KHL - Round Up - September 11, 2017

Admiral claims rare victory
Admiral Vladivostok 2 Slovan Bratislava 1 SO (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
Admiral won for only the second time this season after edging past Slovan in a shoot-out.
The Far East team’s first home game of the campaign took a while to produce its first goal, but Damir Zhafyarov guaranteed it was worth the wait when he converted a well-worked move to make it 1-0 in the 29^th minute. That was almost enough to win it, but Cam Barker tied it up with 30 seconds left.
Overtime was goalless, but in the shoot-out Maxim Kazakov and Dmitry Sayustov were the only scorers as Admiral began its home action with victory.

Tolvanen strike makes the difference
Amur Khabarovsk 2 Jokerit Helsinki 4 (2-2, 0-2, 0-0)
Teen sensation Eeli Tolvanen got the game-winner Jokerit made it three victories in a row.
Tolvanen snapped a 2-2 tie in the 33^rd minute, producing a devastating one-timer after Brian O’Neill’s charge around the back of the Amur net. Matt Gilroy added a fourth soon after to wrap up the scoring.
Earlier, though, Amur led twice in its first home game of the season. Alexei Byvaltsev opened the scoring in the third minute, only for Marko Anttila to follow up his goal in Shanghai with another Far Eastern marker here. Pavel Dedunov reinstated Amur’s advantage, but O’Neill made it 2-2 at the first intermission.

Shumakov breaks brave Kunlun hearts
Kunlun Red Star 3 CSKA Moscow 4 OT (0-2, 0-1, 3-0, 0-1)
Kunlun fell agonizingly short after a thrilling fightback at home to in-form CSKA. The Army Men arrived in China on a run of seven straight wins, and wasted little time in showing why they were looking so good.
First period goals from Andrei Kuzmenko and Greg Scott gave the visitor the early impetus; Kirill Kaprizov made it 3-0 early in the second period. CSKA dominated on all the key stats, and a straightforward victory seemed inevitable.
But not to Kunlun. Gilbert Brule pulled a goal back on the power play early in the third, opening his account for the club after a move from Traktor last week. Brandon Yip made it 3-2, forcing home a neat Cory Kane feed from behind the net with 10 to play. Then Alexei Ponikarovsky tied it up in the 59^th minute after Geoff Kinrade’s shot from the point caused chaos in a crowded slot.
In that final stanza, Red Star out-shot the Red Army by 20-5, and spent more than three times as long on the attack. The momentum hinted at an end to that winning streak as the game went into overtime.
But there was a sting in the tail for the valiant home team. A defensive error in the final seconds of overtime set Sergei Shumakov on a one-on-one against Tomi Karhunen. The Finn was beaten, Shumakov’s first goal for CSKA snatched victory and broke Kunlun hearts.

Avtomobilist fightback falls short at Lokomotiv
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (1-0, 1-0, 1-2)
Lokomotiv held off a late Avtomobilist rally to take all three points in this one.
It seemed fairly easy for the home team as a goal in each period opened a 3-0 lead. Petri Kontiola, Denis Mosalyov and Staffan Kronwall all found the net to build a commanding advantage by the 45^th minute.
But Avtomobilist, which came to Yaroslavl game on a three-game winning run, responded with a quickfire pair from Alexei Vasilevsky and Alexei Mikhnov. The meant a tense final 12 minutes as the visitor looked to take something from the game, but Loko held on for a nervy win.

Hudacek impresses in narrow win
Severstal Cherepovets 1 HC Sochi 0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0)
Severstal goalie Julius Hudacek is one of many players who came to the KHL this season hoping to enhance his Olympic prospects – and the Slovak international produced a game-winning display at home to Sochi.
Hudacek made 28 saves to backstop his team to victory, with Casey Wellman and Nikita Shchitov enduring the most frustration among the Sochi players. Daniil Vovchenko’s 12th-minute goal proved decisive here.

Lada threatens an upset but SKA stays unbeaten
SKA St. Petersburg 3 Lada Tolyatti 1 (0-1, 1-0, 2-0)
On paper, this looked like a mismatch. SKA came into the game with eight successive victories, Lada had four straight losses. For most in the arena, it was a question of how many the home team would win by. Lada, though, had other ideas. Stanislav Bocharov silenced the Petersburg crowd with the opening goal in the sixth minute; SKA caught out going forward and unable to respond as Bocharov glided through for his third of the season. The visitor then held out for a further 30 minutes, despite a fusillade of attempts on Alexander Lazushin’s net. The visiting goalie made 24 saves in the first period and was busy in the second as well before Nikolai Prokhorkin found his top corner from close range.
Even then, Lada refused to buckle. It took SKA’s starriest names to finally forge ahead. Pavel Datsyuk made it 2-1 on a power play in the 47^th minute, Ilya Kovalchuk added a third two minutes later. Nikita Gusev chipped in with two more assists.

Vorobyov vs Vorobyov
Dynamo Moscow 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (0-0, 1-0, 0-2)
Magnitka left it late to claim victory at Dynamo in the first duel between head coaches Vladimir and Ilya Vorobyov.
The first period was goalless and the second period almost went the same way, but Dmitry Vishnevsky put Dynamo in front of the power play. Ilya Vorobyov called for a review, suspecting offside, but the defenseman’s slap shot was good.
Metallurg equalized through Matt Ellison – his fifth of the season for his new club – on 48 minutes and took the win thanks to Yaroslav Kosov’s power play tally on 54. Last season’s runner-up began a week a big road games with an encouraging victory; Dynamo slips to a second loss after a promising winning run of its own.

Dream debut for Skille
Dinamo Minsk 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)
Jack Skille had a debut to remember for Dinamo, helping his new club to victory with the opening goal of the game. The 30-year-old American forward arrived in Belarus as a replacement for Ak Bars-bound Rob Klinkhammer who made the last of his 386 NHL appearances with Vancouver last season and wasted no time in introducing himself.
His neat backhand finish in the 13^th minute, following some rugged work in tandem with Quinton Howden behind the net, flashed past Pavel Francouz and delight the bulk of the crowd in the Minsk Arena.
That wasn’t all. The new boy went on to assist on Dinamo’s two other goals as Gordie Dwyer’s team recorded its first home win of the season. He was involved in Evgeny Lisovets’ second-period effort and repaid Howden with an inviting feed to make it 3-0 early in the third.