It’s been a tale of contrasting pre-seasons for last season’s Gagarin Cup finalists. In Magnitogorsk, the champion largely kept its roster together, trusting the players that have won it all twice in three seasons. In Moscow, meanwhile, CSKA faced bigger changes.
The big challenge for Dmitry Kvartalnov and his team will be replacing the talents of Alexander Radulov and Nikita Zaitsev, both of whom have moved to the NHL. The head coach admits that it’s impossible to find direct equivalents for two of Russia’s most talented players and is looking to add greater depth to the roster. That was especially evident during the Mayor of Moscow’s Cup, which ended last Thursday with CSKA taking second place behind Dynamo.
However, that runners-up spot was achieved with a youthful line-up as Kvartalnov offered an opportunity for the brightest prospects in the Krasnaya Armiya youth set-up a chance to prove their worth. The likes of 18-year-old Artyom Chmykhov certainly made an impact, even if it wasn’t enough to lift the cup.
Kvartalnov himself was fairly content with his team’s performances, but offered a caveat. “We still have a few questions before the start of the season,” he said. “We’re still waiting for every player to join the system. Some aren’t ready, some are injured, but everyone should be fit for the opening night.”
That opening night could see a new-look top line of Bud Holloway, Gregg Scott and Dmitry Kugryshev. The two Canadians are new to the KHL, but both have extensive experience of European hockey. Kugryshev is a familiar face and was expected to shrug off an injury to be available for Monday’s game.
The goaltending role at CSKA could also be hotly contested in the coming weeks. Last season Ilya Sorokin, aged just 21, kept experienced Swedish international Viktor Fasth out of the crease for much of the campaign. Fasth, however, has impressed with his form and attitude in the summer. “I’ve been pleased to see that he hasn’t given up and is fighting for his place,” Kvartalnov added. “He really is in good shape.”
Metallurg’s stars have stayed in place: colorful rumors linking Danis Zaripov with a move to newcomer Kunlun Red Star proved to be nothing more than gossip while his partners-in-crime Sergei Mozyakin and Jan Kovar are also back for a fourth season of terrorizing KHL defenses.
Observers seeking evidence of a post-championship hangover might point to Magnitka’s failure to wrap up pre-season with victory on home ice in the Romazan Memorial Trophy. The team’s back-to-back defeats against Avangard split opinions among Metallurg’s fans; some felt it highlighted underlying problems with the roster, others argued that pre-season is all about shaking off the rust of the summer months and means nothing when the action starts.
Head coach Ilya Vorobyov tends towards the second view. Asked about the “food for thought” served up by Avangard, Vorobyov highlighted individual flaws rather than systemic problems.
“If you give your opponent a goal and that opponent is as strong defensively as Avangard no amount of skill will get you back into the game,” he said after the Omsk teams 2-0 victory in the Romazan final. “And that’s what happened to us here.”
Metallurg Magnitogorsk hosted CSKA Moscow for the Opening Cup on Monday, Aug. 22. The game faced off at 1900 Moscow time.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 CSKA Moscow 2
Metallurg Magnitogorsk raised the Opening Cup for the second time after edging CSKA in a hard-fought curtain raiser to the ninth KHL season. In the now-traditional repeat of the previous season’s Gagarin Cup final, Magnitka and CSKA served up a game that echoed many of the events of April’s dramatic finale. Both teams had long periods in the ascendancy as the game’s momentum ebbed and flowed; Evgeny Timkin came up with a key contribution at a vital moment for Metallurg and, almost inevitably, Sergei Mozyakin came up with another great goal.For CSKA Dmitry Kugryshev – fit again after missing last week’s Mayor of Moscow Cup – scored twice. It wasn’t enough to salvage anything from the game but it did underline his status as the key creative forward in the post-Radulov era in Moscow.
Kugryshev initially lined up with Greg Scott and Ivan Telegin; something of a surprise after Scott and fellow Canadian Bud Holloway had played together for much of the pre-season campaign. But Dmitry Kvartalnov was happy to shuffle his lines from the start – it took just two-and-a-half minutes for Kugryshev to find himself on the ice with Holloway and the pair combined for the opening goal of the KHL’s ninth season. Admittedly, Magnitka’s defense left something to be desired as Kugryshev collected the puck at the foot of the circle and found his path to the net largely unimpeded but the forward’s finished highlighted his claims to be one of the key creative forces for the Moscow club this season.
Early dominance did not lead to more goals for CSKA, and that allowed the home team to turn the game around thanks to two familiar tormentors. Timkin’s two goals in Moscow in game seven of the Gagarin Cup final shattered CSKA’s championship dream back in April: his juddering check on his own blue line set up a counter-attack that ended with Oskar Osala firing the teams level. Then Mozyakin conjured up his 425th career goal in top-flight Russian hockey. A single maneuver out at the point left two defensemen clutching at thin air as Magnitka’s captain moved into the deep slot and found a shooting lane that left Viktor Fasth with no chance.
Fasth had forced his way back into the starting line-up after a strong pre-season, but the Swede’s evening was destined to end early. Metallurg’s first power play of the game came early in the second and Sergei Tereshchenko made it 3-1 with a shot from the point that seemed to take a deflection of Gennady Stolyarov’s stick. Whether that deceived Fasth was unclear, but it was enough to persuade Kvartalnov to introduce young Ilya Sorokin between the piping.
Metallurg could – maybe should – have extended that lead after carving out some presentable chances on a power play, but instead it was CSKA that raised its game. Kugryshev’s second of the night reduced the arrears after he wove a mesmerizing pattern across the Magnitogorsk zone. Then there were opportunities for Andrei Kuzmenko and Stephane da Costa to tie the game before the final stanza.
That set the scene for a nerve-jangling finish. Could CSKA complete its fightback and force overtime or even a win in regulation? Or would Magnitka find the way to shut down the Army Men and preserve the lead to the end? In the event it was defenses who came out on top: neither team could find a way to score, although CSKA created the bulk of the chances. And so, just as at the end of the last campaign, Metallurg claimed the silverware by the narrowest of margins as the season got off to an entertaining start.
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