KHL - Baltic - Round Up January 23-31, 2017

SKA

Sochi (a) 4-0 - Monday, January 23, 2017
The league leader made short work of playoff-chasing Sochi, easing to a comfortable win beside the Black Sea. Head coach Oleg Znarok resisted the temptation to rest his All-Star skaters, but did give Mikko Koskinen the start in goal ahead of Igor Shestyorkin. The Finn responded with 27 saves to record a shut-out, while SKA’s power play proved irresistible with three goals. The opening goal took half-an-hour to arrive, but once Viktor Tikhonov put SKA in front there was no way back for the host. Ilya Kovalchuk picked out a perfect pass for Nikita Gusev to make it 2-0. In the third period Gusev turned provider for Evgeny Dadonov to get the second power play goal of the game before Vyacheslav Voynov fed Pavel Datsyuk to make it 4-0 late on.
Spartak (a) 2-1 - Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Berated by its fans and humbled by its local rivals, Spartak needed a performance to restore some pride in a beleaguered team. And, despite slipping to a tenth successive defeat, the Red-and-Whites got that in a battling display against the table-topper. An even start to the game saw both teams have chances in the first period, but it wasn’t until the 28^th minute that the deadlock was broken, and Vyacheslav Leshchenko gave the home team an unexpected lead. Boosted, but still fragile, Spartak’s chances took a fatal hit with a string of penalties just after the half-hour; SKA, enjoying a 5-on-3 advantage after Vadim Berdnikov’s ejection from the game, tied it up through Vadim Shipachyov. Then the visitor’s added class proved decisive. A Pavel Datsyuk assist, an Ilya Kovalchuk goal, a SKA victory. Teams in better form than Spartak will struggle to deal with that combination.
Torpedo (a) 2-4 - Friday, January 27, 2017

Torpedo head coach Peteris Skudra incurred the wrath of the officials again, getting himself ejected from this game at the start of the second period for abusing the referee. However, that did not hamper his team’s progress, Torpedo, trailling 0-1 to an Ilya Kovalchuk goal, recovered to win the game 4-2.
Nikolai Zherdev brought the host level in the 25^th minute, and even though Ilya Kablukov reinstated SKA’s lead before the second intermission, Torpedo took control in the final stanza. Vladimir Galuzin made it 2-2 seconds after Nikolai Prokhorkin and Alexei Potapov picked up major penalties for fighting, then John Norman scored off the rebound from Kirill Urakov’s shot to put the home team ahead for the first time on the night. SKA thought it had equalized in the closing stages, but the video official ruled out the goal. Then Vyacheslav Kulyomin scored into an empty net to seal the win.
Traktor (h) 5-3 - Sunday, January 29, 2017

A rousing recovery from Traktor added some intrigue to a game that SKA seemed destined to win by a big margin. The home team was looking comfortable with a 5-0 lead early in the final stanza, but Traktor belatedly found its game to reduce the deficit. Jiri Novotny got one back in the 48^th minute, but after quick-fire goals from Kirill Koltsov and Artyom Penkovsky made it 3-5 with four minutes left, SKA called a time-out in a bid to regain control of the play. Koltsov finished with 1+2, having had a hand in all three Traktor goals; 21-year-old Penkovsky claimed his fourth goal of the season, making it his most productive in the KHL to date. It wasn’t enough, though. SKA saw out the closing stages with little more alarm and claimed the victory on the strength of its dominance over the first 42 minutes. Vadim Shipachyov’s power play goal broke the deadlock late in the opening stanza, with Nikita Gusev quickly adding a second. Nikolai Prokhorkin scored twice either side of the second intermission, and Evgeny Ketov added a fifth to have the home fans purring.

Jokerit

Barys (h) 3-4 OT - Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Going into the game, Jokerit knew that Slovan had moved ahead in the playoff race, but while the point from an overtime defeat keeps the Finns in the top eight, Jukka Jalonen’s team should have made its position a little more secure.
Jokerit led 3-1 at the second intermission, thanks to first-period goals from Brian O’Neill and Peter Regin and a short-handed strike from Mika Niemi in the 34^th minute. But Barys, still seeking to secure its own playoff spot in the East, rallied strongly. Nigel Dawes reduced the deficit in the 42^nd minute and Ivan Kuchin tied the game with four minutes left. That meant overtime, and Brandon Bochenski snatched a power play winner to leave the Finns anxiously looking over their shoulders as four teams, separated by three points, battle for two playoff spots.
Avtomobilist (h) 2-6 - Thursday, January 26, 2017

Veteran coach Vladimir Krikunov marked his 1,200^th game behind the bench with a resounding victory, boosting Avto’s playoff hopes while leaving Jokerit in danger of missing out. The visitor’s win moves it to within five points of the top eight in the East, but Jokerit remains a point adrift of HC Sochi in the Western Conference race. Avtomobilist took control here early on. Michal Cajkovsky opened the scoring in the 13^th minute, then second-period goals from Alexander Romanov and Nikolai Timashov extended the advantage. Jokerit looked for a way back, and got back to a single goal deficit thanks to Ville Lajunen and Peter Regin, but a strong start to the third period left the home team short of energy to finish the job. Avto responded with further markers from Alexei Vasilevsky and Anatoly Golyshev, before Artyom Gareyev hit the empty net to seal the win.
Ugra (h) 6-5 - Saturday, January 28, 2017

With Jokerit’s playoff prospects hanging in the balance, victory over struggling Ugra was a must. But although a Pekka Jormakka hat-trick saw the Finns prevail in a wild game, home fans were kept on edge to the very end of a meeting that could have gone either way. Ugra led twice in the early stages, with goals from Nikita Dvurechensky and Andrei Ankudinov coming either side of a Peter Regin strike for the host. But three goals in five second-period minutes seemed to have got Jokerit in control. Jormakka scored two of them, and in between Masi Marjamaki deflected home a Ville Lajunen shot. The visitor was not going to give up, though. Pavel Varfolomeyev made it 3-4, and even after Lajunen reinstated Jokerit’s two-goal advantage, there was time for Alexander Akmaldinov and Evgeny Lapenkov to tie the game, the latter converting a 5-on-3 power play.
With less than four minutes to play, there was a real danger that a resurgent Ugra might take the points from Helsinki and leave the home team outside of the playoff places. Instead, though, Jormakka grabbed a power play goal of his own to complete a game-winning treble and lift Jokerit up to eighth.
Minsk (h) 0-3 - Monday, January 30, 2017

A game-winning performance from Ben Scrivens frustrated Jokerit, leaving the Finns with work to do to reach the playoffs. Going into the game, Jokerit was in eighth place, with 82 points from 54 games, narrowly ahead of ninth-placed Sochi. Victory would put the pressure on the Black Sea team, defeat would offer an opportunity for the Southerners to gain an advantage in the playoff race. But Scrivens produced a fine goaltending display to frustrate the home team and backstop Dinamo to victory. The Canadian was in top form from start to finish, but particularly impressed early in the third period when he came up big in a Jokerit power play to deny Sakari Salminen, Topi Jaakola and, on three separate occasions, Charles Genoway. In the end, Scrivens made 36 saves to complete his eighth shut-out of the season. That maintained the lead that Dinamo gained the first period. Fredrik Pettersson opened the scoring on the power play in the 15^thminute after moving off the left-hand boards to fire home from the top of the circle. Then Rob Klinkhammer doubled the lead with a short-handed goal in the 19^th minute, assisted by the indomitable Scrivens. The goalie made a save from Brian O’Neill, Kirill Gotovets shot the puck up the ice and Klinkhammer got beyond the defense to make it 2-0. Jokerit’s misery was compounded late on when Roman Graborenko added an empty-net goal to wrap up the win for Dinamo. The Belarusians move on to 90 points, 10 points above Sochi.

Dinamo Riga

Ugra (h) 2-1 SO - Tuesday, January 24, 2017

It took a shoot-out to separate these two teams in the final game of the day, with Filipp Toluzakov getting the only goal to hand Dinamo the verdict. Earlier Dinamo took the lead in the 44^th minute through Aleksandrs Jerofejevs, but Yegor Ivanov tied it up 10 minutes later. Janis Kalnins was the busier of the two goalies but held firm to take the game into overtime before making three saves in the shoot-out.
Barys (h) 2-3 - Thursday, January 26, 2017

Barys moved level on points with Salavat Yulaev and climbed to fifth in the Eastern Conference thanks to a solid win in Latvia. Roman Starchenko got the visitor on its way with a power play goal in the 14^th minute, and penalty trouble cost the host again in the second period when Nigel Dawes made it 2-1 after Miks Indrasis’ equalizer. Dawes then turned provider for Dustin Boyd to make it 3-1 early in the third, and despite a late goal from Lauris Darzins there was no way back for Dinamo after that.
Avtomobilist (a) 4-3 OT - Saturday, January 28, 2017

A dramatic late goal from Petr Koukal salvaged a point for Avtomobilist in Riga, but the visitor went down to an overtime goal from Miks Indrasis. Czech forward Koukal struck with six seconds left to play to force a 3-3 tie as Avto recovered from 1-3 down in the third period, but Indrasis added to his pair of assists in regulation when he grabbed the game-winner on 63:53. Earlier, first-period goals from Maris Bicevskis and Edgars Kulda put the Latvians on top before Michal Cajkovsky pulled one back after Dinamo ran into penalty trouble in the second period. Filipp Toluzakov made it 3-1 early in the third but Rok Ticar replied in the 52^nd minute before Koukal’s late leveller. Avtomobilist is now seven points adrift of a playoff place with six games to play.