KHL recap (16 November 2012)

Game one of the day saw the two division leaders Avangard Omsk and Traktor Chelyabinsk meet with the better end in the shootout for Traktor. After a 1-1 in the first period it was twice Dmitry Syomin who kept hosts Avangard in the match. After a scoreless overtime Konstantin Panov and Evgeny Kuznetsov did their job right to get the extra point to Chelyabinsk.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk seems to struggle a bit after the national team break. In Khanty-Mansiysk they received their second consecutive 2-3 loss but this time they couldn't even grabb a single point. Rinat Ibragimov, Artyom Bulyansky and Marek Troncinsky scored for Yugra while Sergei Mozyakin and Denis Platonov were succesful for the guests. In the last minutes of play Magnitka pulled out their goalie for an addtional attacker but the score didn't change anymore. Yugra now has won 5 out of 6 points within three days to stay in touch with the playoff spots.

Last of the KHL table Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg showed a very disappointing performance in their away match against Barys Astana from Kazakhstan and earned a deserved 2-7 loss. For Barys it was like anyone can score if he wants to. Only Alexei Litvinenko scored twice, both times in power play.

There was more in for a restrenghened Lev Prague in their visit to Tarasov Division leaders Lokomotiv Yaroslavl but in the end it was a decent result they took away with them. In an even match Nathan Oystrick pulled the guests from the Czech Republic ahead at 31:05. Only with 4:57 left on the clock could Lokomotiv react through Alexander Chernikov. Just 28 seconds after the overtime began, Swedish import Staffan Kronwall used the first shot on goal to get the game winner for Yaroslavl.  

At the moment Dynamo Moscow is not playing as convincing as in the last couple of weeks. In Cherepovets they were beaten 4-2 despited tying a two-goal deficit early in the third. Evgeny Ketov and Ignat Zemchenko with a penalty shot - it was his second strike of the day - ended the game with a positive outcome for Severstal.

Current KHL topscorer Alexander Radulov is on fire. In the away match against Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod the CSKA Moscow forward pathed the way for an easy victory by getting his team a two-goal lead with his strikes number 13 and 14 of the season until 07:43. Though an immediate reaction by Torpedo followed in power play through Mikhail Varnakov, Patrick Davis made it 1-3 for CSKA before the first intermission. Niklas Persson, Vladimir Zharkkov and Mikhail Grabovsky even made it 1-6 in favour of the guests.

Spartak Moscow was willing against Ak Bars Kazan but not able to produce enough danger. In the end a two-goal first period lead by the guests through Ilya Nikulin and Denis Kulyash was enough as Spartak only could cut the guest lead to one in the middle period when Andrei Shefer was succesful. At 43:43 Latvian Lauris Darzins made everything clear for Ak Bars.

After a very disappointing loss against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl the Slovakian KHL newcomers Slovan Bratislava showed a great reaction by winning 2-0 away against Atlant Moscow Oblast. In the first two periods Peter Olvecky and Mario Bliznak (PPG) pulled Bratislava head and Atlant didn't find an answer to that. Slovan goalie Jaroslavl Janus earned a shutout with 28 saves.

Vityaz Chekhov couldn't keep a 2-0 lead against SKA St. Petersburg to lose the game in the very last minute. Alexei Badyukov and Brian Fahey brought the hosts in front with a double until 13:39 before Maxim Afinogenov answered for SKA still in the first period. Only at 51:23 did Tony Martensson tie the match for St. Petersburg before their lockout superstar Ilya Kovalchuk himself scored the game winner with only 42 seconds left in regulation, giving Vityaz a bitter end to a good game. Now SKA is just one point behind Bobrov Division leaders Dynamo Moscow.

Is Donbas Donetsk becomming the new homw power of KHL? Against Salavat Yulayev Ufa the Ukrainians earned their 5th consecutive home win. The start though was not that good as Ufa took the lead at 09:01 through Alexander Stepanov. A double within 16 seconds in the second period turned the game into favour of Donbass when first Evgeny Belukhin and then Alexei Ponikarovsky found the net at 26:39 and 26:55. The guests never came over this shock and even let through another two by Tuomas Kiiskinen and Denis Kochetkov, making it a 4-1 home win.

Dinamo Riga compensated their fans with a nice performance against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. After only 2 wins in the last 10 games and two consecutive home matches without scoring a single goal, they now beat Neftekhimik 6-4 and with six different goal scorers. The result stood already after two periods. Still the only Latvian team of the league is 4 points behind Vityaz, the second last of their Division.  

 

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