Traktor (h) 5-3 - Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Traktor came to Kazan knowing that victory would give it a great chance of pipping Ak Bars to third place in the Eastern Conference, but suffered from a slow start. Jiri Sekac and Stepan Zakharchuk had the home team 2-0 up inside 12 minutes, and even though Traktor fought back to tie the game by the first intermission with goals from Nikolai Belov and Maxim Yakutsenya, there was little to upset Ak Bars on the night. Vladimir Tkachyov and Justin Azevedo reinstated that two-goal advantage in the middle session; Kirill Koltsov kept Traktor in contention. But Fyodor Malykhin struck early in the third to end the visitor’s resistance and open an eight-point gap between the two teams.
Ufa (h) 1-2 SO - Thursday, January 05, 2017
The latest instalment of the ‘green derby’ between Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev was a typically feisty affair, with the trash talk continuing after the game as players aired their grievances to the media. On the ice, though, the action was as tight as ever between these two old foes. Alexander Svitov put Ak Bars ahead early, only for Enver Lisin to tie it up midway through the third. With Salavat desperate to snap a five-game losing streak, the shoot-out saw goalie Niklas Svedberg come into his own.
The Swede saved from Fyodor Malykhin and Vladimir Tkachyov, while Stefan Elliott shot wide. In reply, Linus Omark scored on Emil Garipov to take the points back to Ufa. The penalty count was surprisingly low, just three minors, and two of those for ‘too many men’. But there was still time for players to get frustrated with one another. After the game, Ak Bars’ Artyom Lukoyanov complained that too many Salavat players were eager to chirp, but reluctant to drop the gloves.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk (h) 0-2 - Saturday, January 07, 2017
Magnitka became the first team in the East to reach 100 points for the season after blanking out its closest rival in the Kharlamov Division. For the second game running, Kazan hosted one of Ak Bars’ oldest rivals, and for the second time in three days, Ak Bars lost out. Sergei Mozyakin, not for the first time, was the key man. He broke the deadlock in the 28th minute and had an assist on Jan Kovar’s goal a couple of minutes later, taking his tally to 33+31=64 points for the season. But for head coach Ilya Vorobyov, it wasn’t the forward’s offensive contribution that really caught the eye. “At times today even Sergei Mozyakin was blocking shots, and that says a lot,” he told journalists after the game.
Metallurg goalie Vasily Koshechkin made 24 saves, while his defense blocked a further 15 attempts from Ak Bars.
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