Lev Prague climbs on top of Bobrov Division

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk underlined their good form by defeating Avangard Omsk away in one of today's top games with a score of 6-2. Neftekhimik now is first in the Kharlamov Division. Oskar Osala, Maxim Berezin and Petr Koukal earned a solid three-goal lead for Neftekhimik until the begin of the third period. Within only three minutes Avangard cut the lead to just one goal through Evgeny Orlov and Alexander Perezhogin until 46:58. The guests found an immediate answer through Yegor Milozorov, again Osala and Andrei Subbotin who added another three strikes to let Netftekhimik give the whole league a big exclamation mark.

Kazakh side Barys Astana could celebrate their first win of the season against a so far struggling Salavat Yulayev Ufa. Oleg Saprykin and Alexander Stepanov brought Ufa twice in front with the equalizer through Konstantin Rudenko in between. At 52:31 Nigel Dawes tied the match again for Barys before his team mate Talgat Zhailauov scored the game-winner just 44 seconds later. Although Barys stays at the bottom of Chernyshyov Division with four points they are only one point behind Ufa.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk won also their second home match under Canadian head coach Paul Maurice. After defeating current Gagarin Cup holders Dynamo Mocsow, they now beat another favourite - SKA St. Petersburg. Denis Platonov opened the score for the hosts in power play at 11:46. This lead stood for a long time before Kevin Dallman with 15 seconds left in the second period, assisted by Norwegian forward Patrick Thoresen. An eventful last period let Metallurg secure the home win. First Sergei Mozyakin gained the lead back for Magnitogorsk at 41:05. Just 16 seconds later Gleb Klimenko tied the game again. Again Mozyakin and Alexei Kaigorodov pathed the way for the home win in the 53rd. In the last minute of play SKA took at timeout and pulled out their goalie but Patrick Thoresen only cut the Metallurg lead to 4-3 with his strike at 59:59.

In front of 4,100 spectators Yugra Khanty-Mansyisk earned their first three points of the season with a solid home win against favourites Ak Bars Kazan. A power play strike through Vitaly Sitnikov around "half time" opened the score for the hosts which was doubled when Swede Linus Videll was sucessful with an empty netter with 11 seconds left on the clock. Yugra goalie Mikhail Biryukov earned his first shutout of the season.

Spartak Moscow is back on the top position in Tarasov Division after beating Amur Khabarovsk 3-1. Stefan Ruzicka opened the score for Spartak at 13:43. At the begin of the second period Andrei Kuzmin extended the lead before Alexander Osipov brought Amur onto the scoreboard at 25:37. Almost immediately came the reaction by Spartak and Oleg Gubin decided the match at 26:09 already. After a good start into the season Amur has only gained 2 points in the last 4 games, including losses in their first two away matches.

Dinamo Minsk was able to draw level with their Tarasov Divison opponents CSKA Moscow. Almost 15,000 fans came to the arena in Minsk to see the home side win 3-1. Alexander Kitarov was able to get the Belarussians in front already at 4:09. With the begin of the second period CSKA super star Alexander Radulov scored the equalizer in power play but in the same period Dmitry Meleshko earned the lead back for the hosts. Finnish import Teemu Laine decided everything in favour of Minsk at 45:04. Both Dinamo and CSKA now have 8 points each.

Sibir Novosibirsk is one of the big positive surprises in KHL in the first matchdays. In Donetsk they beat Ukrainian newcomers Donbass in shootout today. Jori Lehtera became the star for Donbass with an assist for Maxim Krivonozhkin in the 0-1 and scoring the 1-2 himself. Evgeny Solovyov and Evgeny Dadonov - the second one late at 55:32 - twice drew level with Sibir. After an goalless overtime, Jonas Enlund was the only one to score in the peanlty shootout - against his fellow countryman from Sweden Erik Ersberg - to give Sibir not only the extra point but also the lead in Chernyshyov Division. For Donbass it was the first point after winning the season opener in Bratislava and an unfortunate home debut in KHL.

Latvian side Dinamo Riga had quite a few problems by keeping a lead at the begin of the season. In fact they already lost three games with the score of 1-2 after scoring first themselves (against Lev Prague, CSKA Moscow and Sibir Novosibirsk). Today it was vice versa. Randy Robitaille brought Metallurg Novokuznetsk in front at 6:44 but Gints Meija, Rob Schremp and an empty-netter by Jamie Johnson gave the second win this season to Dinamo Riga.

Vityaz Chekhov had a good start with 4 away points in their first three appearances. Today they lost their second consecutive home match against a KHL newcomer - this time against Slovan Bratislava - and again they stayed goalless. Libor Hudacek and Michal Vondrka (PP) opened the score for Slovan in the first period before Jan Lipiansky made everything clear already at 30:02. Jaroslav Janus gained his first-ever KHL shutout for Slovan in their first every away win in Europe's top league - and the second KHL win in total.

Lev Prague is making forgotten all fears that they could end up at the bottom of the league just as their predecessors Lev Poprad. With their fourth win in five matches they are now leaders of Bobrov Division. They beat Severstal Cherepovets away with 3-2 after shootout. At the begin of the second period Teemu Laakso and Vadim Shipachyov turned around the initial Lev Prague lead by Jakub Klepis within three minutes. At 34:04 Ondrej Nemes was succesful with a power play strike that kept the result at 2-2. In the shootout Juraj Mikus was the only scorer and gave Lev the extra point.

 

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