Novokuznetsk ends losing streak

Czech league newcomers Lev Prague ended their three-game road trip to Russia with a 3-2 away win against Amur Khabarovsk - making it 6 out of 9 possible points. For Amur it was the second consecutive loss at the end of their five game home stint. Juraj Mikus and Erik Christensen with a double earned the guests from Prague a solid 3-1 lead after Dmitry Shitikov had opened the score for Amur already at 07:05 when the hosts were clearly better in the first period. With just 67 seconds left on the clock Perttu Lindgren brought Amur back to just one but despite pulling out their goalie for an additional attacker the hosts couldn't score the equalizer in the remaining time.

Lev's direct rivals in Slovan Bratislava suffered their second loss during their current four game road trip - there is one match against CSKA Moscow left on Tuesday. Thus they couldn't avoid that Lev cut the distance between the two teams to just three points. Metallurg Novokuznetsk twice was behind after goals by Vladimri Dravecky and Andrej Sekera but Denis Yezhov and Dmitry Kagarlitsky tied the game before the second intermission. At 43:47 it was again Kagarlitsky who scored the game winner in favour of Metallurg. For Novokuzentsk a five-game losing streak, including three consecutive home losses, found its end.

It looked like top team CSKA Moscow could finnish their three game road trip with a perfect record after Vladimir Zharkov and Niklas Persson had scored for them in the first period. Starting with the second period though the home side Sibir Novosibirsk took over the iniative and cut the lead to the half through Alexei Kopeikin in power play. When Sibir risked everything by pulling out their goalie Jeff Glass for another forward, Kristian Kudroc scored the deserved equalizer at 59:13. The following overtime stayed scoreless, so that the shootout had to bring the decision. There it was Alexander Radulov who won the extra point for CSKA in the third round - before Jonas Enlund (Sibir) and Sergei Shirokov (CSKA) had been successful.

Atlant Moscow Oblast couldn't continue their three-game winning streak that brought them close to the playoff spots. Against favourites Ak Bars Kazan they went in front through Nikolai Zherdev at 14:21 but Danis Zaripov, Ilya Nikulin and Jarkko Immonen - goal number two and three for Kazan came with the men advantage - made it 1-3 in the middle period. The hosts tried to force the equalizer but only managed to make it 2-3 through Andreas Engqvist with 10 minutes left on the clock. For Ak Bars it was the third win in the last four matches.

Tarasov division leaders Lokomotiv Yaroslavl made a jump to the second place in the KHL table after defeating Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk at home. Artyom Anisimov scored the early lead for the hosts while they were shorthanded at 06:01. The fans had to wait until the third period though before the Loko special teams would score again. This time it was Staffan Kronwall who used a power play for the 2-0 at 44:40. Oskar Osala brought hope back to the guests but with four minutes left in regulation Sergei Plotnikov answered with another one for the home team.

In a game with many penalties and few really scoring chances favourites Salavat Yulayev Ufa won due to a double by them in the third period through Alexei Glukhov and Igor Mirnov. At 22:18 hosts Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod even had opened the score through Matt Ellison in power play but just three and a half minutes later Tomas Rolinek was able to answer for the guests from Ufa.

 

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