchinson went 12 days between starts at one point this month, but he has started two of the past three games, winning each. Chicago had the first six shots and the final six shots, but scoring continues to be an issue. The Blackhawks are tied for 26th in the NHL at 2.00 goals per game. Chicago has gone 235:08 without a 5-on-5 goal, dating to Oct. 22 when Artem Anisimov scored in the first period of a 3-2 home win against the Florida Panthers. Since Anisimov's goal, the Blackhawks have three power-play goals and two overtime goals over three-plus games. Chicago's 14-shot third period could not break Hutchinson, but Kane said generating shots and creating traffic in front of opponents' nets will continue to be emphasized. For the Jets, the win provides another building block as they prepare to spend most of the first half of November away from home. Michael Hutchinson is 4-0-1 with a .965 save percentage in his career against Chicago.

Joel Quenneville: "I thought we worked hard, but I don't think we played with much of a purpose. [We had] some good looks. We had way more chances than in prior games."
Patrick Kane: "I thought we had a great start to the game, so it's disappointing to get up 1-0, give one back, and then they kind of took the momentum after that. Good start by us, but a disappointing finish. At this point in time, we can do things to try to make it tougher on their goalie. Try to get to the net. Stay at the net. Get shots through. Try to bang in goals that way. Get some dirty goals, because it seems like all of the pretty plays aren't happening for us."
Jonathan Toews: "I think the positive is that we showed quite a few spurts where we were working and had that momentum and were in control of the game. The times where we let up, I think, are the ones that are hurting us. We've got to try to tighten up our game, be more consistent and stay with it. You can't get frustrated. Keep working and eventually pucks will go in. The more that they do (go in), the more confidence we'll get, and it will feed off itself. We want to keep shooting the puck from anywhere and go for those second efforts and rebounds, and that's how we're going to break through."

Michael Hutchinson: "I don't know what it is. It seems like it's one of those teams that is easy to get up against, especially with them being the defending Stanley Cup champions. But our whole team got up for the game. I don't think they like playing us. We play pretty physically against them. It's a full team effort when we play [Chicago]."
Bryan Little: "To end it with a win and beat the Blackhawks, it doesn't get any better."
Andrew Ladd: "The goal is to keep building on what we've established so far," Ladd said. "That's the key to every good team. During those games when the other team is going to push, you need to push back and find a way to carry the play."
Paul Maurice: "What [Hutchinson] has done so well is build a routine for himself that he follows daily. His work ethic never changes. He clearly has had some success there and earned it. He didn't get it easily done [Thursday]. He worked hard for it. They're invested and they're trying to get better. We do some things well, and we've got lots of room to improve.

NHL - Results - October 28-29

Wednesday, October 28

Calgary @ Ottawa 4-5 SO
After Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad scored in the shootout, Senators goaltender Craig Anderson denied Sean Monahan to give the Senators the win, their first in five games at home. Flames goaltender Jonas Hiller left the game at 12:20 of the third period after Ryan collided with him. Hiller made 14 saves before he was replaced by Joni Ortio, who made five saves. After a quiet 38 minutes to start the game, the teams combined for seven goals in about 12 minutes and swapped the lead three times. The Flames made it a tied game for the fourth time on the night at 12:32 of the third period when Bennett's shot on the power play trickled over the goal line before Anderson could pull it out with his stick. The goal came after Ryan was penalized for goaltender interference when he collided with Hiller. The Senators scored two quick goals for the second time in the game when Turris and Pageau scored 17 seconds apart at 9:51 and 10:08 of the third period to take a 4-3 lead. The Flames had taken a 3-2 lead on goals by Colborne and Russell 57 seconds apart early in the third period after the Senators got goals from Smith and Ryan late in the second period for a 2-1 lead. When a section of glass was knocked out with 55 seconds left in the second period and the game tied 2-2, the officials sent the players to their respective dressing rooms for the intermission. When they returned, Ryan gave the Senators the lead with 13.5 seconds left in the second period.
Thursday, October 29

Carolina @ NY Islanders 3-2 OT
Ron Hainsey scored 2:21 into overtime to lift the Hurricanes against the Islanders. After a turnover by the Islanders in their offensive zone, Jordan Staal carried the puck into the New York zone and slid a pass to a breaking Hainsey, who beat goaltender Thomas Greiss with a backhand shot for the victory. It was his second goal of the season. The Hurricanes tied the game 2-2 when Chris Terry finished a 3-on-2 rush by snapping a pass from Staal past Greiss with 5:04 remaining in the third period. The two assists for Staal were his first points of the season. Matt Martin opened the scoring 8:56 into the game by deflecting a Nick Leddy slap shot from the blue line past Lack for his first goal of the season to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Brock McGinn scored for the Hurricanes with 5:00 left in the first period to tie the game 1-1. The puck bounced over Martin's stick and went to McGinn, who snapped a shot from the slot past Greiss. It was his second goal of the season. Frans Nielsen put the Islanders back in front at 12:50 with a power-play goal. Nielsen skated from his own blue line into the Hurricanes' zone, cut to the net and took a high backhander that went past Lack.
New Jersey @ Philadelphia 4-1
Wells Fargo Center is becoming a special place for Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri scored the game-winning goal and had two assists to help the Devils to a 4-1 win.
Palmieri's game-winner and three-point night came on the two-year anniversary of his first game in Philadelphia, when he scored two goals, including the winner, for the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 29, 2013. Travis Zajac scored two power-play goals, each off a pass from Palmieri, giving him seven points (four goals) in the past five games. Zajac had no points in his first four games. He missed a game because of an injury. The key sequence came early in the third period, when Palmieri and Zajac scored 64 seconds apart early in the third period to break open a 1-1 game and give New Jersey a 3-1 lead with 17:28 to play. Andy Greene scored his first goal of the season into an empty net with seven seconds left. Zajac scored at 18:12 of the second period to answer back after the Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Luke Schenn's first goal of the season at 15:04. Hakstol was particularly displeased with the fact that the Flyers had two bench minor penalties for too many men on the ice. The second led to Zajac's second power-play goal. Hakstol also was concerned that Zajac's power play goals each came from a pass into the middle of the ice. Palmieri found him for a redirection goal in the second period with a tape-to-tape diagonal seam pass that eluded two defensemen, Schenn and Nick Schultz. Palmieri also found Zajac alone between the hash marks for a goal on a rising backhanded shot over Mason's blocker in the third. Zajac's second goal came 64 seconds after Palmieri scored off of an individual rush he created with a blocked shot in the defensive end. Palmieri blocked Evgeny Medvedev's shot, raced to the loose puck and broke down the left side, his off side. He beat Mason with a hard wrist shot from the left circle that went into the top right corner of the net.
Montreal @ Edmonton 3-4
Leon Draisaitl started the rally with a goal late in the second period, then scored the game-winner off a pass from center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 1:02 left in the third period to complete the comeback. Draisaitl, 20, was called up because Edmonton forwards Jordan Eberle, Rob Klinkhammer, Matt Hendricks and Lauri Korpikoski each is sidelined by an injury. Brendan Gallagher scored at 9:27 on the power play, tipping a P.K. Subban point shot past Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot, who made 18 saves. Torrey Mitchell put Montreal up 2-0 at 16:56, stripping Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom of the puck at the Oilers blue line and snapping a shot past Talbot. Alex Galchenyuk gave the Canadiens a 3-0 lead with 2:09 left, tapping in a cross-crease pass from defenseman Andrei Markov. Draisaitl scored with 52 seconds left in the second period to cut the lead to 3-1, taking a rebound off the end boards and managing to get the puck past Price. Draisaitl knocked the puck back toward the net, where it hit Price and crossed the line in midair before Alexei Emelin could knock it away. The goal was confirmed after video review. Davidson pulled the Oilers to within a goal with his first of the season. The play started with McDavid winning a battle in the corner for the puck and sending it back to Darnell Nurse at the point. Nurse slid the puck over to Davidson, who stepped into a shot from the blue line and beat Price. Pouliot tied the game at 10:43 on a breakaway, snapping a shot past Price. McDavid created the opportunity by winning a battle for the puck along the boards against Subban, then tipping it past Markov to Pouliot. Draisaitl scored the game-winner after Nugent-Hopkins won a race against David Desharnais for the puck behind the net and sent it out in front.

NHL - Vancouver Canucks @ Dallas Stars 3-4 OT - Thursday, October 29, 2015

For the second straight game, the Dallas Stars overcame a big deficit to win.
Jamie Benn scored 2:28 into overtime and the Stars overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 at American Airlines Center. Benn, who also had an assist and leads the NHL with 17 points, scored the game-winner with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller top shelf to his short side. Patrick Sharp had two goals and Jason Demers also scored for Dallas, which trailed 3-1 early in the third period. The win came two nights after the Stars overcame an early three-goal deficit in a 4-3 victory against the Anaheim Ducks.
Miller made 25 saves, and Alexandre Burrows, Alexander Edler and Radim Vrbata scored for the Canucks, who lost for the first time in four road games this season. Dallas trailed 3-1 after Vrbata knocked a rebound past goaltender Antti Niemi (29 saves) 10 seconds into the third period. But Demers scored his second of the season midway through the third period, and Sharp tied it with 4:35 remaining in regulation by redirecting a John Klingberg wrist shot from the high slot past Miller for his second goal of the game and third of the season.
Niemi preserved the tie by stopping Vrbata on a breakaway with 2:11 remaining in the third period. Dallas had the first 10 shots of the game, but the Canucks' first shot on goal was a penalty shot after Alex Goligoski slashed Burrows on a breakaway at 11:48. Burrows scored on the first successful penalty shot in the NHL this season, firing a wrist shot from the slot that deflected off Niemi's stick and through the five-hole. Dallas answered at 15:05 when Sharp scored off the rush. Following some crisp passing by Jyrki Jokipakka and Jason Spezza, Sharp fired a wrist shot from the right point that beat Miller through the five-hole.
Vancouver went back in front at 5:38 of the second when Edler beat Niemi inside the far post with a power-play slap shot from the left point that went over the goaltender's glove. It became 3-1 when Vrbata backhanded the rebound of Daniel Sedin's shot past Niemi. The goal matched the fastest conceded at home to start a third period in Stars franchise history. Rick Vaive of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored 10 seconds into the third period against the Minnesota North Stars at Met Center on Feb. 6, 1986.

Stars Quotes

Jamie Benn: "It's a good thing that we believe in each other and we can do it, but I don't want to make this a habit or a routine. We want to be going into the third period with leads, and locking down those games."
Lindy Ruff: "What's really good to see is we had a tough time with adversity last year, and this year we've started off where we're learning to battle through some tough situations and come up with some big wins."
Patrick Sharp: "It wasn't a perfect game, but we played well in spurts. One thing we're learning is that we're never out of a game. We've got some firepower in here, and we've got speed and we're well conditioned. So we're going to play right to the end. That's what happened tonight. We got better in the third period."

Opposition View

Ryan Miller: "The 3-on-3 can go either way but apparently it's not going to go our way. I don't know what to say."
Willie Desjardins: "It's always a concern when you lose in the third, but they got a couple of breaks. Then we got a couple of breaks too, but they got it going. They're a good team, they're going to create. They're one of the best offensive teams in the League so it's that they're going to go through the third without chances. I thought after the first 10 minutes, we played a good game."
Daniel Sedin: "I thought we played good. Aside from the first 10 [minutes], I thought we played real well. I think we deserved to win, but that's the way it is. They're a good offensive team and they're going to get chances. We let one slip away but we got to keep just playing the same way and I think we'll get our wins."

NHL - Anaheim Sucks @ St Louis Blues 1-2 - Thursday, October 29, 2015

The game-winning goal for the Blues typifies the way things are going for the Sucks. The Ducks concluded a five-game trip without a victory after rookie Colton Parayko's fluke goal midway through the third period gave the Blues a 2-1 win at Scottrade Center. Parayko, who leads all NHL defensemen with four goals, got the puck at the blue line after the Blues' Scott Gomez won a faceoff and fired a shot that missed the net. But the puck came off the end boards, caromed off the left skate of Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen and slid into the net with 9:29 remaining, breaking a 1-1 tie.
Parayko left the game late in the third period with an undisclosed injury. Coach Ken Hitchcock said he thinks Parayko will be fine. Parayko is the third defenseman in Blues history to score two game-winning goals in his rookie season, joining Brian Benning in 1986-87 and Erik Johnson in 2007-08. His 10 shots on goal set a Blues single-game rookie record. The last NHL rookie to have 10 shots on goal in a game was Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals on April 7, 2006. Hitchcock spoke recently about wanting Parayko to be more accurate with his heavy shot. He laughed after being asked if he thought it was OK with that shot being wide of the net.
Vladimir Tarasenko also scored and Jake Allen made 22 saves for the Blues, who have two wins and an overtime loss on their five-game homestand. The Ducks got a power-play goal from Hampus Lindholm and have scored 10 times in their 10 games this season. They are 0-5-1 on the road this season after an 0-4-1 trip. Andersen made 32 saves and fell to 0-5-2 despite a 2.05 goals-against average and a save percentage of .932.
The Blues got a bit of a scare when Tarasenko was hit by Anaheim's Shawn Horcoff with four minutes to play in the second period. He left the ice favoring his left leg and did not return for the remainder of the period but came back for the third and got a rousing ovation from the 16,904 in attendance.
Lindholm gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead by scoring Anaheim's third power-play goal of the season. He took a feed from Corey Perry to the left of Allen, who stopped the first couple of attempts, but Lindholm continued to whack at the puck before slipping it past Allen on the short side 2:33 into the second period. It was the Ducks' second goal in the second period this season. They've been outscored 13-2. The Blues tied it on Tarasenko's team-leading sixth goal. He converted a 2-on-0 play with Jori Lehtera after the Ducks had a terrific chance to go up 2-0. Cam Fowler's pass through the crease went of the skates of Perry and Carl Hagelin onto the stick of Blues forward Steve Ott. His pass sprung Tarasenko and Lehtera, and Tarasenko beat Andersen at 6:18 of the second period. Despite being without some key players in Jaden Schwartz (fractured ankle), Paul Stastny (broken foot), Kevin Shattenkirk (lower body) and Patrik Berglund (shoulder surgery), the Blues are finding ways to accumulate points. They need all the points they can get in a competitive Central Division.

Blues Quotes

Ken Hitchcock: "Yeah [Parayko's] around big points right now, which is a good sign for us right now. He's getting a lot of big points, timely points, timely goals, timely assists, whatever. He's having a big impact with us right now."
Vladimir Tarasenko: "Good. Good. I feel good. It was really loud. Thanks for fans here. We have a couple 2-on-0's in our hockey career together. It's fun to play with [Lehtera]. ... It was my first 2-on-0 goal in my NHL career. It was pretty fun. That's how coaches teach us in Russia; if you go 2-on-0, make a pass at the blue line and let the guy do whatever."
Steve Ott: "This is a really tight group in here guys. You can never replace guys like [Shattenkirk] and [Stastny] and [Schwartz] and even [Scottie Upshall] for that fact too. With all these guys, you can't. We've got a lot of young guys in the lineup, we're all pushing each other, we're a really tight-knit group, our goaltending is playing great and when you do so you're getting a recipe to win. The practices have been tough. We're grinding each other, trying to make each other better at the same time to kind of push forward and when we get those bodies back it's only going to help us and right now we're picking up some valuable points."
Dirty Dog Corey Perry doing what he does best, gooning it up.

Penalties

2nd Period
00:49 STL	Alex Pietrangelo  Holding against  Ryan Kesler
08:31 STL	Steve Ott  Roughing against  Patrick Maroon
08:31 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Roughing against  Steve Ott
08:31 ANA	Korbinian Holzer  Roughing against  Steve Ott
11:24 ANA	Ryan Kesler  Hooking against  Carl Gunnarsson
16:20 ANA	Corey Perry  Holding against  Steve Ott
16:20 ANA	Corey Perry  Fighting (maj) against  Steve Ott
16:20 STL	Steve Ott  Fighting (maj) against  Corey Perry
17:16 STL	David Backes  Tripping against  Kevin Bieksa

NHL - Buffalo Sabres @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3-4 - Thursday, October 29, 2015

Jeff Zatkoff made 50 saves to help the Penguins to a 4-3 victory against the Sabres, spoiling coach Dan Bylsma's return to Consol Energy Center. Pittsburgh has won six of its past seven games since beginning the season with three consecutive losses. Zatkoff's start was his first in the NHL since April 13, 2014, when the Penguins lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Ottawa Senators. It was his first win in the League since March 22, 2014, when Pittsburgh defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3. The four goals are the most the Penguins have scored this season. The Sabres failed in their bid to win consecutive games for the first time this season.
Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy scored his first goal of the season to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead 8:18 into the second period. Shortly after being released from the penalty box, Lovejoy gained possession and dropped the puck to Evgeni Malkin entering the offensive zone. Malkin returned the puck to Lovejoy, who tucked it between the left post and goalie Chad Johnson's right skate.
Malkin extended the Pittsburgh lead to two goals on a power play with 5:03 remaining in the second. Malkin's fourth goal was the Penguins' third with the man-advantage on 32 opportunities. Matt Moulson scored with 2:26 remaining in the third period to pull the Sabres to within one goal, but Buffalo could not capitalize on a power play in the game's final two minutes. The goal initially was credited to Ryan O'Reilly, who had the primary assist.
Pittsburgh allowed 24 shots in the third period. The Penguins played Wednesday, earning a 3-1 win at the Washington Capitals, and coach Mike Johnston said he thought it affected their late-game performance against the Sabres. Zatkoff made four saves in the final 51 seconds to preserve the one-goal lead.
The Penguins scored two goals in the game's first 7:16, but a late push from the Sabres erased their two-goal deficit. Pascal Dupuis and Patric Hornqvist each scored his first goal of the season to build the Penguins' 2-0 lead. Dupuis scored 56 seconds in when he dove to poke a rebound off of a shot from Sidney Crosby past Johnson. Crosby also assisted Hornqvist's goal with a backhand pass that set up Hornqvist for a one-timer between the faceoff circles. Dupuis' goal was his first since Nov. 14, 2014, when he scored twice against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Sabres responded with two goals 2:15 apart to tie the game with 3:20 remaining in the first. Jamie McGinn deflected Tim Schaller's shot past Zatkoff at 14:25, then O'Reilly fed Nicolas Deslauriers from behind the net to set up the tying goal. The Penguins played a video tribute during the first period for Bylsma, who coached Pittsburgh from 2009-2014 and won the Stanley Cup in 2009. Though he joked he doesn't "know what choked up means," Bylsma admitted the crowd's response made for a special moment. Buffalo forward Tyler Ennis did not play because of a lower-body injury and is day-to-day, Bylsma said.

Pens Quotes

Jeff Zatkoff: "It took me a period, about, to get familiar with the screens. In practice, you don't have that many guys, your D corps, your forwards, their forwards, in and out trying to track the puck. So, after the first, I felt a lot more comfortable. It felt like I settled in."
Mike Johnston: "I don't want to make excuses, but that's a tough back-to-back. That's a real tough back-to-back. Sometimes when you have a lead, psychologically at that time, if you're a little bit tired, you tend to sit back. I thought when we did that through the third. That Buffalo, they have a good-skating young team, and we didn't get our forecheck going, so they drilled the net and they came at us with a lot of speed. It seemed like we were backing up a lot.… The best way to settle down a period like that is to attack yourself like we did in the first two periods."

Opposition View

Ryan O'Reilly: "I thought, even though it was a slow start, we stuck with it. I think we've been in that situation before and we haven't handled ourselves the right way and the appropriate way and didn't respond the right way, and this time we did. We came back, we started to get possession of the puck and got it deep, and the game started to swing our way a bit. Unfortunately, in the second, we didn't continue to do what we wanted to do."
Dan Bylsma: "I just saw a little bit of the [tribute video]. They got me jumping around a little bit. It was obviously a nice welcome and nice applause. I was thankful."

KHL - Results - Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Metallurg Nk v Amur 2-3 SO
Amur edged a shoot-out success at Metallurg Novokuznetsk thanks to Vyacheslav Ushenin. The teams were tied at 2-2 in regulation. Amur led twice through Vladislav Ushenin and Maxim Veryovkin; Robert Kousal and Maxim Kazakov equalized for Kuznya.
Avangard v Spartak 2-3 OT
Spartak recovered from a slow start to beat Avangard in overtime. The home team raced into a 2-0 lead inside five minutes thanks to Vladimir Sobotka and Denis Parshin, and held that advantage until the third period. But Andrei Yermakov got one back and Vyacheslav Leshchenko tied the scores in the 53rd minute before getting the overtime winner.
Barys Astana v SKA 4-2
It’s not yet two weeks since SKA parted company with head coach Andrei Nazarov, and the former chief has already given the Army Men grounds to regret that decision. Back at his previous club, Barys, a quirk of the calendar offered this opposite for swift revenge. And, on a day when Kazakh hockey celebrated the official opening of Astana’s new arena, Nazarov’s new team came up trumps. The excitement of the grand opening seemed to take its toll early on, with SKA retaining its composure to take a third-minute lead through Anton Burdasov. Nigel Dawes then tied it up in the first period before assisting Roman Savchenko’s go-ahead goal early in the second. But when Evgeny Dadonov levelled the scores on the power play the game went into the final stanza with everything to play for. That’s when Dawes got to work once more. SKA began brightly, but after losing possession at a face-off in the Barys end Dawes engineered a lightning breakaway, exchanged passes with Brandon Bochenski and fired home his second of the night. That was the game-winner; Konstantin Romanov added a fourth three minutes later to ease any nerves in the closing stages.
Sibir v Admiral 2-0
First-period goals from Artyom Voroshilo and Sergei Shumakov set Sibir on the way to a 2-0 win at home to Admiral. Alexander Salak made 37 saves for his shut-out.
Severstal v Vityaz 2-3
Vityaz won 3-2 at Severstal thanks to a strong first-period showing. Alexander Nikulin, Anton Korolyov and Mario Kempe all scored in the opening stanza. Yury Trubachyov and Maxim Trunyov were Severstal’s scorers.
Dinamo Minsk v Metallurg Magnitogorsk 6-4
Sergei Mozyakin remains tantalizingly close to his 400th top-flight goal after missing out in Minsk. Magnitka’s captain had assists on two of his team’s goals, but unusually could not muster a single shot on target as he remains on 399 markers. Initially the game looked to be going Magnitka’s way. Jan Kovar opened the scoring in the sixth minute with the first of two goals on the night and Wojtek Wolski got a third in the 19th minute to send the visitor into the intermission 3-2 up. Ryan Gunderson and Ryan Vesce were the home scorers.
Oskar Osala extended that lead in the 26th minute, but from then on Dinamo called the shots. Andrei Stepanov quickly pulled one back and Matt Ellison tied it up 30 seconds before the hooter. The third period was thus set for a decisive contribution from someone, but if the script called for a Mozyakin winner, the reality was a second of the night for Stepanov to put Dinamo up. Alexei Kalyuzhny completed the scoring with six seconds to play; Metallurg and Mozyakin keep waiting.Slovan v Lada 2-5
Lada motored to a 5-2 win at Slovan. The damage was done in the first two periods with four unanswered goals from Georgy Belousov, Stanislav Romanov, Stanislav Bocharov and Martin Zatovic. Torpedo v Salavat Yulaev 2-3 OT
Following an 11-goal thriller last time out, Salavat Yulaev once again found itself involved in a dramatic encounter. This time the Ufa team clawed its way back from 0-2 down to tie the game in the closing minutes before snatching an overtime success. Torpedo, riding high in the Western Conference this season, took a first-period lead through Vadim Khomitsky and seemed to be on the way to victory when Dmitry Syomin made it 2-0 early in the third. But Salavat hit back: Nikolai Porkhorkin quickly reduced the deficit before Alexander Loginov got a dramatic tying goal on 58:51. That paved the way for Sami Lepisto to complete the recovery in overtime.

CSKA Moscow v Dynamo Moscow 3-2
CSKA paid tribute to legendary former player Pavel Bure in front of a packed derby day crowd on Leningradsky Prospekt, adding his jersey to the roll the of honor around the club’s historic rink. Nicknamed the ‘Russian Rocket’ for his fast-paced performances with the Canucks in the NHL, Bure began his career with three seasons at CSKA where he formed a formidable line alongside Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny. Those three were among the first wave of Soviet players to head west as the Iron Curtain came down and Bure became one of the first true Trans-Atlantic hockey stars.
Today’s CSKA also has its star names, but Wednesday’s derby success was largely down to a lesser-known player. Sergei Andronov got two of his team’s goals, including the game-winner, to claim the man-of-the-match award here. He and Igor Ozhiganov opened up a 2-0 lead for CSKA in the first period but Dynamo hit back in the second through Ansel Galimov and Denis Kokarev. Parity was short-lived though, as Andronov got the winner in the 36th minute.
Dynamo included goalie Alexander Yeryomenko on the roster for the first time since the start of the season. He didn’t make it onto the ice here, but has overcome the injury he sustained against Sibir back in August and will be pushing for Alexander Lazushin’s place in the starting line-up.
Medvescak v Ak Bars 3-4
Ak Bars weathered a third-period storm to beat Medvescak 4-3 in Zagreb. The early stages were all about the visitors. Mikhail Glukhov, Oscar Moller and Dmitry Obukhov made it 3-0 inside 27 minutes. But the start of the third saw the host hit back with goals from Marek Kvapil and two from Mikko Kousa. However Vladimir Tkachyov added a fourth for Ak Bars between Kousa’s markers and that proved good enough for the win.

KHL - Results - Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Traktor @ Lokomotiv 2-1
Loko’s 13-game winning streak finally came to an end in Chelyabinsk after a narrow defeat against Traktor. Victory here would have seen Alexei Kudashov’s team record the second-longest unbeaten run in KHL history; instead Lokomotiv is tied with CSKA and Metallurg Magnitogorsk, both of which also recorded 13-game sequences. Like many of Lokomotiv’s games it was a tense, low-scoring affair. The deadlock remained until the 33rd minute when Martin Ruzicka got a touch on Alexei Petrov’s shot from the blue line, deceiving Vitaly Kolesnik to open the scoring. Traktor doubled that lead in the third period with a short-handed goal from Alexander Rybakov, evading two defensemen to get his wrist shot away. Loko got one back through Denis Mosalyov when he fired home Petri Kontiola’s pass from behind the net in the 51st minute. That prompted a valiant attempt to escape defeat, with Pavel Francouz making a smart double save to deny Mosalyov and Daniil Apalkov in the closing stages.
Neftekhimik @ HC Sochi 2-1 SO

Neftekhimik beat HC Sochi in a shoot-out after a 1-1 tie. Max Warn gave the visitor a third-period lead, but Nikita Shchitov tied it up with five minutes to play. There was no further scoring until Evgeny Grigorenko beat Konstantin Barulin with the first shot of the shoot-out, and that proved decisive.Jokerit @ Avtomobilist 4-1
Jokerit celebrated its 48th birthday with a victory over Avtomobilist, but the final scoreline wasn’t as close as the action on the ice. The party got going in the 12th minute when Niklas Hagman put the home team up, but Alexei Dostoinov tied it up right on the first hooter as Avto threatened to blow out the Finns’ candles. The middle session was a cagey affair, with the side producing just 11 shots on target between them. Happily for Jokerit, Jesper Jensen’s attempt in the 40th minute popped up a rebound that Jesse Joensuu tucked away to make it 2-1. Avtomobilist tried to step up the pace in the third but struggled to turn territory into scoring opportunities. A holding penalty called on Vitaly Popov in the 57th minute proved costly: Jokerit converted the power play thanks to Ville Lajunen’s goal and a Topi Jakola empty-netter put the icing on the home team’s birthday cake.
Dinamo Riga @ Ugra 7-1

Dinamo Riga handed a hefty beating to Ugra in the Latvian capital. The damage was done with four unanswered goals in the first period. Kristaps Sotnieks, Miks Indrasis, Maris Bichevskis and Edgars Kulda all found the net. Kirill Rasskazov pulled one back early in the second, but there was no heroic story to be told for Ugra, Dinamo continued to cruise to a 7-1 victory to draw level with Severstal at the foot of the Western Conference table.

Nashville Predators @ San Jose Sharks 2-1 - Wed, Oct 28, 2015

The Nashville Predators didn't score a goal in two shutout losses to the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center last season. Eric Nystrom's scored 3:22 into the game and Calle Jarnkrok broke a tie with 11:08 remaining to lift the Predators to a 2-1 victory against the Sharks in the opener of a four-game road trip. Jarnkrok missed the game this past Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins because of an illness. Pekka Rinne made 20 saves for the Predators, who sit atop the Western Conference. Nashville scored first for the eighth time in nine games this season and have outscored its opponents 7-0 in the first period. Joe Pavelski scored for San Jose, and Jones made 22 saves.

Rinne made a spectacular glove save of Sharks defenseman Justin Braun's shot from the right circle with 8:35 left. Bourque went to the box for interfering with Pavelski at 11:38, but the Predators killed the penalty. The Sharks pulled Jones with 1:45 left. Marc-Edouard Vlasic sent a shot from the left point off the crossbar with under 50 seconds remaining, but that was the closest the Sharks came to tying the game. Sharks rookie forward Joonas Donskoi returned to the lineup after missing five games because of a lower-body injury and rejoined Joe Thornton and Pavelski on the top line. Fourth-line center Ben Smith, who missed five games because of a head injury, returned to the lineup. Eric Nystrom has three goals in nine games this season after scoring seven in 60 games in 2014-15.

Goals

* Nystrom beat Jones with a slap shot from the left circle, ripping the puck inside the left post. Jones had a clear view of the shot but couldn't make the save. Roman Josi and Paul Gaustad had the assists.
* The Sharks pulled even at 1:28 of the third period on Pavelski's fourth goal of the season. Pavelski was knocked down twice in front of the crease, but he got up a third time and hammered a rebound past Rinne. Defenseman Matt Tennyson had the initial shot from long range that Rinne denied but couldn't control. Matt Nieto sent that rebound toward Rinne from close range, and Pavelski put the second rebound past him.
* Jarnkrok's scored his first goal of the season on a 2-on-1 rush when he took a cross-ice pass from Gabriel Bourque in the right circle and beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones with a shot inside the right post.

Sharks Bites

Martin Jones: "I thought we played a good game. I give up a couple of soft goals and that's the difference in the game. Early on in the game, you need a save. It's hard to come back against a tough defensive team with a good goalie."
Joe Pavelski: "He's a good goalie, one of the best in the League. If he sees it, he stops it. You have to get traffic."

Opposition View

Calle Jarnkrok: "I was just trying to get my legs going there in the first period. It got better in the second and better in the third. It was good to be back out there."
Eric Nystrom: "It was a really nice breakout, starting from our own end. We distributed the puck out wide, and Josi drove the lane. I was just the middle lane drive on a 3-on-2 break and he just laid it into me full speed and I just tried ripping it on net and it found the side on the stick side and went in. It felt good."
Pekka Rinne: "I think obviously the coaching staff has a big role in preparing us, really making sure we know who we play against and what kind of system and what kind of players. And then it's up to every individual to bring up the energy and just get ready for the game. I think we've done a really good job so far. Got a little lucky there [when Vlasic hit crossbar]."
Barret Jackman: "It's big. You want to have success on the road and that first game is usually an indication of how you're going to come out of the gates and how you're going to play the rest of the trip. When you win the first game it's great for momentum and great for a blueprint of how you have to play the entire time."

NHL - Pittsburgh Penguins @ Washington Capitals 3-1 - Wed, Oct 28, 2015

It's usually the offense that dazzles when the Penguins play the Capitals. But it was the goaltending that stole the show. Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves in a 3-1 win at Verizon Center that ended the Capitals' five-game winning streak. Fleury has allowed two goals on 73 shots in his past two games.
Pittsburgh started the season with three consecutive losses but has won five of its past six games. Kessel has the winning goal in back-to-back games. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for Washington, and Holtby made 22 saves. The Penguins outshot the Capitals 14-13 in a scoreless first period. Pittsburgh failed to score despite having three power-play opportunities, including a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:45. Fleury came up with several big saves on the Capitals' two power plays in the scoreless second period, when Washington outshot Pittsburgh 14-4.
Penguins defenseman Ian Cole and Capitals forward Tom Wilson took matching roughing penalties with 21 seconds remaining in the second period, and with the teams still playing 4-on-4, Kuznetsov put Washington ahead, the Russian has four goals and 10 points in his past four games. But Bennett, returning after missing five games with an undisclosed injury and playing in his 100th NHL game, got the Penguins level. Trotz thought Bennett's goal was the turning point of the game and thought the Capitals could have responded more effectively. Neither Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby nor Washington's Alex Ovechkin had a point in their 34th regular-season game against the other. Fleury has played every minute of Pittsburgh's first nine games.

Goals

* With the teams still playing 4-on-4, Kuznetsov beat Fleury with a wrist shot 1:28 into the third to put Washington ahead. Kuznetsov has four goals and 10 points in his past four games.
* Bennett got the Penguins even 24 seconds later with his second of the season when he picked up his own rebound and beat Holtby to the glove side.
* Phil Kessel scored the go-ahead goal 3:49 into the third period when he tucked Evgeni Malkin's pass behind Washington goaltender Braden Holtby for his fourth goal of the season, breaking a 1-1 tie.
* Nick Bonino hit the empty net with 1:43 remaining.

Pens Quotes

Beau Bennett: "I think the more shots [Fleury] sees the better he plays. We can't do that every night, but he was definitely our best player tonight and kept us in it."
Marc-Andre Fleury: "It was definitely a rough start, you know, that's something we expected from [other] teams. Maybe that step back was a little bit of a wakeup. I'm blessed to get better throughout the game and play better hockey lately."
Mike Johnston: "I thought just the way the play developed down low in the corner, he found an opening. The last few games he's found an opening down low and he's missed some of those chances, so you know that they're going to come. Our defense, I thought all night, they were good in the corners, they didn't allow a lot of extra shots around the net and [Fleury] was big when he had to be. He made some big-time saves on those rebounds. We knew coming in here that we wanted to improve our divisional record this year. It was our first game against a divisional team; they're hot, they're coming off a pretty good streak, they're playing in their building in front of a big crowd tonight. I thought our guys responded well after they scored."

Opposition View

Barry Trotz: "I thought both goaltenders were good tonight. We had some really good chances and we didn't capitalize. We were right in the crease a lot. I thought that would have given us a little momentum. We couldn't get one past Fleury. There were times we were in the blue paint and we couldn't whack it by him. That's when you've got to be resilient. There was really a controlled breakout situation. They executed with a little bit of speed and they were able to get the momentum back real quick, and maybe we even gave them some momentum."
Braden Holtby: "I thought we did a pretty good job killing [the 5-on-3], got a little fortunate in some spots with them missing the net. We've played better, the toughest part I think is we wanted to come out physical then took a couple penalties that were us playing physical, it's tough to find where that boundary is when that happens early. I thought the guys still battled through it. Their penalty kill was very good, and I know both teams look at the power play at the end of the night and neither power play scored. But I thought our penalty-killers with the way their power play has been were really solid."

Alex Ovechkin, Sergei Fedorov and the Russian Five

Alex Ovechkin has broken more than a few records during his NHL career, but the next one he reaches will have some added meaning. The Washington Capitals captain is on the verge of becoming the highest goal scorer among Russian-born players, closing in on former NHL player Sergei Fedorov's record of 483 goals. Ovechkin has 480 goals in 766 NHL games, the most of any player since he entered the League in 2005. Ovechkin could tie or surpass Fedorov's mark by the end of the week. The Capitals play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday; the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday and visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
Washington was Fedorov's final stop in the NHL. He played 70 games for the Capitals after he was acquired in a trade from the Blue Jackets in 2008. He retired from the NHL after the 2008-09 season with 483 goals in 1,248 NHL games. Fedorov, who enjoyed his heyday with the Detroit Red Wings, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 9. Breaking the record is especially meaningful for Ovechkin, not only because Fedorov is his former teammate, but because of Fedorov's contributions to hockey in Russia and the standard he set for Russian players coming into the NHL. Ovechkin, who often played on a line with Fedorov in Washington, said he still corresponds with Fedorov, who he still looks to as a mentor. Watching Ovechkin pile up on accomplishments is special to everyone around him, especially those who are familiar with him and Fedorov.
Ovechkin has scored at least 50 goals six times during his career and is the fifth player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in each of his first 10 seasons. He holds Washington's franchise record for most career goals. Ovechkin is likely headed for the Hall of Fame when his NHL career is through, though that doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon.

"I'm very excited. It's going to be a huge honor for me to beat his record, especially [since] I know him and he was a top player I played with. It'll be something. I was growing up when he was here, so it's kind of a situation where you look at him when you're growing up, you watch how he played, all his influence on Russian hockey, and it was huge." Ovechkin said.
"It probably is a little bit surreal, and also a little bit heartwarming. Ovi's driven to be one of the best in the game, not only here in North America but in Russia. I think he's probably quietly very proud of the fact that he can at least match the standard and he's probably going to bypass it with the number of games that he'll probably play from now till the end of his career. That's got to be some satisfaction. If I know anything about Sergei Fedorov, he'll probably be really happy that a guy like Ovi's passing him." Barry Trotz said.
"I think it's a big memory for him and I think he's glad to be the best scorer to represent our country. It's always positive for him," Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov said.
"As far as I'm concerned, [he's] the best goal-scorer the game has ever seen. It's not like he's stopping either, he's not just barely getting past. He's still in the prime of his career. He's got many years of goal scoring left in him." Brooks Laich said.

Of course however many goals Ovechkin does eventually end his career with can't compare to the overall skill Fedorov had. Ovechkin is a goal-scorer and that is pretty much it. He isn't a great leader for either the Caps or his country, Russia. He certainly seems to be lacking in big game situations. When his country needed him the most at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Ovechkin was found wanting. The same can be said about his post season adventures with Washington. The same can not be said about Fedorov, who had a storied career in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings, winning three Stanley Cups in the process. Fedorov will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 9. but let's take a look back to where it all began.
Twenty years ago, hockey took a major step in its evolution when the Detroit Red Wings put five Russian players together as one unit of three forwards and two defensemen for the first time.
The "Russian Five," as the deployment of forwards Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Vyacheslav Kozlov, and defensemen Vladimir Konstantinov and Viacheslav Fetisov became known, debuted Oct. 27, 1995, against the Calgary Flames and helped the Red Wings score two of its three goals. Kozlov and Larionov scored in Detroit's 3-0 victory against Calgary, but hockey ended up being the biggest winner. The game changed for the better in response to the transcendental nature of the Russian Five, the brainchild of Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman.
Together, the Russians helped Detroit to a historic 1995-96 season, when it set the NHL record with 62 wins and finished one point short of tying the record for most points in a season (132), set by the Montreal Canadiens in 1976-77. More importantly, the Russian Five was a big part of the Red Wings' first Stanley Cup championship in 42 years.
In Russia, it was common practice to use the same five players as a unit, but in North America it was incredibly rare to see a forward line paired with the same defensemen on a regular basis. The players who formed the Russian Five found their way to Detroit in various ways, but it was the acquisition of Larionov, who would become the unit's center, that allowed the plan to be put in motion by Bowman. Few people could find logic in Bowman's decision to trade Ray Sheppard, who scored 150 goals for the Red Wings in the previous four seasons, to the San Jose Sharks for Larionov, 34, early in the 1995-96 season. Bowman had a plan, though, and it worked brilliantly.

In the '90s, most NHL teams played a simple game, Dump the puck into the offensive zone and forecheck. Left and right wings played strictly on their side of the ice. The Russian Five changed all of that, emulating the style of the Soviet teams that dominated world and Olympic competition during the previous three decades with a combination of speed and puck control. Fedorov and Kozlov, the wings, would often switch sides to confuse opponents and create scoring chances. The unit played an instrumental role as the Red Wings developed into one of the most dominant teams of the decade and won the 1997 Stanley Cup.
Each member of the Russian Five dazzled in his own way. Fedorov, the first European-born player to win the Hart Trophy, provided the fast skating, breathtaking skill and goal production. Konstantinov was a master of the big hit and solid defensive play. Larionov was all about sophisticated playmaking. Fetisov was an all-around dependable defenseman who was great offensively. Kozlov was a sublime passer with an elite slap shot. The five Russians not only changed the way the game was played but they changed the identity of the Red Wings in the process. The unit's style of play, which emphasized movement, quick passing and possession of the puck, has become the calling card for the organization.

Scotty Bowman: "Twenty years ago, these guys brought a completely new style of hockey to the NHL. Nowadays, a lot of teams play a similar type of a game. When the Russian Five were on the ice, you had to have your popcorn ready because you knew that you were in for a treat. They didn't just play hockey; they created masterpieces on the ice."
"My main trick was not to unite all five Russians every time. I was worried that the opponents would be able to figure out how to play against them. Often, I would wait until the second or even third period to get them out on the ice together. It always got other teams confused."
"At that time, we had too many right wings. The Sharks gave me a massive list of players to choose from in exchange for Sheppard. I wasn't looking for a center, but when I saw Larionov's name, I thought that it would be great to get a player with such enormous hockey IQ and put all five Russian guys together."

Red Wings GM Ken Holland was in his second season as an assistant GM with Detroit when Bowman put together the Russian Five:
"When those five guys were on the ice, opponents didn't know how to play against them. I remember Larionov and his linemates always saying that if you have the puck, you control the game. They came from the same school of hockey and shared a similar mentality. They understood each other perfectly."
Sergei Fedorov: "We played the style of hockey that we understood and enjoyed. I remember often when we were on the ice, we would spend most of the time in the offensive zone. We dominated the game because this style was unusual at that time and teams didn't know how to defend against the guys who constantly move the puck around."