Long Wednesday in KHL

Avangard Omsk started the day with a 5-3 win against Dinamo Minsk. Alexander Perezhogin opened the score for the hosts at 24:06 when he used a rebound after a shot by Nikita Nikitin from the blue line that was not cleared well by guest goalie Lalande. Just four minutes later Alexander Frolov was able to double the lead from a central position after he had received a pass from the left wing by Sergei Kostitsyn. Half a minute later Dinamo came back through Teemu Laine who used a pass by Zbynek Irgl to shoot the puck from a sharp angle into the net. In a very eventful period Avangard went on to score the 3-1 through Oleg Piganovich from the blue line. Although Dinamo took a penalty, the guests used a counter attack to keep the game close. Alexander Kulakov deked out the Avangard goalie for the shorthander. Still in the very same power play Matti Kuparinen used a rebound to make it 4-2 with only one second left before the intermission. Into the last 20 minutes Dinamo started with a lot of pressure and they earned the 4-3 through Joe Pavelski who waited on the second post when the puck came out of a large crowd in front of the Avangard net. A beautfiul goal by Dmitry Syomin ended all hopes for the guests though when he first deked out a defender and then sent the puck over the goal line from a very sharp angle at 54:44 to score the final 5-3. Avangard not only won 6 of its last 7 matches but also gained at least a point in every game since 8 October 2012.

Salavat Yulayev Ufa beat their guests Amur Khabarovsk with 6-4. It was a close game during the first half hour with a 2-2 on the scoreboard before Ufa went on two score another two before the second intermission. Mikhail Fisenko cut the lead to just one at the begin of the third before Antti Pihlström - with his second of the day - and Vitaly Proshkin would path the way for the Ufa home win. The goal by Alexander Yunkov at 54:07 came to late to turn things around for the visitors. For Salavat Yulayev it was their second win in a row while Amur stayed without a single point now in the last three matches.

Visitors Donbass Donetsk gained a surprising 2-1 away win against Traktor Chelyabinsk. Evgeny Kuznetsov brought Traktor in front at 27:25 before Vaclav Nedorost and Jani Tuppurainen - with a penalty shot - turned the result into the favour of the guests.

Bottom team Dinamo Riga couldn't stop their losing streak and was crushed 7-2 during their visit to Metallurg Magnitgorsk. Gints Meija and Roberts Bukarts kept the game open for the Latvians during much of the first two periods while Sergei Mozyakin and Sergei Gonchar had scored for the favourites Magnitka. With ten seconds left in the second period Nikolai Kulemin brought them in front for the first time. In the third period Dinamo Riga went on to surrender completely and Evgeny Malkin, again Kulemin and Mozyakin along with Enver Lisin made it a clear home win for Metallurg.

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, last in KHL table, gained one of their very few wins - it was only their 6th this season in 33 games - by defeating the also shaky Spartak Moscow with the minimum score of 1-0 at home. At 48:28 Rastislav Spirko was succesfull with the game winner for the hosts whose goalie Evgeny Lobanov even had a 32-save shutout.

Another shutout was earned by Barys Astana's goalie Vitaly Yeremeyev but his team was more dominating against visitors Severstal Cherepovets. Dustin Boyd and Brandon Bochenski with a double in the second minute pathed the way for the success of the Kazakhs very early. With less than five minutes left in regulation Roman Starchenko added the third goal of the night.

Vityaz Chekhov earned their second consecutive away win by beating Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk with 5-4 in regulation. Despite a very early strike that brought Yugra in front, the hosts were behind 1-4 already until 33:35. Later Vityaz did not more than necessary what almost was punished as Yugra cut the lead to just one in the last minute but they couldn't force the equalizer in the remaining seconds.

Also 5-4 but in shootout did Ak Bars Kazan win the top game against Sibir Novosibirsk. A double at the end of the first period brought Sibir in front with 3-1. First they had score in a 5 on 3 power play and then in the following 5-4 they were again successful. The home side from Tatarstan showed great moral and made it 3-3 until the begin of the third period but Sibir answered with a counter and the 3-4 through Konstantin Alexeyev. At 54:36 Danis Zaripov made overtime possible for Kazan which stayed goalless. In the following shootout Jarkko Immonen won the extra point for Kazan.

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk defeated Metallurg Novokuznetsk at home. The brothers Yaroslav and Stanislav Alshevsky twice earned a lead for Neftekhimik before Nikita Vyglazov and Anton Lazarev answered for Metallurg. A double by Maxim Pestushko - one in power play and one shorthanded - made the Metallurg win possible which only was brought into danger by Dmitry Kagarlitsky at 58:53 but the small advantage was enough.

SKA St. Petersburg is back on the right track. After two games without gaining a single point, including a terrible 1-6 loss to Spartak Moscow, they defeated Atlant Moscow Oblast with 4-3. The game winner was scored by Ilya Kovalchuk late at 55:20 - he already had scored the 3-2 in between just seconds before the end of the middle period.

Dynamo Moscow underlined their Gagarin Cup ambitions with a solid 3-1 home win against another top team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Leo Komarov, Denis Mosalyov and Ilya Gorokhov earned a three-goal lead for their team before Artyom Anisimov answered for Lokomotiv around "half time". During the rest of the game the hosts defended the advantage clever.

The last match was held in the Czech Republic were hosts Lev Prague defeated Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Jakub Klepis, Tomas Rachunek and Luboas Bartecko had made it a solid 3-0 lead for Lev but Mikhail Varnakov and Artyom Chernov cut the lead to just one with a double within 34 seconds in the third period. In the end an empty netter by Jakub Voracek was decisive for Lev. 

 

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