Shutout day in KHL

28 Dec 2012 | Dennis Mende

In five of the eight matches on Friday a goalie earned a shutout. Twice even the minimum result was seen.

The day started with game action between Avangard Omsk and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. In an even match Alexander Perezhogin scored the 1-0 for favourites Avangard at 30:37. This turned out to be already the game winner. At the begin of the third period Sergei Kostitsyn missed the big chance to double the lead when Vitaly Koval stopped his penalty shot attempt. Karri Rämö made 30 saves and gained a shutout.

Traktor Chelyabinsk had more problems than expected against bottom side Amur Khabarovsk. Around "half time" Perttu Lindgren even scored the completely surprising lead for Amur with one of only five shots on goal the guests had in the middle period. Just a minute later Andrei Popov gave the immediate answer though. Yegor Dugin and Konstantin Panov gave the win to Traktor in the end.

In the duel of the two Metallurgs in KHL, home side Magnitogorsk had an easy job. Sergei Mozyakin, Mats Zuccarello, Nikolai Kulemin, Ryan O'Reilly (2) and Evgeny Malkin were successful in a very one-sided 6-0 win for Magnitka. Their goalie Ari Ahonen only needed 22 saves for hus shutout.

Bottom side Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg kept the game against favourites Sibir Novosibirsk close but had to give up all three points. Around "half time" Evgeny Fyodorov brought the guests in front before Jori Lehterä made everything clear with his empty netter with just four seconds left in regulation. Jeff Glass made 20 saves and earned a shutout.

Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk received an unexpected 3-5 home loss against Atlant Moscow Oblast. The goals by Igor Ignatushkin, Ilya Kablukov and Andreas Engqvist gave Atlant a comfortable lead after the first 20 minutes already. Anton But and Sergei Demagin brought Yugra onto the scoreboard in the middle period but Jonas Andersson and Viktor Stalberg answered for Atlant. Rinat Ibragimov used an early third period powerplay but the hosts didn't manage a comeback anymore.

Dmitry Upper and Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev were the ones to score the goals that gave their team Barys Astana a 2-0 win against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. For Lokomotiv it was the third consecutive loss while Barys extended their winning streak to seven !

A goal at 04:25 through their super star Ilya Kovalchuk was enough for SKA St. Petersburg to grabb all three points against Slovan Bratislava. The guests had several good opportunities, including a penalty shot attempt through Miroslav Preisinger at 08:01. SKA goalie Sergei Bobrovsky earned a shutout after blocking all 27 shots on goal he faced.

The other league newcomers Lev Prague had a better end when they faced current Gagarin Cup holders Dynamo Moscow away. Tomas Rachunek (2), Jakub Krejcik and Jakub Klepis earned a surprising 4-0 lead for Lev until the start of the third period. Denis Kokarev and Alexei Tsvetkov only were able to cut the guest lead to the half as there was no time left for a full comeback.