Today’s KHL games

13 Sep 2011 | Aleksandr Povolotskiy

Ak Bars beats Riga. Sibir's first line wins their game. Two goals by Dmitry Kalinin saves the day for SKA.

Games of the day:

Ak Bars Kazan- Dinamo Riga 5:2 (2:0,2:1,1:1)
A magnificent pass by Ilya Nikulin from the defensive blueline sent Aleksey Morozov in one-by-one with the goalkeeper and it was 1-0 after 37 seconds of hockey. Then there was an incident. Dinamo defenceman Kristaps Sotnieks near the boards broke the rules against Khomitsky and received a major penalty and a game misconduct. After three minutes Nikolay Lemtyugov took advantage of the penalty and made it 2-0.

Vasili Tikhonov, assistant coach of Ak Bars said, "A knee-on-knee is unsportsmanlike behavior. How many times is it possible? Here today Sotnieks drove his knee into the knee of Khomitsky and received for that only five minutes. What gives these five minutes? The injured player leaves long-term. This is a disgrace. We fought a rigid game, but within the limits of the rules. Therefore we intend to address the league about toughening the rules."

Riga took a lot of penalties in the two first periods. Kirill Petrov scored one of his two goals on the power-play. Near the end of the game, Dinamo played ore offensively, but they didn't have enough time to come back and instead they allowed a goal into the empty net. Coach Vladimir Krikunov won his first game with the club after replacing Zinetula Bilyaletdinov.

After the game, Ak Bars captain Alexei Morozov said, "It's like a new team: the game plan, the system. There are serious changes. But we are happy that we have won and we hope that we can continue the season and further."

Sibir Novosibirsk-Amur Khabarovsk 5:2 (2:1,2:0,1:1)
All match threat for "Amur" proceeded from Sibir's first attack line: Vladimir Tarasenko-Jori Lehterä-Jonas Enlund. The fourth goal was scored on the power-play. The combination in one-touch was finished by Enlund. The Russian talent Vladimir Tarasenko has made 2 points in game (1+1).

Andrei Tarasenko , coach of Sibir said : " Nervous conditions… Because of the occurred tragedy. Many friends were lost. After we had the lead - 4:1, we have for some reason decided that everyone can do everything they want, without pursuing the game plan. There were many mistakes and we could have been punished on several occassions, it's a blessing it didn't happen."

Hannu Jortikka , coach of "Amur" : " I don't understand, why my team was so passive all game because of what our players earned silly penalties. For example, Aleksandrov-Nikulin-Kopeikin have played a "-4" or "-3" game, that is inadmissible."

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk- SKA St. Petersburg 1:3 (0:1,0:0,1:2)
After a starting goal of Tony Mårtensson there was no more action for the first 40 minutes. Dmitry Kalinin added two goals on the power-play to secure the victory. Nizhnekamsk answered with only one accurate shot by Maksim Pestushko.