Lokomotiv keeps CSKA at distance

Against Chernyshyov Division leaders Avangard Omsk the team of Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg showed a clearly better performance than on Friday during their huge loss in Astana but still they lacked too much to get a goal or even a point with them home. Dmitry Syomin opened the score for the hosts at 10:21 before Andrei Ivanov doubled it with only two seconds left in the second period. In the last 20 minutes Alexander Frolov even made it 3-0. Eduard Reizvikh kept the Avangard net empty with a 31 save shutout.

Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk beat favourites Traktor Chelyabinsk in overtime. After Stanislav Bocharov had brought them in front, the home side could dream for a long time even of the full amount of points but Evgeny Katichev was able to tie the match late at 56:59 for Traktor. With their first shot in over time Yugra won the extra point at 61:29 through Slovakian import Marek Troncinsky. For Yugra it was the third consecutive home win and the 8th win on home ice in the last 9 matches. For Chelyabinsk it was the first loss after four wins in a row.

For Metallurg Magnitogorsk their thee-game road trip ended with a 5-3 succes in Kazakhstan against Barys Astana. The two games before Magnitka had lost with a one-goal difference each. Lockout star Evgeny Malkin added two goals to the away win and scored the decisive fifth goal for Magnitogorsk. The other guest goals were scored by Georgy Misharin, Sergei Mozyakin and Viktor Antipin. For Barys Roman Starchenko, Mikhail Rakhanov and Nigel Dawes stood at the right spot.

A last-minute comeback gave Spartak Moscow a 2-1 home win against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. In a rather boring match Pyotr Khokhryakov  brought Neftekhimik in front only at 51:20 but Spartak had Eduard Lewandowski whose double at 56:03 and 59:58 (!!!) made sure the three points stayed in the Russian capital. For Spartak the win is even more important as they had only won one of their previous eleven matches - and that against the disappointing Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

In the meeting of two teams with a huge crisis home side Atlant Moscow Oblast had the better end of themselves. After an incredible negative series of only 1 win in 15 matches and 11 consecutive losses Atlant beat Czech league newcomers Lev Prague whose record is not much better in recent months. Alexander Rybakov and Alexei Mikhnov pathed the way for the win in the first two periods before Petr Vrana cut the lead to the half with ten minutes left on the clock. In the end the result stood despite a Lev timeout. Both teams will face each other again on Wednesday in the Czech capital.

Surprise in Cherepovets. After a lot of hard work Severstal beat SKA St. Petersburg in shootout. The hosts went in front three times through Evgeny Ketov, Ruslan Nurtdinov and Alexander Fedoseyev but SKA answered each time through Igor Makarov, Tony Martensson and Evgeny Artyukhin. Their star forward Ilya Kovalchuk today stayed without a point and also failed in his shootout attempt. Alexei Medvedev ended the shootout in its fifth round when he was the only one to transform his penalty attempt.

CSKA Moscow had a superb start in Yaroslavl against their direct Division neighbours Lokomotiv with a two-goal lead after the first period through Yakov Rylov and Mikhail Grabosky but within only three minutes at the begin of period number two Sergei Plotnikov, Yury Petrov and Artyom Anisimov turned the game around completely. The Anisimov goal even turned out to be the game winner as CSKA tried everything in the last 20 minutes but couldn't change the result anymore. Lokomotiv now has a six-point advantage towards CSKA at the top of Tarasov Division.

Roman Kukumberg and Michel Miklik made sure their team Slovan Bratislava would take a point out of their visit to Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod. Between in the middle period the hosts Torpedo had turned the result around through Mikhail Varnakov and Martin Thörnberg. In the shootout it was Torpedo's Dmitry Makarov who gave his team the extra point in the fourth round.     

Dinamo Minsk with a point against Dynamo Moscow but there was even more in for them. The two personalities of the game were Minsk's Tim Stapleton  who tied the double of Dynamo Moscow and Denis Tolpeko who scored these first two goals for the capitals. With only eleven seconds left in regulation Stapleton scored the 2-2 with a penalty shot. In the following overtime Tolpeko would shine again by assisting to the game winner by Alexander Ovechkin in power play.

At the moment visiting Donbass Donetsk isn't the most promising job for away teams in KHL. The next victim of the Ukrainians was Ak Bars Kasan. The two time Gagarin Cup winners lost in overtime but showed good moral by equalizing a 0-2 deficit. Sergei Peretyagin and Denis Kochetkov had brought Donbas in front before Konstantin Korneyev and Danis Zaripov gave the answer for Kazan. In the first minute of overtime Evgeny Dadonov made it 3-2 for Donetsk to end their three-game home stint with wins only.

 

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