Torpedo v Ufa 2-3
Salavat Yulaev rang up a sixth consecutive victory, inspired by it’s in-form forwards. Torpedo, going well in third place in the West, pushed the visitor hard but ultimately fell short in an absorbing encounter. Initially the home side had the edge. Artyom Alyayev opened the scoring with his first goal of the season after three minutes and that lead lasted until midway through the second period. But Zakhar Arzmastsev has been in fine form lately, and his bagged his fifth goal in six games to tie the scores. Arzmastsev is one of a long line of players who began his career at Metallurg Novokuznetsk, and his fellow Siberian Kirill Kaprizov has also been impressive during his first season at Salavat Yulaev. Kaprizov, still only 19, scored the second goal here to take his recent tally to 2+4 and his season’s goal haul to 12. Two goals in barely a minute, and Salavat Yulaev was off to the races again. Teemu Hartikainen, Salavat’s flying Finn, is another player who has found his scoring touch. He assisted on Kaprizov’s goal before getting the game winner in the 44th minute. That goal, also on the power play, was his 17th of the season. He missed the first two games of Salavat’s six-game streak, but has 5+2 in the last four. Linus Omark, another regular scorer, had assists on two goals tonight, moving him up to eight points in six games. When a forward line clicks like this, results follow fast.
Torpedo still had time to pull a late goal back through Nikolai Zherdev, but it wasn’t enough to slow the visitor’s progress and bring Salavat Yulaev up to second place in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Avangard in the Chernyshev Division.
Riga v Ak Bars 2-0
Ak Bars missed the chance to return to the top of the Eastern Conference as Dinamo Riga continued its recent improvement. The backmarker in the Western Conference still has a lot of ground to make up this season, but Monday’s game made it four wins from five for the Latvians. Goalie Janis Kalnins was a key figure on the night, making 24 saves for his shut-out. Kalnins, second choice to Jakub Sedlacek for much of the season, was given the starting role after the 2-5 defeat against Kunlun and backstopped his third successive win on a frustrating evening for the visitor. At the other end Oskars Cibulskis opened the scoring in the first period and Maris Bichevskis found the net on a short-handed break in the second. Guntis Galvins assisted on both. For Ak Bars, little went right as the team failed to recover from the disappointment of losing to bitter rival Salavat Yulaev on Saturday. With its six-game winning streak now fading into the past, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team has a break before returning to action at home to Lada on Nov. 20.
No comments:
Post a Comment