Traktor takes over lead in Eastern Conference

Vityaz Chekhov started the matchday with a surprising away win against Barys Astana from Kazakhstan. Barys opened the score already at 01:17 through Dustin Boyd but just two minutes later they were already behind after goals by Andrei Markov and Alexander Korolyuk for the guests. Still the eventful begin of the game was not over as Maxim Spiridonov earned the equalizer for a 2-2 after just 07:37. When Nigel Dawes had to sit in the penalty box for a check against the head it took Vityaz only 17 seconds to get the lead back through Artemy Panarin at 16:48 - making it three goals in just five shots on goal for the guests in the first 20 minutes. Another power play let Vityaz run away with a two goal lead thanks to Yakov Seleznyov in the middle period but Brandon Bochenski brought Barys back to one - also in the middle period and also with the men advantage. With 10 minutes left to go in regulation Evgeny Timkin decided the match in favour of Vityaz.

Star team Metallurg Magnitogorsk received Spartak Moscow this afternoon and they had their problems with the capitals. Although Viktor Antipin with a double made it 2-0 already until 04:18 the guests came back through Alexander Budkin and Anatoly Nikontsev in the 16th minute. A minute later Dmitry Kazionov restored the Magnitka lead before Andrei Ankudinov answered for Spartak. Now Georgy Gelashvili had to leave the Metallurg net and Ari Ahonen came in for him. Spartak also had changed their goalies at this point and did so already after the second goal by Antipin. Alexei Yakhin now was in for starting goalie Sergei Borisov. When Dmitry Kazionov and Sergei Mozyakin gained two more goals for Metallurg the working day was over again for Yakhin and Borisov was allowed to go back into the Spartak net. Still he couldn't avoid that KHL topscorer Sergei Mozyakin made it 6-3 after exactly 37 minutes. A bit later Nikolai Bushuyev brought the guests back to a two-goal deficit but the damage was done. With a bit more than three minutes left in regulation lockout star Evgeny Malkin scored himself the final 7-3 after he had assisted in two other Magnitka goals already.

Evgen more goals the spectators of the match Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk and Dinamo Minsk saw. Joe Pavelski, Teemu Laine and Alexander Kulakov crowned a superb start by the Belarussians with a fast three goal lead until 06:58. At the end of the period Igor Skorokhodov and Stanislav Bocharov used a double to make it just 2-3. When again Pavelski scored for Dinamo, this didn't make them more self-confident. Instead A double through again Skorokhodov and Anton But made the Yugra comeback perfect for the 4-4. When it looked like the teams would go with this result into the second intermission it was Andrei Stas who earned the lead back for Dinamo at 39:35. Colin Murphy and Zbynek Irgl decided the match in favour of Minsk with power play strikes in the third period but the guests suffered a lot when Anton Krysanov cut the lead to just one in between. In the end the 7-5 win was enough for Dinamo to gain their second consecutive win.

Bottom side Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg showed a good performance against Ukrainian leage newcomers Donbass Donetsk but three away a 3-1 lead in the third period. Sergei Gusev, Nikita Tryamkin and Igor Yemeleyev had scored for Avtomobilist until 49:00 while Denis Kochetkov had score the equalizer for Donbass in between. A double in the 52nd minute through Fredrik Pettersson and Ruslan Fedotenko brought Donbass back and when Clay Wilson used a power play to make it 4-3 in favour of Donbass, the day was used for Avto anyway. For Donbass this was a really important win to stay in touch with the playoff positions and also with the other two league newcomers of Bobrov Division (Lev Prague and Slovan Bratislava).

Avangard Omsk was close to a minimum win against Severstal Cherepovets after Dmitry Syomin had opened the score for them at 14:13. In the following time they couldn't create enough scoring chances and were punished late Vadim Shipachyov who tied the match at 55:35. And not enough Vadim Berdnikov used the first shot on goal in overtime to even gain the extra point for Severstal.

The Avangard loss was used immediately by rivals Traktor Chelyabinsk who defeated Dinamo Riga with 3-1 and now are the new leaders in Eastern Conference. Andrei Kostitsyn used a 5 on 3 power play to get Traktor in front in the middle of the first period. In the following time both teams neutralized themselves more or less before Martins Porejs tied the match in power play for Riga, just after a face off at 42:30. Konstantin Panov restored the lead for Traktor just three minutes later though. When the guests were still thinking when would be the best point to pull out the goalie for an additional attacker, thsi decision was taken from them by Deron Quint who fired the puck against the goal post from the blue line at 59:05. From there it bounced against the back of Dinamo goalie Mikael Tellqvist and into the net.

 

Advanced player search

Tweets by @eurohockey