Barys and Dynamo Moscow’s Epic Battle: KHL Thursday Roundup

Barys Astana 4 – Dynamo Moscow 3 (SO)

Two of the top teams in the league faced off and put up an instant classic.  It took eight rounds of penalties and a shootout goal from Dustin Boyd that allowed Barys to outlast Dynamo 4-3.  Moscow looked in control of this one early in the second period on a Tsvetkov goal.  However, Lakiza tied the game with 2:30 left in the second with Zhailauov getting an assist.  Zhailauov now has an impressive 17 points on the season.

Karsums would get two in a row for Moscow to nearly put the game out of reach for Barys.  But in an odd twist of fate, it would be a Karsums penalty that allowed Barys to get back into the game.  Savchenko would score with the extra man and get Barys within striking distance.  After an odd penalty on Novak with Dynamo for “illegal and dangerous equipment”, Barys pulled Yeremev and scored on the 6-on-4 situation.

Ultimately the game needed penalties to be decided.  Tsvetkov and Komarov would score their penalty shots for Dynamo and Antropov, Dawes and Boyd scored for Barys to end the stalemate.

Avtomobilist 2 – Ak Bars 3 (SO)

With a Barys loss, Ak Bars had the opportunity to grab the lead in the Eastern Conference.  Instead they were only able to keep pace with a 3-2 shootout win over Avtomobilist.  Tim Stapleton scored both penalty tries for Ak Bars to give them the win.  He also scored in regulation to tie the game up 1-1 in the second period.  Streltsov got the scoring started just 2:12 into the game for Avtomobilist, but they gave the lead to the superior Ak Bars on a Shaun Heksha goal.  Sami Lepisto scored for Avtomobilist with just under :59 to plat to give them a chance for the upset, but Ak Bars hung on for the win.

Avangard 3 – Vityaz 1

Milos Riha finally gets his first win as new coach after a midseason change at Avangard.  Two quick goals by Kostitsyn and Kazionov less than 30 seconds apart helped keep Vityaz at bay.  Avangard also was finally able to protect youngster Denis Kostin by only allowing 13 shots on goal.  Vityaz is losing grasp in an ultra-competitive Western Conference—their season had so much promise at the beginning of the year, but they have fallen hard.

Ugra 4 – Torpedo 3

Torpedo was being carried this season mostly by the amazing play of top goaltender Georgy Gelashvili, but the underdog Ugra put four goals on him in amazing fashion.  Coming into the game he was near the top of the league leaders' board in goals against average with less than 1.60 per game. 

Ugra put two unanswered first period goals in before Tim Brent answered for Torpedo at the end of the first period.  That would be the first of three unanswered goals by Torpedo until Sitnikov got the equalizer goal late in the second period to tie the game at 3-3.  Knayzev would score 1:11 into the third period to give Ugra the win.  Jonas Andersson for Ugra finished with a goal and an assist to lead the teams in scoring.

Tweets by @eurohockey