Amur v Admiral 3-1
The first Far East derby of the season went to Amur after a 3-1 win over Admiral. The teams traded first-period goals through Kristian Kuusela and Vladimir Tkachyov before Amur won it in the second on strikes from Kirill Kapustin and Jan Kolar. That added up to the home team’s first win of the season, just in time for Thursday’s historic meeting with KHL newcomer Kunlun Red Star.
Avtomobilist v Traktor 1-2 OT
Avtomobilist missed the chance to go top of the KHL table after losing out to a Kirill Koltsov overtime goal. With the teams playing in a 3-on-3 format and less than one minute to play, Finnish D-man Tommi Kivisto slipped at the worst possible moment, allowing Kolstov to steal the puck and sweep in from the boards to score on Igor Ustinsky. Traktor might have won it in regulation, had it been able to build on Yury Petrov’s sixth-minute goal. Instead Avto built up the pressure in the second period, tying the game on Dmitry Megalinsky’s goal after 30 minutes. Avtomobilist remains tied with Avangard on 10 points at the top of the Eastern Conference, but trails Dynamo by one for the overall lead.
Dynamo v Metallurg Nk 5-0
It took just three games for Metallurg Novokuznetsk to dismiss head coach Nikolai Solovyov. That fulfilled GM Sergei Zinovyev’s promise that he would be no soft touch on his return to his home-town club, but under the temporary charge of Valery Zelepukin there was little evidence that changing the coaching staff would be enough to revive the team. It started badly for the visitor: Yakov Rylov gave the Blue-and-Whites an early lead; the defenseman fifth-minute goal was his first since joining the club from Ak Bars in the summer. But it was the second period that really sank Kuznya as Dynamo added three goals without reply. Mat Robinson doubled the lead on the power play after 24 minutes and two minutes later Alexei Tereshchenko made it 3-0. Then a short-handed goal from Semyon Kokuyov saw the ex-Traktor man continue his impressive start to the season with his third in four games. Alexei Sopin added a fifth on the power play as Dynamo cruised to victory, firing in 44 shots on Mikhail Biryukov and Andrei Kareyev, the two visiting goalies. Alexander Lazushin had 14 saves for his shut-out.
Lokomotiv v Avangard 3-2 OT
Avangard suffered its first defeat of the season as Fyodor Kanareikin’s team hit the road for the first time. Yegor Korshkov got the decisive goal on 63:18, an unassisted goal after he stripped an Avangard man of the puck on his own blue and skated up the ice to beat Dominik Furch. That came seconds after Denis Parshin almost carved out a similar opportunity, only for Patrik Hersley to get back and make the vital challenge. That was Hersley’s second big contribution of the night: the Swedish D-man also got Loko’s second goal, a power play effort to make it 2-1 in the 47th minute. But it wasn’t enough to win the game outright as Alexander Perezhogin, ever reliable on offense for Avangard, tied it up in the 59th minute. Earlier the teams played out a goalless first period before trading goals in the middle session. Alexander Kucheryavenko put Avangard up in the 21st minute; Loko levelled with another power play strike from another Swede when Staffan Kronwall fired home from the blue line in the 36th minute.
Slovan v HC Sochi 3-1
Home comforts seem to suit Slovan as the team picked up its second win in Bratislava following two road losses. HC Sochi was the victim tonight after first-period goals from Patrik Luza and Ivan Svarny set Slovan on its way. Ben Maxwell found the net for the second game running to reduce the deficit in the third, but an empty-netter Pavol Skalicky made the final score 3-1.
Medvescak v Torpedo 1-6
Medvescak had picked up three wins from three to open its campaign but saw that run come to a juddering halt as Torpedo recovered from its third-period collapse in Slovakia last time out. Just as at Slovan, Torpedo opened up a commanding lead early on, going 4-0 up by the middle of the second period. But this time the visitor kept its foot on the gas, shrugging off a goal from Genoway Colby and powering to a big victory. Evgeny Grachyov opened the scoring after just 95 seconds to ensure there was no hangover from Monday’s disappointment. Evgeny Mozer doubled that lead in the 19th minute and second-period strikes from Maxim Osipov and Sam Lofquist, his first for the club, put Torpedo in complete control. Colby got Medvescak on the scoreboard, but a third-period marker from Dmitry Semin and a second of the night from Grachyov put the outcome beyond any doubt. Medvescak’s night got worse when Yann Sauve received a 5+20 for a high hit in the closing minutes.
Ugra v Salavat Yulaev 2-3
Pavel Medvedev scored two for the second time this season, but his Ugra team went down at home to Salavat Yulaev. Two goals in a minute midway through the final stanza saw Igor Grigorenko and Denis Kulyash put the visitor 3-2 up and that lead lasted until the hooter.
Severstal v Lada 3-4 SO
Georgy Belousov maintained Lada’s bright start to the season with a shoot-out winner at Sevestal. The Motormen looked to be cruising after two goals from Belousov and a third from Alexander Bugamin made it 3-0 inside 27 minutes, but the road turned rocky when Dmitry Kagarlitsky (2) and Evgeny Mons tied the game. That led to an epic shoot-out of 14 attempts – one of them referred to the video official – before Lada took the win.
SKA v Ak Bars 5-6 SO
Ak Bars’ first period performance suggested that talk of problems in Kazan was laughably premature – but after sweeping into a 4-1 lead at SKA, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov saw his team fold in the closing stages to allow Oleg Znarok’s men to tie it up at 5-5. The visitors rallied to claim a shoot-out victory: two saves from Emil Garipov denied Vadim Shipachyov and Ilya Kovalchuk before Fyodor Lukoyanov got the winner. But for two periods of Pavel Datysuk-inspired SKA dominance, this was a game that highlighted many of the weaknesses of Ak Bars in the opening weeks of the season. Before the game there was much talk of the renewed rivalry between Bilyaletdinov and Znarok, the man who replaced him behind the bench of Team Russia. The two had memorably duelled in the 2010 Gagarin Cup final, when Bilyaletdinov’s Ak Bars got an almighty fright against Znarok’s unfancied MVD. And now they met as two of the most distinguished tacticians in the game but with Znarok seemingly in the ascendancy. SKA had made by far the brighter start to the season and since that 2010 Gagarin Cup win Bilyaletdinov had not won a major club trophy; Znarok, by contrast, had claimed two Gagarin Cups of his own in the interim.
Yet the early exchanges hinged on single incident early in the first period. SKA was leading 1-0 thanks to Shipachyov’s fourth-minute goal when Evgeny Ketov was ejected from the game for kneeing. During the subsequent major penalty, Ak Bars scored four goals in less than three-and-a-half minutes to build up a commanding lead. Jiri Sekac tied the scores, then Anton Glinkin and Atte Ohtamaa combined twice in the space of 37 seconds to create goals for Vasily Tokranov and Andrei Popov. Vladimir Tkachyov added a fourth; starting goalie Igor Shestyorkin was pulled for Evgeny Ivannikov as SKA’s evening went alarmingly off course. After a disastrous first period, SKA needed to start strongly in the second … but it was Maxim Lazarev who extended Ak Bars’ lead in the 23rd minute as the home team’s defensive frailties continued even at full strength. It wasn’t until the visitor ran into penalty trouble of its own that SKA managed to haul itself back into the game. Datsyuk fed Kovalchuk for a shot from the blue line that Sergei Shirokov tipped into the net to make it 2-5. Then Nikita Gusev converted the rebound from a Evgeny Dadonov shot to bring SKA back within two goals in time for the third period. Yet another power play goal, this time when Datysuk touched in a Kovalchuk shot at the top of the crease, made it a one-goal game with five minutes to play and in a frenzied finale the Magic Man conjured up the equalizer on 59:55 with a sublime piece of play to ghost past two defensemen before flipping the puck over Emil Garipov’s shoulder. The goalie, though, held the edge in the shoot-out to help Ak Bars squeak a point from a game that looked like an easy win. CSKA v Neftekhimik 4-1
Bud Holloway got his first two goals since arriving in the KHL to help the Army Men to a comfortable home win over Neftekhimik. CSKA was dominant from the off, allowing just three shots on its net in a one-sided first period, but still had to wait until almost midway through the game to take the lead through Artyom Blazhiyevsky’s power play marker. Then Holloway got to work, adding two further power play goals. First he smashed home a mighty one-timer from the blue line; next he found the empty net off Kirill Petrov’s pass with seconds to play in the middle stanza. Denis Denisov added a fourth in the 47th minute – CSKA’s first even-strength goal of the night – while Viktor Fasth’s hopes of a shut-out were ended by Igor Polygalov’s 57th-minute consolation goal. 
Amur v Vityaz 1-3
Vityaz picked up its first win of the season with a 3-1 win at Amur. The home side started well with Jan Kolar giving it a 12th-minute lead, but it didn’t take long for Maxim Afinogenov to tie it up on the power play. Miro Aaltonen got the game-winner – his first in the KHL – on 26 minutes before Alexei Kopeikin wrapped it up in the third. Amur is still winless after three home games.
Avtomobilist v Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2-0
It was set to be the day that Sergei Mozyakin reached Boris Mikhailov’s All-Time Russian goalscoring record – but Avtomobilist clearly hadn’t read the script.
Three goals in three games for the Metallurg captain this season brought him to within a single strike of Mikhailov’s 428 markers in the Soviet top league. But on Monday, Mozyakin was thwarted by Vladimir Sokhatsky in the Avtomobilist net. His 28 saves included five from his most illustrious opponent; the wait for a place in history continues at least until Thursday’s game at Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk. The game wasn’t all about Mozyakin. At the other end Rok Ticar broke the deadlock after two goalless periods, racing onto Evgeny Chesalin’s pass and going one-on-one with Vasily Koshechkin before beating the goalie with a backhand. Soon after Anatoly Golyshev made it 2-0 with a power play marker and that was enough to settle the outcome. No record-breaking goal and – perhaps more worryingly for Magnitka – a third straight defeat. For Avtomobilist, a third win of the season gives it a share of the Eastern Conference lead alongside Avangard.Lokomotiv v Dynamo Moscow 2-3
Dynamo maintained its impressive start to the season with a victory at Lokomotiv. After going through pre-season with a perfect record, the Blue-and-Whites got two wins on the road in the Far East before heading back to Europe to win in Yaroslavl. The visitor took an early lead thanks to Artyom Fyodorov. The young forward fired a shot from the bottom of the circle and beat Alexei Murygin as #25 screened the home goalie. Fyodorov, now 23, broke into Dynamo’s team last season and managed six goals; a marker in his third appearance this time round adds to his hopes of a breakout campaign this time around. One of the key link-ups for Loko this season is likely to be the pairing of Brandon Kozun and Max Talbot. They showed promising signs of getting their games to gel, capped by Kozun’s 20th-minute equalizer off a Talbot assist. But that encouraging sign for Loko could not inspire a change in the direction of this game. Instead Dynamo scored two unanswered goals in the middle stanza to take control of the game. Semyon Kokuyov got his second of the season, firing through a crowd of players with Murygin screened once again. Then Kokuyov’s former Traktor team-mate Alexander Rybakov got involved with a superb rush from center ice, slicing past two D-men before feeding Daniil Tarasov for a one-timer between the hashmarks. 3-1 at the second intermission. Loko, like Dynamo, was unbeaten going into this one and worked hard in the third to pull the game around. But despite outshooting the visitor 11-5 the only goal came too late: Talbot got his first since crossing the Atlantic with just 49 seconds left and the clock ran down as Dynamo held on to the win.
Slovan v Torpedo 7-4
Slovan got its first win of the season after a powerful third-period display turned this game upside down. Trailing 1-3 at the second intermission, and with head coach Milos Riha ejected from the bench, the Slovaks were up against it – especially after Torpedo had won its opening two games of the season. But Slovan responded in style with six goals in the final session. Vaclav Nederost and Jiga Zeglic hauled the home team level after six minutes before Jeff Taffe’s power play marker put Slovan in front for the first time on 51:09. Torpedo’s troubles were compounded: in the build-up to the goal a penalty was called on Maxim Osipov and that power play saw Nick Plastino make it 5-3. Eighteen seconds later, Jakub Valsky added a sixth. The drama was not yet done: Torpedo got one back through Evgeny Grachyov with five minutes to play, and a power play for the visitor ensured a tense conclusion. But Slovan’s Andrej Meszaros had the final word, adding an empty-net goal to two earlier assists to put a seal on the highest scoring game so far this season. That was a big contrast to the opening two periods, where Torpedo seemed set to continue the impressive form that brought victories over Dinamo Riga and Jokerit in the opening games. Kirill Rasskazov opened the scoring in the first period but Ivan Svarny tied the game early in the second. Torpedo’s response brought in-form Kaspars Daugavins into play once again. The Latvian picked up 2+2 in his first two outings, and snaffled his third goal of the season when he fired home Vladimir Galuzin’s lovely dangled pass. Swedish forward Fredrik Pettersson made it 3-1 with his first goal of the season, but found it was nowhere near enough in the face of Slovan’s third-period onslaught.
Medvescak v HC Sochi 3-2 OT
Medvescak and HC Sochi both missed a chance to go to the top of the Western Conference table after tying 2-2 in regulation in Zagreb. Both teams had won their opening two games and would have claimed first place outright with a win inside 60 minutes, but instead Medvescak had to settle for a share of the lead with Dynamo Moscow after securing an overtime win thanks to Shaone Morrisonn. Ilya Krikunov gave Sochi a first-period lead but Medvescak turned it around on strikes from Mark Katic and Colby Genoway in the middle session. Ben Maxwell tied it up in the third.
Lada v Neftekhimik 3-1
Two goals in 15 seconds turned this game around and set Lada on the way to a second successive victory. Neftekhimik had taken a first-period lead thanks to Ivan Lekomtsev but Stanislav Bocharov tied it up on 22:04 and just 15 seconds later Denis Zernov got what proved to be the game-winner. That was a special way for the 20-year-old to mark his KHL debut after two seasons in Lada’s youth set-up. The third period saw Nikita Filatov score a power play goal to put Lada in complete control; Richard Gynge missed a late penalty shot for Neftekhimik.
Admiral v Vityaz 5-4
Vityaz arrived late for its game at Admiral, but still gave full battle in its first game of the season. The visitor even took the lead in the 11th minute through Alexei Makeyev, only to fall 3-1 behind by the intermission. Admiral had suffered two successive shoot-out defeats this season, but held on to its lead this time. Dmitry Sayustov claimed the game-winner in a 5-4 victory.
Sibir v Ugra 2-0
Young Sibir goalie Alexei Krasikov had a shut-out to help his team to a 2-0 win over Ugra. He made 28 saves on the night; goals from Vitaly Menshikov and Maxim Shalunov secured the win.
Metallurg Nk v Avtomobilist 2-5
Two goals from Rok Ticar set Avtomobilst on the way to a 5-2 win at Metallurg Novokuznetsk. The visitor wasted little time imposing itself on the game, opening up a 2-0 lead by the 12th minute and ultimately stretching the advantage to five by 36:54. Late strikes from Fyodor Polishchuk and Stanislav Butuzov added a little respectability to the final scoreline for Metallurg.
Avangard v Barys Astana 3-1
Avangard made it three wins from three while Barys is still looking for its first success of the season after the teams met in Omsk. The deadlock wasn’t broken until the 28th minute, when Maxim Pestushko put Avangard up with his first goal since arriving from Dynamo Moscow. Denis Parshin and Nikolai Lemtyugov extended the lead before Brandon Bochenski’s first of the season gave Barys a last-minute consolation.
Severstal v Traktor 2-7
Traktor was the day’s top scorer, romping to a 7-2 victory at Severstal. Alexei Kruchinin led the way with two goals, before Maxim Yakutsenya, Yury Petrov and Kirill Koltsov added some gloss with three goals in the last five minutes.
SKA v Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4-2
Sergei Mozyakin scored for the third game running – moving to within a solitary strike of Boris Mikhailov’s record – but it wasn’t enough to save Metallurg from defeat at SKA. In a game billed as the clash of Datsyuk and Mozyakin, the Magnitka captain took the personal honors – Datsyuk did not make it on to the scoresheet for SKA – but Alexander Barabanov scored two to help the home team to victory. Twice Magnitka led – through Jan Kovar in the first and Mozyakin in the second – but three unanswered SKA goals in the third turned the game around as Evgeny Dadonov’s marker was sandwiched by Barabanov’s double. It all added up to a second win in three games for SKA, and a second loss in three for the defending champion.
Spartak v Dinamo Riga 4-3
Two third-period goals from Dmitry Kalinin gave Spartak its first win of the season, edging Dinamo Riga 4-3. The Latvians led 2-0 before Spartak tied it up, but then a 36th-minute Mihelis Redlihs goal put Dinamo back in charge. Howwever the experienced Kalinin was to have the last word, scoring in the 46th and 51st minutes to give the Red-and-Whites the points.
Torpedo v Jokerit 3-1
Torpedo reprised its victory over Jokerit in last season’s playoffs, downing the Finns 3-1 in Nizhny Novgorod. Kaspars Daugavins put the home team ahead in the middle stanza only for Jesse Joensuu to tie it up. But two goals from Vladimir Galuzin gave the points to the host.
CSKA v Salavat Yulaev 3-1
Salavat Yulaev recovered some pride after Thursday’s mauling in St. Petersburg but still went down to a defeat against the other Army Men in Moscow.
Two goals early in the second period determined the outcome of this clash, with Sergei Andronov and Nikita Pivtsakin putting the home team in control.
Earlier the teams traded goals in the opening session. Igor Ozhiganov put CSKA ahead in the 13th minute but Andreas Engqvist tied it up almost immediately.
Amur v Dynamo 2-3
Dynamo stretched its hoodoo over Amur to 11 games with victory in the Far East – but had to outlast a late rally to record its 11th successive win over this opponent. It all seemed easy enough in the early stages. Vladimir Bryukin opened the scoring in the first period and Juusso Heitanen doubled the advantage just past halfway. Alexei Sopin made it 3-0 in the 49th minute and the outcome seemed beyond doubt. But Amur belatedly hit its stride. Kirill Kapustin reduced the deficit with six and a half minutes to play – Amur’s first goal of the season after 113 minutes of play – and Maxim Kondratiev made it a one-goal game with 23 seconds left. The hooter robbed Amur of the chance to complete the fightback but the home team can take some confidence from the closing stages of its second defeat of the season. Admiral v Lokomotiv 3-4 SO
Stanislav Chistov was Lokomotiv’s hero after he added a shoot-out winner to a pair of goals in regulation. He gave his team a seventh-minute lead, forcing home the rebound from Andrei Loktionov’s shot, and when Denis Mosalyov made it 2-0 late in the first period it seemed that Loko was on track for a comfortable win. Admiral had other ideas, though. Three goals in five minutes either way of the midway mark turned the game upside down. Kirill Voronov got the home team on the board, Vladimir Tkachyov tied it up and a power play goal from Robert Sabolic, his first in the KHL, put the Sailors ahead. The lead was short-lived; Chistov was alert to another rebound, tucking away the puck after Yegor Averin’s shot was saved and the game was level going into the third. For the second time in two days, Admiral ended up in a shoot-out after a 3-3 tie and, for the second time, the visitor prevailed. Chistov wrapped up a good day at the office by scoring the only goal of the extras and handing Loko the victory.Ak Bars v Medvescak 1-3
Medvescak picked up its second win of the season with an impressive result in Kazan. Facing one of the traditional powerhouses of the Eastern Conference, the Croatian team produced a solid display to frustrate the host and leave Ak Bars with just one victory in its opening three games. Ak Bars had played the previous night, losing in a shoot-out to Neftekhimik after conceding the tying goal with just 11 seconds to play. But there was little sign of lethargy at the start, with home captain Alexander Svitov getting into a fight with Alexandre Bolduc in just the third minute. Both players were handed major penalties.
Medvescak’s opening win at Lada was inspired by a trio of power play goals – and the opener here also came with Ak Bars sitting out a penalty. Derek Smith, who got the game-winner in Togliatti, continued his scoring start to life in the KHL by converting a PP in the 19th minute. Seconds after the restart Brandon McMillan doubled the visitor’s advantage with the team’s first even strength marker of the campaign. Ak Bars needed to raise its game in the middle stanza and was given a great chance to do so almost immediately when presented a power play. But the visiting defense held out and even as Ak Bars ramped up the pressure – the second period would end with the home team 18-7 up on the shot count – Medvescak got the next goal thanks to Bobby Butler in the 31st minute. It wasn’t until midway through the third period that Ak Bars finally got on the board, reducing the deficit thanks to a short-handed goal from Justin Azevedo off an assist from former Lev Prague team-mate Jiri Sekac. But that wasn’t enough to spark a revival as Medvescak skated off with its perfect start to the season intact while Svitov finished the evening in the penalty box after a late clash with Goran Bezina.
Sibir v Barys Astana 5-1
Sibir bounced back from an opening defeat to beat Barys 5-1, with three quickfire goals at the start of the third period setting the seal on the victory.
The home side led 2-1 going into the final stanza but Barys had enjoyed the better of the middle frame, especially once Nigel Dawes made it a one-goal game in the 28th minute. But Sibir’s nerves were settled by a goal flurry. Stepan Sannikov got things moving on 50:25 to make it 3-1 then Barys’ problems with ill-discipline struck once again. Penalties for Roman Savchenko and Alexander Lipin following in short order and Sibir exacted maximum punishment. Sergei Shumakov converted the 5-on-3 power play, then came back 40 seconds later to add a second PP marker. Earlier Sibir had taken a stranglehold on the game with a goal either side of the first intermission. Evgeny Artyukhin got his second in successive games to open the scoring on 19:29 before Maxim Shalunov made it 2-0 on 20:34. Shalunov went on to add two assists to his tally for the night.
Metallurg Nk v Ugra 1-7
After failing to score in its opening game, Ugra let rip at Metallurg Novokuznetsk to romp to a 7-1 victory. Five goals in the second period laid the foundations for a convincing win, including two in the 34th minute from Konstantin Panov and Alexander Akmaldinov. Pavel Varfolomeyev and Pavel Medvedev scored two each while Anton Kuryanov was also on target. Kuznya’s reply came in the 52nd minute from Roman Blagoi; earlier Alexander Komaristy missed a penalty shot that would have made it 2-1.
Avangard v Avtomobilist 3-1
Avangard made it two wins out of two after a dominant display at home to Avtomobilist. The home side got in front and early on and went on to outshoot the visitor 28-14 as head coach Fyodor Kanareikin continued his successful start to life in Omsk. Alexander Kucheryavenko got the opening goal – and it was a classic piece of end-to-end play. Kucheryavenko collected the puck in his own zone, passed it from blue line to blue line where Danil Faizullin collected it, and continued his own rush to get on the end of Faizullin’s beautifully placed pass to the far post. Alexei Glukhov doubled the lead early in the middle stanza, exchanging passes with Pavel Makhanovsky before beating Igor Ustinsky but Avtomobilist got one back at the beginning of the third thanks to Rok Ticar’s first since arriving from Slovan. But hopes of a recovery were extinguished in the 54th minute when Alexander Perezhogin rapped home a one-timer off Maxim Pestushko’s pass to complete a comfortable home win.
Lada v Slovan 5-2
Lada got its first win of the season with a 5-2 success at home to Slovan. The Motormen opened up a 2-0 first-period lead thanks to Stanislav Bocharov and Rafael Akhmetov, and everything seemed to be going smoothly when Anton Krysanov made it 3-0 in the 51st minute. But Slovan hit back with two goals in a minute from Jeff Taffe and Jonathan Cheechoo to set up a tense finish. Penalty trouble in the dying moments ended Slovan’s hopes: Nikita Filatov assisted on two power play goals, Alexander Bumagin and Mikael Johansson found the net.
Severstal v Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3-2 SO
Two of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference suffered shock defeats against outsiders as Metallurg and Ak Bars went down in shoot-outs to Severstal and Neftekhimik. Not even Sergei Mozyakin’s 426th career league goal could save the defending champion in the clash of Russia’s steel cities. He tapped in a late equalizer after Jakub Kovar allowed Viktor Antipin’s shot to squirm through his five-hole, but the Czech goalie came up big in the shoot-out to deny Chris Lee and Danis Zaripov. Maxim Trunyov, who had earlier given Severstal a seventh-minute lead, claimed the game-winner.
Ak Bars v Neftekhimik 1-2 SO
Ak Bars hosted Tatarstan rival Neftekhimik and looked to have secured a 1-0 victory on Vladimir Tkachyov’s 41st-minute goal, only to be rocked by a late, late equalizer. Igor Polygalov tied the game with just 11 seconds left, Neftekhimik rewarded for defending a face-off at its own end without recalling the goalie. And the night got worse for the home team in the extras: Swedish forward Richard Gynge scored twice in the shoot-out before Ivan Lisutin saved Fyodor Malykhin’s final attempt to give Neftekhimik the early bragging rights in Tatarstan this season.
SKA v Salavat Yulaev 7-1
Pavel Datsyuk’s home debut for SKA was one of the most hotly anticipated events in town – and the Magic Man wasted no time in casting a spell on his new public. It took the former Detroit Red Wing just 30 seconds to get his first KHL goal for his new employer, sparking a rout of Salavat Yulaev.
It was a characteristic finish, on the backhand and from a tight angle, that left visiting goalie Niklas Svedberg floundering on his crease. And Datsyuk wasn’t done: midway through the opening stanza his inviting pass across the face of the net found Slava Voynov and the ex-LA Kings D-man instinctively smashed home a one-timer. For SKA, so disappointing in the opening game at Traktor, the performance and scoreline was more in keeping with pre-season expectations; another goal early in the second saw Ilya Kovalchuk open his account for the campaign on the power play. Kovalchuk, scratched from the line-up during last season’s playoffs, took the opportunity to announce that he was back in business this season. He added a second in the 33rd minute and found Sergei Plotnikov on the slot to make it 5-0 just before the second intermission. The night’s brightest stars combined to make it 6-0: Datsyuk’s pass set up Kovalchuk for his hat-trick – the first in the KHL this season – and left Salavat Yulaev in total disarray. Igor Zakharkin, back at one of his former clubs, at least had the satisfaction of seeing his team get on the scoresheet through Teemu Hartikainen. SKA still had the last word, though, with Nikita Gusev getting a seventh – unusually with no contribution from Datysuk or Kovalchuk this time.Torpedo v Dinamo Riga 2-0
Latvian forward Kaspars Daugavins was a thorn in his countrymen’s side after inspiring Torpedo to a 2-0 home win over Dinamo Riga. Daugavins claimed an assist on Dmitry Semin’s opener in the 22nd minute before wrapping up the points with an unassisted power play goal late on. Ilya Proskuryakov made 23 saves to claim a shut-out in his first game of the season.
HC Sochi v Jokerit 3-2
A late goal from Andre Petersson gave HC Sochi a dramatic 3-2 win over Jokerit. The forward had just stepped out of the sin bin when the puck broke for him, sending him one-on-one with American goalie Ryan Zapolski. The 25-year-old Swede won the duel, completing his hat-trick and claiming the game-winner with just 56 seconds left to play. Earlier Jokerit had recovered from 0-2 down. Charles Genoway scored right before the first intermission before Pekka Jormakka tied it up in the 36th minute. But neither Petersson, nor Sochi, were in a mood to be denied.
CSKA v Traktor 3-0
CSKA bounced back from Monday’s Opening Cup defeat in Magnitogorsk to victory on home ice. Traktor had started the season by surprising the other Army Men, SKA, but offered little resistance to Dmitry Kvartalnov’s troops in Moscow. The game was decided by CSKA’s power play – all three goals came when the host had a man advantage. The first two opportunities went begging in a goalless first period, but Traktor was always under pressure and it was no big surprise when Jan Mursak opened the scoring in the 28th minute as Michal Repik sat out a tripping penalty. Igor Ozhiganov had an assist on the opener and added his first goal of the campaign to make it 2-0 in the 35th. The scores stayed that way until Kirill Koltsov presented CSKA with another PP opportunity at the start of the third; Stephane da Costa did the honors this time. It was also a good night for goalie Viktor Fasth. He was pulled during the 3-2 defeat in Magnitogorsk but returned the starting line-up and made 18 saves for his shut-out.
