Tuesday, December 20th
Lokomotiv v Sochi 3-1Lokomotiv maintained its grip on fourth place in the Western Conference thanks to two early goals at home to Sochi. The Railwaymen opened the scoring in the seventh minute thanks to an individual effort from Emil Garipov. Then persistence paid off for Denis Mosalyov in the 10th minute, as he fired two shots against the skates of Sochi’s defensemen before steering his third effort into the net. That spelled the end of Konstantin Barulin’s evening as the experienced goalie was recalled to the bench in favor of Dmitry Shikin. It also put an end to the scoring until the last seconds of the game. Home goalie Alexander Sudnitsin, enjoying a rare start in place of Alexei Murygin, seemed to be set for a shut-out until Andre Petersson fired a shot into the angle of post and crossbar on 59:20. That was the Swede’s first goal since Sep. 27, confirming his return to full fitness after the injury he sustained against Metallurg Novokuznetsk in October.
It wasn’t the end of the action, though. Sochi hoped to snatch an equalizer, but gave up possession and allowed Brandon Kozun to shoot into the empty net and secure Loko’s first victory in three outings.
Severstal v Vityaz 4-2
Vityaz missed the chance to return to the playoff places in the west after suffering a 2-4 defeat at Severstal. The home team opened the scoring in the fourth minute through Daniil Vovchenko’s ninth of the season, only for Alexander Nikulin to tie it up before the intermission. The middle session saw Igor Magogin put Severstal back in front, and Swedish D-man Adam Masuhr got his fourth of the season to make it 3-1 early in the third. Nikulin assisted on Pavel Lukin’s first of the season for Vityaz to give the visitor hope, but Vojtech Polak’s late strike confirmed Severstal’s win.
Slovan v Ufa 4-1
A surprise loss at struggling Slovan kept Salavat Yulaev in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The Slovak team has little more than pride to play for in the remainder of a difficult season, but produced a strong display to defeat a dangerous but inconsistent team from Ufa. Veteran forward Jonathan Cheechoo opened the scoring in the 14th minute and Kyle Chipchura added a second in the middle stanza. The final period brought a second goal for Cheechoo and a consolation effort from Teemu Hartikainen before Igor Musatov wrapped up the scoring in the 56th minute against the team he played for in 2012-13.
Wednesday, December 21st
Amur v Ugra 1-3
Andrei Razin got his first win as head coach of Ugra, claiming a 3-1 verdict at Amur. It was also a notable occasion for Artyom Bulyansky who marked his 300th game for the club with two goals. Bulyansky opened the scoring in the eighth minute, Evgeny Lapenkov made it 2-0 early in the second and the teams traded goals in the 37th minute when Denis Orlovich-Grudkov got his first career KHL marker 15 seconds before Bulyansky’s second of the game.
Admiral v Barys 1-4
Dustin Boyd, who suffered a broken leg in pre-season and missed four months, finally got his first goals of the 2016-17 campaign. Eleven games into his return to action, the Kazakh-Canadian dual national scored twice here to seal a valuable win for Barys against playoff-chasing rival Admiral. The Kazakh team moves ahead of its Far Eastern opponent with this victory, climbing to seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Barys also has games in hand on all its rivals for a playoff spot. Admiral, meanwhile, is on a run of just one win in seven and drops to eighth, looking nervously at Avtomobilist, Neftekhimik and Sibir, all of which are within four points. Konstantin Pushkaryov got the opening goal for Barys on an eighth-minute power play, but it wasn’t until midway through the game that Roman Starchenko doubled that lead. Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev reduced the deficit at the start of the third, also on the power play, and visiting head coach Eduard Zankovets admitted that the game was wide open at that point. Fortunately for him and Barys, Boyd finally found his scoring touch, poaching two in 90 seconds to put the game out of Admiral’s reach.
Sibir v Minsk 1-3
Dinamo Minsk recovered from giving up a goal on 26 seconds to win 3-1 at Sibir. Maxim Shalunov put the host in front with his 17th of the season to set up a combative first period that saw Vitaly Menshikov pick up nine PIMs in two separate skirmishes. Dinamo turned the game around with a quickfire salvo midway through the second period. Alexander Pavlovich and Andrei Stepanov scored two goals in 63 seconds to put the Belarusians ahead, then Dmitry Korobov got his first of the season in the 34th minute to complete the scoring.
Slovan v Traktor 1-0
Slovan made it two wins in two days thanks to a 1-0 success at home to Traktor. Michal Hlinka got the only goal early in the second period while Barry Brust made 29 saves for his shut-out and has allowed just one goal in 120 minute of hockey this week.
Medvescak v Metallurg Mg 6-3
Magnitka arrived in Croatia buoyed by a three-game winning run and faced an opponent struggling for form, but an inspired home performance turned all that on its head. Francis Pare, a Gagarin Cup winner with Metallurg back in 2014, opened the scoring against his former club in the fifth minute before assisting on Bobby Butler’s power play goal in the 10th to give the home team the early initiative. Alexandre Bolduc added a third early in the second stanza and Magnitka was in trouble, sending young goalie Artyom Zagidulin into the game to demonstrate what he had gained from a recent loan spell at Kunlun. At the other end, Denis Platonov reduced the deficit with two quick goals, both assisted by Dmitry Kazionov, to make it 3-2 by the midway mark … but Metallurg’s comeback would go no further. The final stanza began like the first, with an early goal, this time from Terry Galiardi, followed quickly by a power play marker. Lukas Lessio made it 5-2 in the 43rd minute and Medvescak was on its way to victory. Sergei Mozyakin converted a 5-on-3 in the 55th minute to give some hope of salvaging the game, but when Zagidulin was sacrificed late on to add extra offense on a late power play, Mike Glumac scored an empty net goal that wrapped up a surprise win for the Croatians.
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