Sunday, December 11, 2016
Ugra v Avtomobilist 0-1Andrei Razin’s first game in charge of Ugra saw him face the Avtomobilist team he put together over the summer but left on October 31. Not surprisingly, perhaps, he had mixed feelings about the outcome of this game, admitting to some satisfaction at seeing his former players successfully execute the game plan he had helped them develop over the summer. The specifics of today’s Avto tactics involved withstanding a high-tempo start from Ugra as the host looked to impress the new boss. That done, a power play goal from Alexei Vasilevsky late in the first period gave Vladimir Krikunov’s team an advantage that it would not relinquish.
Ugra continued to create chances, but either wayward finishing or good goaltending from Vladimir Sokhatsky frustrated Razin’s hopes of getting back into the game. Sokhatsky finished with 22 saves to bring the visitor its first win in four and cut the gap to the playoff places to six points. If Avto is an outsider to make post-season, Ugra’s chances seem largely theoretical. The Khanty-Mansiysk team is a further seven points back and lies last but one in the Eastern Conference table with just one win in nine games. Razin’s task seems likely to revolve around laying the foundations for a better campaign next season.
Minsk v Medvescak 6-2
Alexander Materukhin and Dmitry Ambrozheichik both scored doubles as Dinamo strengthened its grip on a playoff place. The Belarusians began the day in seventh place, just one point above the dotted line, but the win sees then overtake Jokerit and open a four-point gap to ninth. Despite the comfortable final margin, it wasn’t until the midway point that Dinamo really took control of the game – thanks largely to Ambrozheichik. His 31st-minute goal made it 4-2, offering some much-needed breathing space after a high-octane start to the game. Then on 38 minutes he scored Dinamo’s fifth, effectively ending the game as a contest.
Earlier, though, Medvescak rattled the host. Jakub Krejcik gave the visitor a sixth-minute lead. Nikita Komarov tied it up in the 15th, and the second period began with an explosion of goals. Materukhin got his first 36 seconds after the restart, but Terry Galiardi tied it up on 21:09 with the first equal strength goal of the game. Another Croatian penalty took its toll, though, as Andrei Stepanov made it 3-2 in the 24th minute. Ambrozheichik than put the game beyond reach before more penalty trouble enabled Materukhin to get his 21st of the season in the third period, converting a 5-on-3 power play in the 53rd minute.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Kunlun v Barys 5-1The KHL finally came back to Beijing as Kunlun Red Star staged its second game in the Chinese capital – and Vladimir Yurzinov’s men returned to the LeSport Center with a bang and a comfortable win over Barys. The 5-1 margin was the newcomer’s biggest victory to date in the KHL, and it earned a valuable three points against one of its closest rivals for a playoff spot. Going into the game, just three point separated these two teams, with Barys hoping to draw level with its opponent and return to the top eight. But Kunlun’s composure in front of goal made the difference. From the moment Joonas Jarvinen opened the scoring on four minutes it was clear that the home team could rely on some clinical finishing – and that proved decisive. Red Star managed just 17 shots on Henrik Karlsson’s net, but scored with five of them to record an impressive 29.4% ration of goals to shots. Tomas Marcinko led the scoring with two goals, including a short-handed effort to make it 4-0 early in the third. Linus Videll had a goal and an assist, Sean Collins scored the third goal and Tommi Taimi posted two assists. Nigel Dawes managed the lone reply for Barys midway through final stanza. Red Star remains in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, but now enjoys a six-point cushion over ninth-placed Barys. And, with this successful return to its home city, the team remains unbeaten in Beijing after winning its previous game here 6-3 against Admiral on September 5.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Amur v Avtomobilist 2-5 Avtomobilist gave its playoff hopes a boost with a comfortable victory in the only KHL game of the day. While most hockey fans in Russia were looking forward to the start of the Channel 1 Cup in Moscow, where the Red Machine takes on Sweden this evening, Amur attracted another big crowd in Khabarovsk. For the home team, languishing in 13th place in the East, there may be little more than pride to play for this season but the visitor needed a win to keep in touch with the top eight. Thus motivated, Avtomobilist hit top gear in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to take complete control of the game. Vladimir Krikunov’s team was already 1-0 up at the first intermission thanks to a power play goal from Dmitry Megalinsky, but that was just the prelude. First, Michal Cajkovsky, a 24-year-old Slovakian defenseman, composed his first KHL goal in the 27th minute with a thumping effort from the blue line after Dmitry Monya and Alexander Tochenyuk wove havoc in the visitor’s zone. Two minutes later Artyom Gareyev added a third and when Monya and Torchenyuk combined once again to set up a power play goal for Tommi Kivisto the home side switched goalies. The new man, Ilya Andryukhov, once a squad member at Atlant, has only made one KHL start, but he limited Avtomobilist to just one further goal. Alexei Vasilevsky made it 5-0 late in the second, effectively confirming Amur’s third consecutive defeat. Igor Rudenkov and Vladislav Ushenin managed consolation goals in the final stanza, but the game was long gone. Avto’s victory moves it to 52 and lifts it to 10th place. But the Yekaterinburg team remains three points adrift of Admiral and Neftekhimik in seventh and eighth respectively, and has played more games than all its immediate rivals for a playoff spot.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Kunlun v Avtomobilist 4-3 OT Artyom Gareyev scored a hat-trick for Avtomobilist to set up the first ever period of 3-on-3 overtime in the KHL’s history, but he still finished on the losing side. The 24-year-old struck twice in the closing minutes to wipe out a 1-3 deficit and tie the game with five minutes to play, having earlier scored a 28th-minute goal to cancel out Damien Fleury’s first-period opener for Kunlun.
Admittedly he rode his luck to claim one of them: a 54th-minute attempt to swing the puck into the danger zone paid off unexpectedly when the outstretched hand of a Kunlun defenseman turned it into Tomi Karhunen’s net. Then, in the 56th minute, Gareyev lifted the puck over the Finnish goalie from a tight angle to tie the game. The new format of overtime is intended to create more space on the ice for attacking players to do their thing, and on this occasion it seemed to work as both sides created opportunities to win it. But the decisive goal went to Kunlun’s Chad Rau on 62:15. The American claimed his second of the game and his 16th of the season to move sixth-placed Red Star on to 61 points, eight clear of ninth-placed Barys. Earlier it looked like Red Star’s two-goal salvo early in the third would be enough to win it in regulation. With the scores tied a 1-1, Rau reacted fastest to a loose puck in front of the net to give Kunlun the lead. Then, moments later, Bellemore made it 3-1 with a neat backhand through Vladimir Sokhatsky’s five-hole off Alexei Ponikarovsky’s pass. But Gareyev’s intervention proved enough to earn his team a point, and a footnote in KHL history.
Admiral v Neftekhimik 7-5
Two teams in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race served up a thrilling battle in Russia’s Far East, with Admiral securing a vital victory in the closing stages of a high-scoring game. The encounter entered its decisive phase in the 54th minute when James Wright struck on the power play to make it 6-4 to the home team. It was the third time that Admiral had enjoyed a two-goal lead, but Neftekhimik had shown plenty of resilience up to now and demonstrated more of the same to claw back to 5-6 when Geoffrey Kinrade converted another power play two-and-a-half minutes later. The outcome remained in the balance until the very last, when Dmitry Sayustov’s empty net goal finally clinched the win for Admiral. It should have been more comfortable for the home team after opening a 3-1 lead in the first period. Defenseman Anton Volchenkov scored his first goal for Admiral, a short-handed strike, to open the scoring in the ninth minute. Konstantin Makarov tied it up off a great assist from Gennady Stolyarov behind the net, but Pavel Makarenko and Dmitry Lugin responded to put Admiral well on top. Neftekhimik, and Richard Gynge in particular, had other ideas. The Swede scored twice in the second period, and Makarov got his second of the game to wipe out that lead, while Robert Sabolic struck at the other end to make it 4-4. But there was a crucial twist to come late in the stanza when 21-year-old Vladimir Tkachyov pounced for his 12th of the season, adding to two earlier assists and giving Admiral a slender advantage to take into the third. The 5-4 scoreline held until the closing minutes before the host made sure of ending its four-game losing streak. Neftekhimik’s defeat keeps the team in eighth place, now three points adrift of seventh-placed Admiral. But it also highlights the team’s high-scoring form of late. In the past month, starting with a 5-2 victory at home to Lada on November 18, Andrei Nazarov’s team has scored five or more in seven games. However, today’s game was also the second time in December that Neftekhimik has been involved in a game with more than 10 goals, suggesting reasons for concern on defense.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Barys forward Nigel Dawes, already established as the KHL’s top goal-scoring import ahead of team-mate Brandon Bochenski, overtook another notable name in this season’s scoring charts. The Kazakh-Canadian dual-national poached his 23rd marker of the current season to overtake SKA’s Ilya Kovalchuk and go second on the goal-scoring list behind record-breaker Sergei Mozyakin. Dawes’ 48th-minute goal in the Far East tied that game at 1-1. Soon after, Roman Starchenko got a vital second for his team, clinching a 2-1 victory that lifts Barys into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. But it wasn’t the prettiest goal of the game: that honor went to Tomas Zohorna’s opener for the host. The Czech gave Amur the lead with some slick puck-handling to get around Maxim Semyonov before beating Henrik Karlsson.
Admiral v Avtomobilist 1-3
Avtomobilist boosted its playoff hopes with a 3-1 win at Admiral – but needed two late goals to complete a come-from-behind win. Vladimir Tkachyov, another in-form player, put the Sailors in front in the 31st minute, but Rok Ticar levelled late in the middle stanza. The game was in the balance until the 55th minute when Ticar got his second of the night. Petr Koukal found the empty net to seal the victory.
Kunlun v Ugra 3-2 SO
Kunlun goalie Tomi Karhunen began his day with good news, the ‘goalie of the week’ award for the preceding seven days after two victories. And he finished it in impressive style, blanking Ugra in a shoot-out to secure another valuable win for his play-off chasing team. Two other Finns provided the Kunlun goals, with Tuukka Mantyla opening the scoring early on and Tomi Sallinen grabbing a dramatic short-handed equalizer with less than 30 seconds to play. In between, though, Ugra looked to have earn new head coach Andrei Razin his first win behind the bench after scoring twice in the 19th minute. Konstantin Panov and Alexander Akmaldinov did the damage, and the lead lasted until late in the game. It wasn’t enough, though. Sallinen tied it up late on, Karhunen set the tone for the shoot-out by denying Panov a second success on the night and Damien Fleury delivered the decider for Red Star.
Metallurg Nk v Minsk 0-2
Dinamo Minsk eased to a 2-0 win at Metallurg Novokuznetsk to move up to fifth in the Western Conference. Rob Klinkhammer opened the scoring in the 13th minute and then assisted on Evgeny Kovyrshin’s short-handed goal early in the third. Goalie Ben Scrivens had 19 saves for his shut-out, but his opposite number Vladislav Podyapolsky had a much busier game, facing 50 attempts from Dinamo.
Medvescak v Traktor 2-3
Three goals in eight minutes at the start of the third period earned Traktor a 3-2 win at Medvescak and lifted the Chelyabinsk team to fourth in the Eastern Conference. Tomas Mertl gave the home team a ninth-minute lead that held until the second intermission, but Derek Roy tied it up in the 42nd to set Traktor on its way. Alexei Petrov made it 2-1 within a minute and Alexander Sharov added a third in the 50th. Francis Pare reduced the deficit but the Croatian team could not salvage anything from the game.
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