KHL continues after Channel One Cup break

Twice a two-goal lead was not enough for league leaders Dynamo Moscow to get a win in their away match against Sibir Novosibirsk. Lockout star Alexander Ovechkin and Kirill Knyazev made it 0-2 after 40 minutes. At the begin of the third period Alexander Romanov cut the guest lead to the half before Nicklas Bäckström restored the two-goal advantage in power play. When Jori Lehterä brought Sibir back into fighting distance at 58:57 the hosts took a timeout immediately. This was followed by pulling out their goalie Jeff Glass for an additional attacker and their risk was rewarded with the late equalizer by Ivan Lekomtsev with just 22 seconds left on the clock. After a goalless overtime Sibir's Arturs Kulda was the only one to score in the shootout and gave the home side the extra point. For Dynamo it was the first defeat after four consecutive wins while Sibir ended a four-game losing streak.

The second in Bobrov Division, SKA St. Petersburg, was able to use the Dynamo loss by beating Metallurg Novokuznetsk away with a score of 4-1. Vladimir Tarasenko, Viktor Tikhonov and Fyodor Fedorov earned a solid three-goal lead for the guests before Randy Robitaille answered for Metallurg around "half time". With a power play strike early in the third period Maxim Chudinov decided the match for SKA which now is only four points behind Dynamo.

In one of the top duels of the day hosts Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were able to defend their small lead to win 2-1 against Traktor Chelyabinsk. Artyom Anisimov and Sergei Plotnikov had grabbed a two-goal lead for Lokomotiv before top talent Evgeny Kuznetsov gave Traktor some hope back at 40:53. Curtis Sanford with 28 saves kept Lokomotiv away from further damage with a solid performance.

Playoff candidates Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod earned the expected three-point win against bottom side Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg but needed a late power play goal in the third period through Evgeny Varlamov to do so. Before Alexander Semin (Torpedo) and Josef Straka (Avtomobilist) already had scored in power play during the middle period. For Torpedo it was the first win after three consecutive losses.

Eastern Conference leaders Avangard Omsk had few problems in their 3-0 win on the road against Spartak Moscow. Alexander Frolov, Igor Volkov and Vladimir Pervushin made sure that Avangard would score one goal in every period for the 8th win in the last 9 matches for the team from Omsk. Spartak not only lost the last four but for the third time in a row they even stayed without scoring a single goal. Finnish goalie Karri Ramo had 32 saves and a shutout.

Star forward Evgeny Malkin had a hat trick when his team Metallurg Magnitogorsk had a 5-3 road win against the ambitious Atlant Moscow Oblast. Mikhail Glukhov brought Atlant in front twice in the first half hour, followed both times by the equalizer through Malkin before Maxim Mayorov restored the lead for the hosts at 39:40. Justin Hodgman and Sergei Mozyakin turned around the match at the begin of the third period before again Malkin used an empty netter wiht just three seconds left to play.

Dinamo Minsk gained their second consecutive win at home by defeating Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3-1. Their lockout forward Joe Pavelski with two goals in the second period was the decisive man and also got the game winner. Renat Mamashev had scored the equalizer for Neftekhimik in between. At 45:05 another Norrth American, Tim Stapleton, made everything clear for the Belarussians.

Ukrainian league newcomers Donbass Donetsk were able to keep their good pre-national break form and earned their 5th win in the last 6 matches by defeating Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk with 4-2. Andrei Kuzmin and Konstantin Glazachev twice earned the lead for Yugra but Vaclav Nedorost, Denis Kochetkov and Peter Podhradsky went on to give Donbass the lead very late in the middle period. Already at 43:43 did Lukas Kaspar make everything clear for Donbass.

Latvian side Dinamo Riga threw away a 2-0 first-period lead through Jamie Johnson and Andris Dzerins. First Roman Savchenko cut the lead to the half for the guests Barys Astana from Kazakhstan before Brandon Bochenski used a power play for the equalizer at 59:33. At this time Barys already had pulled out goalie Vitaly Yeremeyev for an additional attacker. At 63:39 Konstantin Rudenko even gave the extra point to Barys. With only one win in the last 7 matches and being last in their division Riga can almost give up their hopes for a playoff qualification.

A stellar performance by Jaroslav Janus pathed the way for Slovan Bratislava to win against Salavat Yulayev Ufa. Not only saved he all 38 shots on goal during regulation and overtime but also made he three saves in the shootout that was ended in the fourth round. Yuri Trubachyov had brought Ufa in front during the shooutout but with their last chance Slovan tied it through Michal Vondrka. When the right to shoot first changed after the first three shots, Vondrka was there for Slovan again for the game winner as Yuri Trubachyov failed in his second attempt.

 

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