KHL - Round Up - August 28, 2017

Four in a row for Avangard
Avangard Omsk 4 Spartak Moscow 2 (1-1, 1-0, 2-1)
Kirill Semyonov grabbed the game winner here as Avangard subdued a lively Spartak. His strike in the 52^nd minute – a neat, instinctive finish to divert Nikolai Lemtyugov’s diagonal feed past Nikita Bespalov – snapped a 2-2 tie and sealed a fourth successive win for the Siberians.
Avangard twice led before that, through Valentin Pyanov and Andre Petersson, but Spartak replied twice with goals from Evgeny Orlov and Alexander Khokhlachyov. Semyonov’s marker proved decisive; Pyotr Khokhryakov added a fourth late on.

Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 (1-0, 1-1, 0-2)
Torpedo produced a third-period recovery to make it two wins from three on its early-season tour of Siberia. Jonas Enlund gave Sibir a fourth-minute lead, only for Gennady Stolyarov to tie the game at the midway point. Alexander Sharov reinstated Sibir’s advantage late in the second period, but Torpedo came up with the answers during the second intermission. Denis Parshin tied the game 14 seconds after the restart, then Yegor Dugin got the winner in the 48^th minute, despite complaints of goalie interference from the Sibir bench.

Dawes double downs Severstal
Barys Astana 4 Severstal Cherepovets 3
Nigel Dawes scored twice and Talgat Zhailauov got his first goal since last October as Barys edged past Severstal. For the Steelmen, though, the frustration continues: this was a fourth defeat of the season, each one by a single goal. Barys went ahead when Dawes opened the scoring in the 17^th minute. The teams traded goals in the 25^th, Alexander Bumagin briefly putting Severstal level before Darren Dietz made it 2-1 for the host. When Zhailauov made it 3-1 in the 35^th minute, Barys looked comfortable, but the visitor struck on either side of the second intermission to tie the game through Dmitry Kagarlitsky and Maxim Rybin. Severstal then had a goal disallowed for a high stick, and Kagarlitsky missed a penalty shot. That set the stage for Dawes to deliver. In the 57^th minute he got the winner, sweeping home a shot from between the hash marks after Kevin Dallman and Linden Vey kept play alive in the away zone.

DeFazio’s late strike snatches victory for Kunlun
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 Kunlun Red Star 2 (0-0, 0-0, 1-2)

Brandon DeFazio scored with just two seconds left to give Kunlun a dramatic victory in Ufa. The Canadian began the move when he intercepted a Linus Omark pass in his own zone, and looked to turn defense into one last attack. His rush fed Jesse Blacker, whose shot got caught up in traffic in front of Andrei Kareyev. A second effort from Matias Myttynen was blocked into DeFazio’s path, and he gleefully forced the puck home for the winner.
Earlier, Red Star had the better of the game. Cory Kane had a first-period effort disallowed, Andrei Kostitsyn hit the post. But, after two goalless periods, Salavat Yulaev went in front through Philip Larsen’s power play goal. The visitor refused to yield and tied it up when Alexei Ponikarovsky got the vital touch on Marek Daloga’s slap shot. The game seemed destined for overtime, but then came DeFazio.

Riga rally stuns Ugra
Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk 2 Dinamo Riga 3 OT (1-0, 1-0, 0-2, 0-1)
Dinamo Riga also produced a late show to steal victory at Ugra. The host went 2-0 in front on goals from Ivan Lekomtsev and Pavel Varfolomeyev, but lost its way in the last few minutes. Brandon McMillan reduced the deficit with a power play goal in the 55^th minute before Miks Indrasis tied it up 13 seconds before the end. In overtime, Lucas Lessio got his first goal since joining from Medvescak to give Dinamo a second successive win.

Freak goal can’t save Amur
Ak Bars Kazan 2 Amur Khabarovsk 1 (0-0, 0-0, 2-1)
Hockey can be a frustrating game. Just ask Ak Bars head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. His team had worked hard for 48 minutes to finally force itself in front against Amur, only for a spectacular misjudgement to gift the visitor an equalizer just 14 seconds later.
The home crowd was still celebrating Vasily Tokranov’s opening goal when Juha Metsola shephered the puck to defenseman Pavel Turbin. The 27-year-old was deep in his own zone when he launched the puck hopefully into the air, looking to clear his lines and send it down the ice towards Emil Garipov. The Kazan goalie, though, inexplicably failed to react and watched in horror as it bounced through his five-hole.
It was only a temporary reprieve, much to Garipov’s relief. Ak Bars scored on its next power play when a Jiri Sekac shot was pushed into the path of Fyodor Malykhin for the winner. Andrei Markov had an assist on the play, maintaining his record of scoring points in every game since his return to Russia.


… and one early start
HC Sochi 3 Admiral Vladivostok 1 (2-1, 0-0, 1-0)
While every other game was settled by decisive action in the third period, HC Sochi opted to do it differently. The Southerners scored twice in the first five minutes, and held on to take the win.
Alexei Tsvetkov opened the scoring after 93 seconds, forcing home the rebound from a Vadim Shchegolkov shot. Then Ryan Garbutt fed Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov, who shot over Igor Bobkov’s shoulder to make it 2-0.
Admiral replied midway through the opening stanza with a power play goal from Evgeny Grigorenko, but never got closer than that. A late marker from Sean Collins – his first for the club – protected Sochi against any late drama in this one. Home goalie Dmitry Shikin made 40 saves.