Sunday, October 30, 2016
Ufa v Sibir 6-0
Young defenseman Zakhar Arzamastsev scored twice to lead Salavat Yulaev to an emphatic win over sorry Sibir. The 23-year-old got the opening goal after four minutes and also bagged the fifth as Sibir fell apart in the second period. That helped to set up a convincing victory and move Igor Zakharkin’s team to within two points of Chernyshev Division leader Avangard. The form of another youngster Kirill Kaprizov is another reason for optimism in Ufa. His assist on Arzamstsev’s opener this afternoon meant he had picked up at least one point in eight of his last nine games, taking his tally to 7+6+13 points from that run and 10+10 for the season so far. Experience is also playing its part, with Linus Omark getting his sixth goal and 27th point of the season and Igor Makarov also finding the net. Dmitry Chernykh got his first of the season and Anton Lazarev scored in the third period to complete the rout. For Sibir, meanwhile, a season that began with high hopes is starting to slide out of control. Today’s defeat was the seventh in eight and leaves Andrei Skabelka’s team in eighth place going into the international break. That’s below par for the Novosibirsk team in recent years, and its prospects are further blighted by a long-term injury to first-choice goalie Alexander Salak. Here it failed to take advantage of some indisciplined play from Salavat Yulaev – the host had 70 penalty minutes in total – and failed to beat Niklas Svedberg or Andrei Gavrilov from 27 shots on goal.
Traktor v Metallurg Nk 2-0
Traktor moved to fifth in the East with a solid victory at home to struggling Metallurg. Both goals came in the first period, and both were on the power play. First Dmitry Pestunov fired into the roof of the net off Paul Szczechura’s pass across the face of the net to convert a five-on-three power play with one second remaining. Then Yury Petrov doubled the advantage in the 16th minute, forcing the puck home from close range after Andrei Kareyev had denied Maxim Yakutsenya and Alexander Pankov. Metallurg improved on a first period that produced just five shots on Traktor’s net, but never looked like getting back into the game. Pavel Francouz finished with 21 saves; Kuznya has now lost nine of the last 10.
Vityaz v Minsk 9-6
An action-packed game saw Vityaz head into the international break on a high, with the Moscow Region team moving into a playoff position at the end of the first phase of the campaign. In eight previous KHL seasons, Vityaz has never reached a playoff, but under the guidance of Valery Belov the team looks more competitive than ever. Sunday’s victory over Dinamo Minsk was not without its wobbles, but a majestic five-point performance from Jakub Jerabek delivered the result that takes Vityaz up to 40 points, three ahead of Jokerit and level with Dinamo. Belov’s team got off to great start. After just 13 seconds, Maxim Afinogenov and Alexander Nikulin combined for Alexei Makayev to score. In the third minute, Vityaz had a power play and the same combination repeated the trick, this time within eight seconds of the restart. Dinamo also has big playoff hopes this season and hit back to tie the game through Rob Klinkhammer and Andrei Stas – but then Jerabek got into the game. The Czech D-man was the key figure in the second period, picking up two assists before scoring a goal of his own as Vityaz opened a 5-3 lead. First he fed Alexei Kopeikin for a shot from the blue line that beat Ben Scrivens. Then he and Kopeikin combined as Mario Kempe made it 4-2. Matt Ellison got one back for the Belarusians but Jerabek wasn’t done. In the 35th minute he capitalized on some slack defense to reinstate that two-goal cushion once again. Afinogenov made it 6-3 early in the third and that seemed to have settled the outcome, but Dinamo was not yet done. Ilya Shinkevich scored two goals in 19 seconds to put the game back on a knife-edge. But that man Jerabek calmed home nerves with his second of the night, make it 7-5 on a 5-on-3 power play with seven minutes left. There was still time for two more goals: Miro Aaltonen off a Jerabek assist for Vityaz before Alexander Materukhin made it 8-6/. Then Yury Koksharov found the empty net, making it 9-6 and confirming this as the highest-scoring game of the season so far.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Admiral v Kunlun 2-3
Halloween – like hockey – isn’t a traditional part of Chinese life. But lovers of both have cause to celebrate today as Kunlun Red Star lit up the holiday by spooking Admiral and moving into a playoff spot. The win also brought around some swift revenge for Red Star, coming just two days after a 3-1 loss on the same Fetisov Arena ice. This time the visitor made a flying start with Chad Rau opening the scoring inside 40 seconds. That stung the host into action and Admiral seized the initiative before tying the scores in the 17th minute. However, the sailors were quickly sunk by a broadside from Kunlun: two goals in 90 seconds saw Tuukka Mantyla and Damien Fleury send the visitors into the intermission with a 3-1 lead. Rau added an assist to his opening goal, and Sean Collins picked up two assists on the night. Admiral switched goalies during the break and Igor Bobkov turned away 21 shots to prevent Kunlun adding to its tally. But the home team could not find a way back: James Wright’s goal in the 55th minute was too late to save the game. Kunlun moves up to seventh in the Eastern Conference, one place and four points behind Admiral. Sibir drops out of the playoff places, two points adrift of Lada.
Severstal v Medvescak 7-3
If one Hallowe’en visitor earned rich rewards for its efforts, the other away team found Severstal’s door slammed firmly in its face. A big win for the host meant that this trip was a nightmare for Medvescak – at least for the first two periods.
Severstal got off to a great start with two goals in the first six minutes. Daniil Vovchenko opened the scoring on the power play and Dmitry Kagarlitsky followed it up with number two. Things got much worse for Medvescak as the second period drew to a close. Alexander Yevseyenkov made it 3-0 on the power play in the 34th minute, then Ruslan Karlin added a fourth on 35:01. That was the end of the evening for goalie Drew MacIntyre, but his replacement Sergei Gaiduchenko lasted just 90 seconds before giving up a goal to Denis Yezhov. The middle stanza ended with a fight. Severstal’s Nikolai Kazakovtsev was penalized as the instigator of a brawl that took in Nathan Perkovic, Mike Glumac and Thomas Larkin for Medvescak and also Adam Mashur of Severstal.
Combat seemed to invigorate Medvescak at last. Colby Genoway got one back in the 46th minute before Lukas Lessio and Edwin Hedberg scored two goals in the 53rd. Game on, belatedly, until Sergei Monakhov made it 6-3 for the host and Pavel Chernov wrapped it up with an empty net goal. Yury Trubachyov had two assists on the night, taking his KHL points tally to 151 and his Severstal total to 249.
Tuesday, November 01, 2016
Dinamo Riga v Dinamo Minsk 4-3
Miks Indrasis was not having the best of seasons. Last year’s top goalscorer for Dinamo Riga had failed to find the net in 23 appearances, and his personal disappointment was matched by his team’s miserable form this season. But there were some signs of progress despite a seven-game losing streak: all those defeats were by a single goal, and four of them came after tying in regulation. So with Dinamo Minsk coming to Latvia looking to get back on form in the playoff race, there was some hope for the men in maroon. The Latvians left it late. When Sergei Kostitsyn put Minsk 3-2 up in the 56th minute, wiping out an earlier 2-1 lead for the host, it looked like the anguish of narrow defeats was set to continue. But Indrasis stepped up. He’d finally broken his goal drought in the 36th minute, cancelling out Alexander Materukhin’s early opener. Now he delivered an even more significant goal to tie it up at 3-3 on 57:28. And he wasn’t done there. With just one second left to play Dinamo Riga snatched a dramatic game-winner with Indrasis taking the puck behind the net and popping it out for Gints Meija to steal all three points. That was harsh on Minsk’s Rob Klinkhammer. The Canadian forward has been in good form this season and his goal and assist took his personal tally to seven points from the last four games. But this was undoubtedly Indrasis’ day.
Monday, November 07, 2016
Barys v Medvescak 2-0
Barys moved closer to a playoff spot as the KHL returned to action after the international break. The Kazakhs made it three wins from three, continuing the upswing that began last month and climbing to ninth in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Lada with a game in hand. But for Medvescak, second bottom in the west, it was more of the same as Gordie Dwyer’s team saw its losing streak extend to a fourth game. One small consolation: after giving up 13 goals in the previous two games, this was a much-improved defensive display and the game was live until the last seconds. Defenses were on top early on and the first period produced no goals and few chances. Barys got in front early in the second with a power play goal: Roman Savchenko lurked on the blue line and his one-timer off Evgeny Rymarev’s pass was too much for Drew MacIntyre to handle. Medvescak tried to up its own offense in response, but could not find a way past Henrik Karlsson. Those frustrations bubbled over in the closing stages and hopes of a last-gasp equalizer evaporated into the mist of two penalty calls in the last minute. Brandon McMillan and Shaone Morrisonn both went to the sin bin, while Edwin Hedberg’s angry reaction saw him talk his way into the locker room ahead of the hooter. Amid the confusion Martin St. Pierre scored into the empty net with one second remaining.
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