KHL Roundup - 29 December

Spartak 0 – Dynamo Moscow 6

Dynamo Moscow have scored 11 unanswered goals in their past two games and took the Moscow derby over Spartak 6-0.  Goals came from six different scorers and 14 different players had points in the dominating performance by Dynamo.  26 wins and 85 points is the best in the KHL in those categories.

Donbass 1 – Ak Bars 2

In a battle of two of the top teams in the league, Ak Bars’ Obukhov notched a game winning power play goal five minutes into the second period.  Donbass was the more productive team, but Emil Garupov and the Eastern Conference’s best defense turned away 33 shots.  Donbass holds the third seed in the Western Conference, but are within a one game reach of Dynamo Riga and CSKA.

Dinamo Riga 1 – Slovan Bratislava 3

Slovan won their fifth in eight games, using December to get within four games of a playoff spot in the West.  Dinamo is clearly the better team, but played their second game in as many nights.  They could not shake the hangover of losing to Lev Praha in a shootout a night earlier.  Vondrka got the scoring going for Slovan on a penalty shot in the first period and would also assist on their third goal.  Kyle Wilson scored with 10 minutes left in the game, but the goal was not enough to give Riga any comeback momentum.

Medvescak 4 – Vityaz 2

A three goal second period gave Medvescak a 4-0 lead over visiting Vityaz going into the third period.  It was enough to hold off the struggling Knights, who lost six of eight games in December and have put themselves in a hole for the final playoff push.  Vityaz was able to start a comeback try in a bizarre second period.  The fans were trying to break the Guinness Book World Record for “longest wave”.  In the middle of their attempt, Vityaz snuck a couple goals past Mark Dekanich with the crowd almost not even noticing.  In the end, a new record was made (15’30”) and the Bears hung on for a win.  First-team all-star Jonathan Cheechoo scored his 17th goal of the season.

Lokomotiv 3 – Metallurg Mg 1

Lokomotiv holds the last playoff spot in the Western Conference and was able to keep on Medvescak’s heels for the 7th spot with a 3-1 win over Metallurg Mg.  Metallurg’s Pare would score 1:52 into the game, but Lokomotiv was able to regain focus for the win.  Holos scored an empty net goal to ice the game and Danili Apalkov picked up two assists.

Severstal 4 – Traktor 6

Traktor looked like they would take this game easily from the start, but Severtal would not lie down easy.  The result: a combined ten goal dual, but Traktor was able to hold on for the win.  Zavarukhin started three straight goals for Traktor in the first period.  The teams would trade goals until half way through the third period when Severstal pushed for their comeback try.  Berdnikov would get them within one goal, but Severstal could not get the equalizer with the empty net.  Maxim Kondratyev finished the game with a goal and an assist for Traktor.

Dinamo Minsk 4 – Torpedo 0

Torpedo played their last match of the year against the Western Conference’s worst team and were surprised 4-0.  Alexander Materukhin scored back-to-back goals in the second period and put the game out of reach for Torpedo.  Newly named all-star, Geoff Platt with Minsk, had an assist on the first goal and Kalyuzhny finished with two assists.

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