Malkin Scores For the Home Fans

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(3-0-2-2)

vs

HC Lev

Praha

(6-1-0-2)

Players You May Recognize

Former Pens: Alexandre Picard, Erik Christensen, Tomas Surovy
Other NHLers: Jiri Hudler, Jakub Voracek, Michael Repik, Jakub Klepis, Marcel Hossa, Jiri Novotny, Lubos Bartecko

Recap

We finally meet a Steel Fox!

Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar made the most of their home debuts as Metallurg Magnitogorsk throttled the Western Conference leader, HC Lev Praha.  Praha came into the game boasting a league-low 12 goals against thanks to goalie Tomas Popperle.  Popperle entered the game leading the league in goals against average (1.22) and shutouts (4) while sitting 3rd in save percentage (.950).

Malkin received opening faceoff duties for the 2nd game in a row, but with new linemates as Sergei Mozyakin and Denis Platonov joined him.  The home crowd erupted the first time Malkin touched the puck and then again 6 minutes into the game when the first goal was announced.  Mozyakin dropped a pass for Malkin, who skated it through the neutral zone before dishing it off to Platonov who gave Metallurg the early 1-0 lead.  The first period would end tied at 1 though as Jakub Klepis, who played 2 seasons with the Washington Capitals, blasted a shot from the point that beat goalie Ari Ahonen high on his glove side.

Unfortunately, the first 3 minutes of the 2nd period are a mystery as the online stream went down during intermission.  When it returned though, former NHL defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky drew a 4 minute powerplay for taking a high stick to the face.  Metallurg capitalized on the double minor twice thanks to the magic of Sergei Gonchar.  For the first powerplay goal, Gonchar sent Evgeni Malkin on a breakaway with a long two line pass.  Malkin was stopped, but the rebound sat uncovered for Mozyakin to score easily.  The second powerplay goal came just a minute later as Gonchar fired a shot from the point and Viktor Antipin scored on the rebound.

Cal O'Reilly..international star.

Less than a minute after that, Metallurg made it 4-1 on an offensive zone faceoff where Dmitri Kazionov positioned himself directly behind center Mikhail Yakubov.  Yakubov won the faceoff straight back and Kazionov fired a quick shot that beat Popperle (think the James Neal faceoff play).  HC Lev immediately called a timeout but could not stop the bleeding as Antipin scored his 2nd powerplay goal of the game, assisted by Justin Hodgman and Cal O'Reilly later in the period.

The powerplay was not done yet though.  Towards the end of the 2nd period, Sergei Mozyakin took a pass down low from Platonov at the point and threw a beautiful saucer pass across the crease to an uncovered Malkin.  Malkin was left with a wide open net as the puck landed perfectly on his stick and he finished it off to score his first goal of the season.  In Geno tradition, he celebrated with a right leg kick and went straight to banging on the glass behind the net.


Aside from some chippy play towards the end of the period, the 3rd went along quietly and Metallurg won their 2nd game in a row behind Malkin's second 3 point game in a row.  It will not be long before he approaches the KHL scoring leaders at this rate due to his assists.

Final Score:  Metallurg wins 6-1.  

Metallurg moves to 4-0-2-2 and HC Lev Praha drops to 6-0-1-3.

Player Notes

Sometimes, you just wanna bang on the glass.

Evgeni Malkin - Geno finally got on the scoreboard with a goal which must be a major relief for him.  He is also quickly approaching the assist leaders in the league as well with 2 more in this game.  Malkin's play looks much more fluid and dynamic.  He still hasn't been able to deke through a defender yet (he tried four times in this game with 1 on 1 situations), but his confidence is quickly building to keep trying new things.  Beware KHL, Malkin is getting his stride back quickly.  The one downside to his game today was that he was only 8 for 21 in the faceoff circle.

Sergei Gonchar - Sarge captained the powerplay to perfection as he earned 2 powerplay assists.  He looked very comfortable passing and shooting from the center of the blue line and is clearly developing chemistry with his defensive partner, Alexey Bondarev.  Most importantly, I did not see a single mishap in his own zone.  No turnovers, misplayed pucks, or getting caught pinching.  This was easily Gonchar's best game early in the season.

Cal O'Reilly - O'Reilly entered this game leading the team in assists and managed to pick up another one in this game.  He gets time on the 2nd powerplay and late in penalty kills and is clearly important to this team. He had an excellent game in the defensive zone, intercepting two passes during the last penalty kill.

Tomas Surovy - Surovy was pretty quiet in this game, but I had to include him since he was one of my favorite Penguins in the "dark years" of the early 2000's.  He had a couple shots and was involved in a scuffle towards the end of the game, but nothing panned out...much like with his career as a Penguin.

Jakub Voracek - Honestly, I did not notice Voracek much aside from a shift or two.  He had 0 shots and was 2 for 5 in 16:34 of ice time.

Erik Christensen - Christensen seemed like one of the favorites for the announcers to talk about since I recognized his name at least 10 times.  He was on the first powerplay, but unfortunately for him, this game did not go to a shootout so his real specialty was wasted.  Christensen generally looked good though, the open ice seemed to benefit him more than most players as he skated around.  He finished with 4 shots in 16:30 of ice time and was 5 for 11 in faceoffs.

Next Game:  9/29, 7am EST vs. Slovan.

Links:

Site I used to watch the game this time: onhockey.ru.  Add that to stopstream.tv and livetv.ru as the links I have been using.  My next post will be a long set of links that will be useful during this lockout to watch hockey and learn other leagues.