Long Friday in KHL

The day started when Amur Khabarovsk received CSKA Moscow. The hosts started the game with the confidence of three consecutive wins but had to see how Igor Grigorenko in power play used one of the few really good scoring opportunities for the guests at 12:03. At the end of the middle period the hosts found back into the match when Alexander Osipov was able to score the by then well-deserved equalizer. In the third period both sides were very cautious and it was pretty clear that the next goal might be decisive. In the end it was again Igor Grigorenko who won the match for the guests at 55:21 with a shot into the top left corner.

In a duel of Chernyshyov Division the home side Avangard Omsk gained the expected win against their lower-positioned opponents Barys Astana but needed overtime to do so. The guests from Kazakhstan even went in front through Alexei Litvinenko in power play at 22:05. A double though within 38 seconds through Matti Kuparinen and Oleg Piganovich let Avangard take the lead for the first time still in the middle period. Barys was not yet beaten and came back through another power play strike, this time the work of Dmitry Upper, at 48:48. In the following overtime Vitaly Novopoashin took a two-minute penalty for tripping which was punished by Avangard with the game winner through Tomas Zaborsky at 62:20. With now 61 points Omsk was also able to gain the lead in Eastern Division.

The two Central European teams Slovan Bratislava and Lev Prague earned good results in the middle of their respective road trips to Russia. 38-year old veteran center Jan Lipiansky opened the score for the guests from Slovakia already at 10:41 during their visit to Sibir Novosibirsk. In an even match it was Kristian Kudroc, ironically the only Slovak who plays for Sibir, who tied the matc against his fellow countrymen during a power play at 28:45. A few minutes later Michel Miklik used another power play to restore the lead for the team from Bratislava, that they kept until the final whistle.

Lev Prague started well into their away match against Metallurg Novokuznetsk and took a solid two-goal lead during the first 20 minutes through Lubos Bartecko and Marcel Hossa. Around "half time" Jakub Krejcik even could extend that leed to three before Konstantin Turukin answered with the first goal of the hosts. In the third period Metallurg was the clearly better team and the match was really one-sided but somehow Jakub Stepanek in the Lev net could avoid the late equalizer and defend the 3-2 away win.

In their last away match Avotomobilist Yekaterinburg, the last of the KHL table, ended a 14-game losing streak by defeating Dinamo Minsk. Today though they lacked everything you need in hockey and received a clera 5-0 package away against Severstal Cherepovets. Goals by Evgeny Mons, Stanislav Yegorshev, Vadim Berdnikov, Petr Caslava and Alexei Medvedev made sure the third win in a row for Severstal which at the same time was their seventh consecutive win on home ice. Vasily Koshechkin made 24 saves that earned him a shutout.

After a bitter last-minute loss against Ak Bars Kazan, the team of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl defended their four-point advantage towards the second in Tarasov Division, CSKA Moscow, with a 3-2 win in another top game against Salavat Yulayev Ufa. Although Sergei Zinovyev and Denis Khlystov earned a two-goal lead for the guests from Ufa, they had to see how Lokomotiv turned the game around completely even before the second intermission with strikes by Yegor Averin (2) and super star Artyom Anisimov. With two minutes left in regulation Ufa took a time out to reorganize their play but the small advantage was enough for Lokomotiv.

After two consecutive losses Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod found back on the tracks. At home against the then still Eastern conference leaders Ak Bars Kazan they won all three points by defeating them 3-1. Dmitry Makarov and Artyom Chernov with a double in the 34th minute and Ruslan Zainullin at the begin of the third period had earned a three goal lead for the hosts that was too much to come back for Kazan. The guests only were able to score the consolidation goal through Danis Zaripov at 50:49.

SKA St. Petersburg received the second loss in the second game after the firing of their head coach Milos Riha. When the one-goal loss to Donbass Donetsk could still be defended as a normal result, the 1-6 against bottom side Spartak Moscow means a huge setback for the Gagarin Cup contenders. In a till then very balanced match three consecutive goals within a bit more than three minutes around "half time" by Spartak through Anatoly Nikontsev, Alexander Khokhlachyov and Oleg Gubin not only pathed the way for the home win for the outsiders but also let the guests substitute their starting goalie Ilya Ezhov with Sergei Bobrovsky. This calmed down the game a bit for St. Petersburg and Patrick Thoresen cut the lead to two at 35:09 already. In the last 20 minutes the target shooting by Spartak continued with goals by Alexander Suglobov, Mikhail Yunkov and again Anatoly Nikontsev. Spartak stays last in Tarasov Division with now 32 points while SKA couldn't draw level again with Western Conference leaders Dynamo Moscow.

Atlant Moscow Oblast stays the "team of the hour" in KHL. After their third consecutive three-point win - 3-1 on home ice against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk - they stay in touch with the playoff positions in Western Conference. Maxim Mayorov and Nikolai Zherdev had opend the score for the hosts before Martin Cibak brought the guests onto the scoreboard at 27:17. Already in the second minute of the last period Igor Ignatushkin decided the match for Atlant.

Vityaz Chekhov showed another good performance against a powerhouse of the KHL but had to take a late loss at home against Traktor Chelyabinsk. A double by Vityaz' Artemy Panarin and Brian Fahey in the middle of the game had tied the initial two-goal lead through Traktor Chelyabinsk that was earned by Andrei Popov and Petri Kontiola in the first period. When it looked like the game might see an overtime Petri Kontiola was there with his second of the day to make it 2-3 at 55:35. For Traktor it was only the second win in the last six matches but enough to draw level with Kharlamov Division leaders Avangard Omsk.

For the third time in a row Metallurg Magnitogorsk had to play some extra hockey. A double at the end of the first period through Dmitry Kazionov and Mats Zuccarello earned them a solid two-goal lead against by then still harmless hosts Dinamo Minsk. This changed in the middle period where after a fast power play goal by Dinamo's Tim Stapleton (super star Evgeny Malkin was in the penalty box), Metallurg became more and more nervous and was involved in a lot of nasty plays and fist fights. When Magnitka once more was shorthanded - Oleg Tverdovsky was out for hooking - Janne Niskala even scored the equalizer for the Belarussians at 37:37. The hosts kept the pressure high and were rewarded with the 3-2 through Geoff Platt at the begin of the third period to turn around the game completely. With one of their few chances in the last 20 minutes the guests from Magnitogorsk came back through Cal O'Reilly who made it 3-3 at 56:14. After a goalless overtime, the shootout followed. There Dmitry Kazionov and Evgeny Malkin were stopped by Dinamo goalie Pekka Rinne while Zbynek Irgl and Tim Stapleton managed to get their tries past Ari Ahonen for the extra point.

 

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