Sibir (h) 1-2 OT - Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Sibir dug deep to keep its playoff prospects alive with an overtime win in Kazan.
Yegor Milovzorov got the decisive goal 10 seconds from the end of the extras, snapping a 1-1 tie and earning a second vital win for the Siberians in the space of three days. The success takes Sibir on to 70 points, four adrift of eighth-placed Kunlun, which plays in-form Slovan tomorrow. But Andrei Skabelka’s team had to work hard for its win, coming from behind to defeat an Ak Bars roster that seems almost certain to finish the regular season in third place. Mikhail Varnakov put the home side ahead in the second period, before a Maxim Ignatovich power play goal tied the game on 46 minutes.
Metallurg Nk (h) 6-1 - Friday, January 27, 2017
This clash between power house and struggler went entirely according to the form book, with the home team romping to an emphatic victory. Artyom Lukoyanov gave Ak Bars a fourth-minute lead, but it wasn’t until the second period that the home team turned its dominance into goals. Stepan Zakharchuk set the tone right after the restart, Jiri Sekac converted a power play in the 34th minute and Michal Jordan made it 4-0 in the 36th. The third period brought further goals for Anton Glinkin and Dmitry Arkhipov, before Stanislav Galimov missed out on a shutout when Konstantin Parkhomenko scored in a last-minute consolation goal for Metallurg.
Neftekhimik (a) 2-8 - Tuesday, January 31, 2017
The Tatarstan derby is usually an eye-catching game, but few scorelines from this fixture have been quite as striking as this one. Neftekhimik, traditionally the junior partner in the hockey-mad republic, picked this occasion to remind its powerful neighbor that Tatar hockey means more than just the double Gagarin Cup winner and, in doing so, served notice that it hasn’t yet abandoned hope of a playoff spot. Oddly, the game was tied at 2-2 early in the second period as the teams traded goals in quick succession. A lively opening saw Richard Gynge give Neftekhimik the lead with his 21st goal of the season, only for Andrei Chibisov to level the scores 107 seconds later. The first two minutes of the second period followed a similar pattern, with Geoffrey Kinrade and Fyodor Malykhin getting the goals. Then it all went crazy. Andrei Sergeyev and Pavel Poryadin made it 4-2 for Neftekhimik and visiting goalie Emil Garipov was benched after allowing three goals from 11 shots. Then Ak Bars ran into penalty trouble. Sergeyev converted a 5-on-3 advantage and Andrei Pervyshin added a sixth goal within a minute. Then another penalty gave Dan Sexton the chance to add a goal to his four assists. The second hooter sounded with the scoreboard reading 7-2. The final stanza was quiet, with just a Maxim Berezin goal to complete the scoring, condemning Ak Bars to its worst ever defensive display in the KHL. Meanwhile, the victory, and the manner of it, could yet save Neftekhimik’s season. Five points adrift of a playoff place with four games to play looks like an almost impossible task. However, firing eight goals past Ak Bars also seemed deeply implausible this morning.
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