KHL - Tatarstan - Round Up January 12-18, 2017

Lokomotiv (a) 1-2 - Thursday, January 12, 2017
Ak Bars slipped to a third successive defeat despite taking an early lead in Yaroslavl, and missed the chance to confirm its playoff place. Neftekhimik’s loss in Moscow meant that a win at Lokomotiv would have confirmed Ak Bars’ involvement in the post-season, but Jiri Sekac’s opening goal in the seventh minute was the highlight of the visitor’s evening. The home team equalized in the 17^th minute when Yegor Averin deflected a shot from the point past Emil Garipov. The video officials saw no evidence of a kicking motion as the puck ricocheted off the forward’s skate. Another deflected goal gave Lokomotiv the win. Artyom Ilyenko fired a shot in, and a kind bounce off an Ak Bars player took it into the net. Loko’s third win in four games tightens its grip on fourth place in the West.
Vityaz (a) 2-3 - Saturday, January 14, 2017

Vityaz head coach Valery Belov has long-running links with Kazan, where he was part of the coaching staff for more than a decade before moving to Podolsk. And, with his team in urgent need of points to stay in the playoff frame, a victory against his former club would have great significance both personally and in terms of the league standings. Initially, though, things did not go Belov’s way. Mikhail Glukhov gave Ak Bars the lead in the second minute and in the early stages Vityaz found it difficult to get the puck to Stanislav Galimov’s net. But a quick counter attack in the 11^th minute changed all that, and the reliable Alexei Kopeikin forced home the tying goal. Now the play was more even, with Igor Saprykin struggling to keep out a shot from Andrei Popov before Maxim Afinogenov went on a slaloming run that was halted illegally by Atte Ohtamaa. The subsequent power play saw Mario Kempe put Vityaz ahead as the first period came to an end. Alexei Makeyev made it 3-1 early in the second, reacting fastest after Igor Golovkov’s shot rebounded off the piping, and the home team held that two-goal advantage until deep into the final stanza. Maxim Lazarev got one back for Ak Bars in the 56^th minute, but the home team held on and climbs to seventh in the Western Conference.
Dynamo (a) 2-1 - Monday, January 16, 2017
Two long streaks came to an end in this game: Ak Bars snapped a four-game run without a win, while Dynamo’s six-match winning streak was halted. As a result, Ak Bars became the second team in the Eastern Conference to clinch a playoff place, reaching 97 points for the season. Home goalie Alexander Yeryomenko had not given up a goal in his previous two games, but last just 16 minutes here before Mikhail Sidorov found a way past him. His thunderous effort from the blue line rattled in and out of the net at high speed, but the video confirmed that the goal was good. Dynamo pushed hard for an equalizer, especially in the third period. Juuso Hietanen thought he’d tied the game in the 54^th minute, but the away bench appealed for goaltender interference and the review saw the effort ruled out. Then, as time was running out, Ak Bars extended its lead when Mikhail Glukhov beat Yeryomenko at the second attempt. The home team still had time to get one goal back thanks to Martins Karsums, but with just four seconds left on the clock his effort could not spark an unlikely recovery.
Ufa (h) 6-5 OT - Wednesday, January 18, 2017
A wild game between two bitter rivals ended with Ak Bars snatching a dramatic victory in the ‘Green Derby’. The home team trailed deep in the third period, but hit back to tie the game in the 59th minute and win it in overtime. Michal Jordan was the savior; the Czech D-man picked the perfect moment to come up with only his second goal since moving to Kazan. There were just 89 seconds left when he skated along the blue line to find a shooting lane and saw his effort take a small deflection into the Salavat Yulaev net. Then, in the 61st minute, Artyom Lukoyanov got the game-winner, with a bit of help from Lady Luck. Lukoyanov burst into the Salavat zone and ripped off a shot that looped up over the shoulder of goalie Niklas Svedberg and dropped into the net. Kirill Kaprizov was the architect of Salavat’s early achievements, assisting on his team’s first four goals. He started early, getting a helper on Alexander Loginov’s power play goal in the second minute. Then, after Ak Bars turned the game around to lead 2-1 at the end of the first period, the youngster was back on productive form. Kaprizov had a hand in all three goals as Salavat hit a rich vein of scoring form early in the second. Linus Omark tied it up in the 21st minute, and barely a minute later Alexander Nesterov made it 3-2. Tomas Mertl added a fourth, five minutes later, and the visitor seemed well set to take control of the game.
Ak Bars had other ideas, though, with Justin Azevedo and Vladimir Tkachyov scoring twice in 69 seconds to tie the game at 4-4 before the 30-minute mark.
The action was relentless. The home team’s Alexander Svitov’s evening ended early when he got a 5+game penalty for a high hit on Mertl; Loginov scored his second of the night on that power play with Kaprizov not involved for the first time in the game. Either side of those incidents, two Salavat Yulaev players picked up 10-minute misconduct tariffs, putting D-man Maxim Goncharov and Denis Kulyash in the sin bin. In the third period, though, the scoring, and the penalty count, calmed down, until that dramatic finale.