KHL - Round Up - August 27, 2017

Mikhnov goal gives King a winning debut
Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (1-1, 0-0, 0-1)
Dwight King made his Avtomobilist debut, and the powerful Canadian forward finished on the winning team in Chelyabinsk. The two-time Stanley Cup winner was watched by two former Traktor juniors, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Evgeny Dadonov, as he took his KHL bow.
But it was another Canadian, Taylor Beck, who mad a bigger impact on the game for Avto. The 26-year-old tied the scores in the first period, cancelling out Alexander Rybakov’s opener. Both teams had a mixed start to the season, with one victory and one loss so far, and it was the visitor that went on to win here. Alexei Mikhnov got the vital goal early in the third, completing the breakaway that he engineered with Alexander Torchenyuk.

Mozyakin double decides goal feast
Lada Tolyatti 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 (2-1, 0-2, 2-2)
Sergei Mozyakin scored two goals and an assist while Nick Schaus got his first points for Metallurg as last year’s runner-up edged a thrilling game in Tolyatti.
Lada, buoyed by Friday’s victory over Avtomobilist, opened a 2-0 lead in the first period through Yegor Babenko and Denis Zernov, but Ilya Grigorenko opened his Magnitka account to halve the deficit before the intermission. Mozyakin scored his first in the 28^thminute, then assisted on Schaus’s first goal for the club as Metallurg moved in front in the second period.
Lada wasn’t done. Zernov tied it up with his second of the game and Jiri Novotny made it 4-3 in 43^rd minute, threatening a surprise win. But Magnitka rallied: Vladislav Kaletnik tied the game with six minutes to play and Mozyakin got the winner, smashing home a slap shot from the point to the frustration of home goalie Alexander Lazushin.


Vityaz sneaks a point from SKA
SKA St. Petersburg 4 Vityaz Podolsk 3 SO (0-1, 2-1, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)
Vityaz became the first team to take a point from SKA this season, forcing a shoot-out in St. Petersburg with a 3-3 tie. The defending champion eventually claimed the victory after Nikita Gusev and Pavel Datsyuk scored in the shoot-out while Vityaz failed with all four attempts.
Earlier, though, the visitor was not daunted by SKA’s impressive start to the season, and took an early lead when Maxim Afinogenov scored against his former club. Sergei Kalinin’s first goal for SKA, early in the middle session, tied the game, but a minute later Vityaz led again on Ivan Yatsenko’s goal.
Sergei Shirokov made it 2-2 midway through the second period and when Patrick Hersley’s power play goal gave SKA the lead for the first time in the 41^st minute, it seemed that Vityaz would have to settle for a brave defeat. But Valery Belov’s team refused to yield, making it 3-3 just 17 seconds later thanks to Alexander Denezhkin’s goal and holding out for overtime.
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Svetlakov strike gives CSKA an overtime win
Dinamo Minsk 1 CSKA Moscow 2 OT (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-1)
CSKA left it late to claim victory in Minsk as Dinamo put in a much-improved performance. After a 6-1 thumping against Jokerit and a 1-0 loss to Vityaz, there was already pressure on the Bison, but a competitive display against a CSKA team that looked so impressive in Friday’s Moscow derby suggested brighter days could be ahead for Minsk.
The early exchanges were tight, with Dinamo looking to shut down CSKA’s potent offense. Amid few chances at either end, the host went ahead midway through the game when Justin Fontain grabbed a short-handed goal.
CSKA still found its opportunities limited, but drew level in the 55^th minute thanks to Valery Nichushkin and finished the job after getting a power play in overtime. Mat Robinson faked a shot and fed Andrei Svetlakov on the edge of the right-hand circle; the forward’s one-timer beat Jhonas Enroth to claim the win.


O’Neill, Tolvanen star in Jokerit win
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Jokerit Helsinki 4 OT (2-1, 0-2, 1-0, 0-1)
Brian O’Neill scored twice and teen sensation Eeli Tolvanen picked up two assists as Jokerit won in overtime at Lokomotiv.
Tolvanen, who announced himself in the KHL with a debut hat-trick during the week, set up the game-winner with a feed for Olli Palola. Palola’s shot was saved, but O’Neill reacted first to poke home the rebound in the 62^nd minute.
Earlier, the two combined on a similar power play move for the 2-2 goal: Tolvanen set up a slap shot from Matt Gilroy and O’Neill touched it beyond Alexei Murygin in the home net.
Jokerit started brightly and took a fourth-minute lead through Niklas Jensen, only for two penalties to present Loko with a first-period lead. Jakub Nakladal and Max Talbot converted their power play chances. After O’Neill’s equalizer, Jokerit moved ahead once again with a goal from John Norman, but after O’Neill took a 10-minute misconduct penalty, Petri Kontiola scored against his fellow Finns to force the extras. Staffan Kronwall finished with an assist on all three Lokomotiv goals.

Slovan’s struggles continue
Dynamo Moscow 4 Slovan Bratislava 2 (0-0, 3-1, 1-0)
It’s been a tough week for Slovan, and this was a third loss with a combined goal differential of 16-4. Consolation is hard to find, but at least this game was competitive until the midway mark and, for the first time, saw the Slovaks score more than once.
Dynamo, eager to make amends for a derby day disaster against CSKA, began at a high tempo and outshot the visitor 12-6 in the first period without finding the net. Daniil Tarasov put that right early in the second period, but the Blue-and-Whites were pegged back halfway through the game when Juraj Mikus tied the game.
That was as good as it got for the visitor, though. Dmitry Markovin reinstated the lead with his first KHL goal – the 22-year-old is on a youthful line with Vladislav Yefremov and Dmitry Sidlyarov, who collected their first career points with assists on the play. Then Nikita Komarov made it 3-1 with a short-handed goal in the 40^th minute.
Ilya Nikulin put the game beyond reach with a late power play effort, and Michal Repik’s last-minute marker was scant consolation for the visitor.