Long KHL Saturday

In a duel of two teams that already had to bury their hopes for a playoff qualification, home side Amur Khabarovsk earned a win against Dinamo Riga that never came in danger. Perttu Lindgren, Evgeny Orlov and Andrei Stepanov left the game decided in favor of Amur after 40 minutes. Still Vyacheslav Litovchenko added another one at the start of the third period. Miks Indrasis and Alexandre Giroux scored a double that gave the Latvian guests a bit hope. During the lats two minutes of regulation Dinamo played without their goalie Mikael Tellqvist but an additional attacker - without success.

An overtime win in Novosibirsk avoided that guests Spartak Moscow were already out of the playoff candidates today. Still this is only a question of time as they are last in Western Conference - the only fact that protected them today is that they played one game less than Riga. At 23:49 Alexander Suglobov brought the capitals in front in power play. Also with the man advantage came the equalizer for Sibir through Jonas Enlund later in the same period. At 63:07 it was Jaroslav Obsut who saved the day for Spartak and gave his team the extra point in overtime.

Ukrainian league newcomers Donbass Donetsk are back on a playoff spot after beating Metallurg Novokuznetsk away. Lukas Kaspar and Sergei Varlamov turned around the initial Metallurg lead through Nikita Vyglazov. At 37:05 Metallurg came back through Dmitry Chernykh. In the last 20 minutes Dmitry Kagarlitsky in power play and Sergei Varlamov with an empty netter made everything clear for Donbass. For Novokuznetsk today's loss is very likely the end of their playoff ambitions with a 17-point deficit towards the 8th spot in the East and six games left to play.

In a high-class game of two serious playoff candidates in the East guests Barys Astana made another important step by defeating Salavat Yulayev Ufa on the road. In an game that was an up-and-down for both sides, Brandon Bochenski was the game winner for the Kazakhs with two goals and an assist. With 18 seconds left in regulation Roman Sachenko made everything clear with his empty netter for the 6-4 in favour of Barys.

SKA St. Petersburg made another valuable step towards a first-place finish in the Western Conference and maybe even in the whole league table by defeating bottom side Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg at home. Petr Prucha (2), Kevin Dallman and Patrick Thoresen left no doubt about the winner even before the second intermission. At 50:50 Stanislav Zhmakin only was able to get the consolation goal for the guests from Yekaterinburg.

A comeback on the road against top side CSKA Moscow let Vityaz Chekhov sleep a few more days without knowing if they make the playoffs or not. Super star Alexander Radulov opened the score for the hosts already at 06:05 but Vyacheslav Kulyomin and Anton Korolyov turned around the result for Vityaz. In the last minute of play both teams took a timeout but the result didn't change anymore and Vityaz won 2-1. With a ten-point deficit towards the playoff spots and only six games left to play the season still might be soon over for Vityaz which had 6 points in their last two matches.
 
Ak Bars Kazan missed the big opportunity to take over the lead in the East from Avangard Omsk on home ice in a direct duel. At 14:00 Igor Volkov used a power play to get Avangard in front but at the start of the second period Ilya Nikulin scored the equalizer for Ak Bars. After a scoreless overtime, the game went into shootout. There it was Dmitry Syomin who won the extra point for the guests from Omsk in the fourth round. Now Avangard even are three points in front of Ak Bars.

In a direct duel for the 8th and thus last playoff spot in Eastern Conference today's hosts Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk not only defeated rivals Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk but also switched positions with them. Renat Mamashev, Yegor Milovzorov, Oskar Osala and Martin Cibak earned the hosts a four-goal lead until the start of the third period before Igor Skorokhodov showed a sign of life for Yugra. Still Mamashev went on to score his second before Igor Magogin made it 5-2 Neftekhimik. Now Yugra is not only one point behind the playoff spots but they also have played one game more than Neftekhimik.

Today Dynamo Moscow beat Traktor Chelyabinsk in a match between two teams who are already qualified for the playoffs but could also even end the season as division leaders. Goals by Marek Kvapil and Denis Mosalyov were already enough for a solid 2-0 win for Dynamo. Their goalie Alexander Yeryomenko made 22 saves that earned him a shutout.
 
Czech side Lev Prague is playing with fire in recent weeks that could just cost them the playoffs. Today they received their 5th (!) consecutive loss without getting a single point and they fell out of the playoff spots. North American imports Cory Murphy and Geoff Platt twice brought today's oppponents Dinamo Minsk in front with the equalizer through Martins Cipulis in between. For Dinamo 12 points in the last six games gave them a solid five-point advantage towards the non-playoff spots in the West.
 
Slovan Bratislava missed a chance to get closer to an early playoff qualification in the West by losing against the direct Conference neighbours Severstal Cherepovets 0-3 after goals by Denis Kazionov, Vadim Berdnikov and Alexander Ryazantsev. Guest goalie Vasily Koshechkin had a rather easy working day with 21 saves that were enough to earn him a shutout. Now Severstal are six points ahead of Slovan and the final step towards the playoffs is only days away for them. But also Slovan with their eleven points more than Lev Prague are still in a very good position.

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