Malkin's Two Points Lead Magnitogorsk to Victory

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(7-0-4-3)

vs

Torpedo

Nizhny Novgorod

(7-0-4-3)

Players You May Recognize

Supposedly Anton Volchenkov was in this game on the 3rd defensive pairing (he just recently signed), but I couldn't find him all game.  Other former NHLers:  Petr Schastlivy and Robert Nilsson

UPDATED: Volchenkov apparently only played 3:36 in the first period and nothing after that.  I'm not sure why.

Recap

Despite a match-up between the 4th place teams in each conference (East - Magnitogorsk, West - Nizhny Novgorod), Metallurg head coach Paul Maurice opted to start backup goalie Georgi Gelashvili instead of starter Ari Ahonen, who currently leads the KHL in goals against average (1.55).  The move worked out fine  though as Magnitogorsk dominated the first half of the game and held on in the end for a 3-2 victory.

The first period was simply a 20 minute Metallurg onslaught as they outshot Torpedo 17-2.  However, the period would still end in a 1-1 tie due to a bad defensive zone turnover.  Enver Lisin opened the scoring 7 minutes into the game as he corralled a rebound off of a Justin Hodgman shot and wristed it past Torpedo goalie Vitaly Koval.  Magnitogorsk continued to put the pressure on Koval, but he was up to the task as he stopped Lisin later on a partial breakaway and Sergei Mozyakin alone in the slot.  A dominating first period was all for naught as Nikolai Kulemin turned the puck over in the defensive zone to Maksim Potapov, who sniped it past Gelashvili to tie the game with less than a minute left in the period.

Malkin drawing a defender over before feeding
Zuccarello.

Magnitogorsk started the second period dominating the offensive zone yet again and took the lead 5 minutes in as Evgeni Malkin skated along the goal line and fed the puck to Mats Zuccarello on the crease.  Zuccarello tapped the puck off of Koval and it proceeded to roll over his shoulder and fall into the net as players from both teams crashed the net.  Four minutes later, Magnitogorsk made it 3-1 as Nikolai Kulemin skated down the right side, pulled up, and passed the puck to Evgeni Malkin just inside the blue line.  Malkin immediately threw a wrist shot past Koval's blocker to score his 3rd goal of the season.  Metallurg spent the rest of the period in the defensive zone as they turned the puck over incessantly, but still escaped with a 3-1 lead.

The third period was all Nizhny Novgorod as they piled on 18 shots, many of which originated from inside the faceoff circles.  They pulled their goalie with over 2 minutes left in the game and then drew a boarding penalty on Yevgeny Biryukov.  With a 6 on 4 advantage, Michael Varnakov scored to cut the lead to 3-2 with just 34 seconds left.  Although there was a late scramble for the puck, Magnitogorsk managed to hold on for the victory.

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3  Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2

Magnitogorsk improves to 8-0-4-3 and Nizhny Novgorod drops to 7-0-4-4.

Player Notes

Hi Geno, we miss you.

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin's mindset in this game was clearly shoot first as he registered 5 shots on net in the 1st period alone.  He would finish the game with 8 shots, recording a goal and an assist in 21:42 of ice time.  He also continued with his above average faceoff numbers, going 14 for 26.  Malkin now has 11 points (3g, 8a) in 11 games with Magnitogorsk (3rd behind Sergei Mozyakin and Cal O'Reilly).  He also leads the team with 57 shots despite playing 4 less games than most of the forwards (Denis Platonov is 2nd with 51 shots).

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar was kept off the scoresheet in a very quiet game for him where he recorded only 1 shot.  He found his way to the penalty box for a cross-checking penalty, but it did not hurt his team in the end.  Despite the pointless day, Gonchar remains the top defensive scorer for Magnitogorsk with 8 points in 11 games.  To add a little perspective, the next defenseman has 3 points in 15 games.

Others - Cal O'Reilly had a quiet game in the offensive zone and was downright dismal in the defensive zone, especially in the 3rd period.  He lost 8 out of 10 faceoffs in the 3rd period and committed multiple turnovers on attempted clears.  Mats Zuccarello showed a different aspect to his game today, displaying crease presence despite his diminutive size.  He took a beating to score his goal on the crease.  Nikolai Kulemin may have had both the best play and worst play of the game.  He did a wonderful job backing defenders off with speed before dishing the puck to Malkin on the 3rd goal.  However, his turnover in the 1st period also single-handedly gave Torpedo hope in this game.

Next Game:  10/17, 9am EST vs Atlant Moscow Oblast

Links:

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