Difficult day for KHL teams without their lockout stars

For league leaders SKA St. Petersburg it was not always an easy match when they travelled to Salavat Yulayev Ufa but in the end they gained a solid 4-2 win. At 09:43 Patrick Thoresen opened the score for the guests when he deflected a shot by Dmitry Kalinin. In the middle period he scored another one, being left alone at the second post after nice passing combinations between him, again Kalinin and Tony Martensson. Ironically Ufa came back with a goal through Denis Khlystov just when the team was shorthanded at 31:54 but Kevin Dallman and Igor Makarov answered with two fast goals for the guests. After the 4-1 for SKA the working day was over for Ufa goalie Andrei Vasilevsky who not always left the best impression and Iiro Tarkki replaced him between the posts. The Finnish goalie kept his net clean for the rest of the match but Ufa only could score the 2-4 through Oleg Saprykin at 43:05. In the last minute the hosts tried it with an additional attacker instead of their goalie but they couldn't force the equalizer anymore.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl suffered a surprising home loss against Severstal Cherepovets at the end of a three-game home stint. After only 53 seconds Alexander Ryazantsev had brought the guests in front but in the following minutes Daniil Apalkov found the fast answer for Lokomotiv. At the end of the second period Stanislav Yegorshev restored the guest lead just seconds after a Severstal penalty was over. After a timeout Lokomotiv pulled out their goalie Curtis Sanford for an additional attacker but instead of the equalizer they received the 1-3 through Vadim Berdnikov at 59:19.

For current Gagarin Cup holders Dynamo Moscow the day was even darker. Ruslan Nurtdinov and Denis Grot with a double pathed the way for the win of home team Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk before Yegor Milovzorov added another two goals to double the lead in the middle period. At 46:12 Konstantin Gorovikov scored the at this moment more than deserved consolation goal for the guests in power play. Still Andrei Subbotin restored the four-goal lead for the hosts a couple of minutes later. In the end Sergei Soin only was able to make the result look a bit more friendly for Dynamo by scoring the 5-2. For Dynamo it was already their 4th loss in the last 5 matches.

And also another team that had a bunch of lockout stars - Metallurg Magnitogorsk - suffered a loss but at least gained a point in shootout when they were beaten on the road by CSKA Moscow. Nikolai Prokhorkin opened the score for CSKA in the first period but only minutes later Georgy Misharin was already there with the equalizer. KHL topscorer Sergei Mozyakin even turned the game around completely for Magnitka at 25:59 before Igor Radulov made it 2-2 in power play at the end of the middle period. In an even match both teams concentrated on defense in the following time so that the shootout had to bring the decision. There it was again Igor Radulov who transformed the decisive penalty shot for CSKA in the 6th round.

Dinamo Minsk had a valuable away win against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod that let them gain a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Stanislav Lopachuk and Tim Stapleton made it 2-0 for the guests in the first 40 minutes before Vladimir Gorbunov only was able to cut the lead to the half at 43:51. In the remaining time Torpedo played with a lot of pressure but somehow guest goalie Lars Haugen kept his team away from further damage and playing without their goalie for a 6th skater didn't help Torpedo anymore.

For Latvian side Dinamo Riga their trend of ups and downs continued with a 4-1 on the road against bottom side Spartak Moscow thanks to their special teams. Andris Dzerins used a shorthander for the guest lead in the middle period and just one second before the second intermission Alexandre Giroux added another one in power play. Martins Karsums in power play and Miks Indrasis with a penalty shot even grabbed a four-goal lead for Dinamo. The only negative aspect of the game was that Mikael Tellqvist was denied a shutout with 18 seconds left on the clock through Nikita Shchitov.

Atlant Moscow Oblast have not yet given up their playoff dreams fully and showed this with an impressive 7-3 win against Vityaz Chekhov. Jonas Andersson twice put the hosts in front during the first period with the equalizer through Artemy Panarin in between. At 23:04 he already earned a hat trick. Around "half time" Rafael Batyrshin even made it 4-1 for Atlant before Alexei Badyukov and Pavel Chernov brought tension back into the match for Vityaz. At the start of the third period again Jonas Andersson was there with goal number four of the afternoon. Mikhail Glukhov and Ilya Kablukov just made the result a bit higher for Atlant.

Newcomers Lev Prague underlined their playoff ambitions with a clear win against Traktor Chelyabinsk. Youngster Lukas Cingel and Vitaly Karamnov made it an extremly deserved 2-0 lead for Lev in the first period. Still Traktor not only found a way to make it an even second period but also to score the equalizer with a double around "half time" through Jan Bulis and Evgeny Kuznetsov. With a convincing third period the Lions from Prague showed who wanted the three points mroe and twice Petr Vrana, Nicklas Danielsson and Martins Cipulis won the game for the home side with a clear 6-2.

 

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