Friday, November 30, 2012

Magnitogorsk Ends November on a Sour Note


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(16-0-8-5)
@
Dynamo
Minsk
(7-4-4-14)


Players You May Recognize

Lukas Krajicek, Joe Pavelski, Geoff Platt, Pekka Rinne, Tim Stapleton

Recap

Captain Geno is here to stay.
After losing in overtime to a Vityaz Chekhov team that hadn't won since October 31st, Magnitogorsk looked to right their ship against a Dynamo Minsk team that hadn't won since November 4th.  Ari Ahonen started in net and the first line reverted back to Kulemin-Malkin-Lisin as KHL leading scorer Sergei Mozyakin dropped back to the 2nd line.  Evgeni Malkin wore the C yet again and is now the full-time captain.

Metallurg demonstrated a very strong commitment to defense in the first period, often keeping 2 if not 3 guys lingering back to eliminate odd-man breaks.  The system worked well as they allowed only 7 shots and no goals in the 1st period.  It also hindered their offense for a majority of the period until Dynamo's Teemu Laine was called for interference in the offensive zone.  Magnitogorsk scored quickly on the powerplay when Mats Zuccarello took a one-timer that Pekka Rinne deflected to the slot.  The deflection went straight to Dmitry Kazionov's stick and he took a quick wrist shot for a 1-0 lead.

Minsk fan is not impressed.
Kazionov and Zuccarello continued to build momentum for Magnitogorsk just 2 minutes later as their line added another goal.  Kazionov passed the puck to Hodgman deep in the offensive zone.  Rinne over-committed to Hodgman, who found Mats Zuccarello across the slot for an easy shot into a wide open net to make it 2-0.  The new commitment to defense was working to perfection for Metallurg through the 1st period.

The second period started aggressively though and Evgeni Malkin was sent to the penalty box for roughing.  Minsk took advantage of the chance and Tim Stapleton cut the lead to 2-1 with a wrist shot from the high slot.  The rest of the period would see plenty of anger and frustration as both teams turned up the intensity.  It started with Geoff Platt and Kazionov cross-checking each other in the face shortly after Stapleton's goal.  Minutes later, Mats Zuccarello was hit from behind at the benches which led to Justin Hodgman fighting Andrei Mikhalev in his defense.  The teams traded additional powerplay chances through the middle of the period before things calmed down.

With roughly 2:30 left in the 2nd, Dynamo Minsk had a great chance with Ari Ahonen out of position but Oleg Tverdovsky hooked a player down to save a goal.  It was all for naught though as Minsk went on the powerplay with that hooking call and scored off of the faceoff with a Janne Niskala slapshot from the point.  Tempers flared again with the game tied at 2 as Kazionov and Platt got into it again.  Platt put a high hit on Kazionov after the whistle and Kazionov dropped his gloves, attacking Platt, who dropped to his knees.  Kazionov was given a double minor for roughing and Minsk went to the powerplay.  Magnitogorsk killed the first minor to end the 2nd period.

Maurice breaks out his OT face.

The minor to start the 3rd would not end so well though.  Geoff Platt got his revenge and tapped in a rebound on the crease to give Minsk a 3-2 lead.  Magnitogorsk spent much of the period trying to force long passes and committed turnover after turnover.  Finally, with 4 minutes left in regulation, the 2nd line came through.  Sergei Mozyakin took the puck deep into the corner and curled back towards the faceoff circle.  As he curled back, he drew two defensemen over, including one from Cal O'Reilly on the backside of the crease.  Mozyakin fed a perfect pass to O'Reilly who tapped it into a wide open net to tie the game at 3.


Yet again, Magnitogorsk went to OT, where they had an 0-8 record heading into this game.  Despite Mozyakin taking a tripping penalty in overtime, they survived OT and continued on to a shootout.  Of course, the shootout would drop them to 0-9 though.

Kazionov went 1st and tried to deke to his backhand but Rinne stopped it.
Irgl started for Minsk and beat Ahonen 5-hole.
Malkin then went for Magnitogorsk and was stopped on a wrist shot by Rinne.
Finally, Tim Stapleton took a quick wrist shot that beat Ahonen glove side and the game was over.

Final Score:  Dynamo Minsk 4  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (SO)

Magnitogorsk drops to 16-0-9-5 and Dynamo Minsk improves to 7-5-4-14.

Player Notes

Rinne hasn't been great in the KHL,
but he was good enough tonight.

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin had his second disappointing game in a row (and it was his 2nd as Captain with Platonov in the lineup).  He had no points, 2 PIM, 5 shots, and was 11 for 27 in faceoffs in 25:30 of ice time.  Pekka Rinne seemed to have Malkin's number as he looked completely unfazed by anything Geno threw at him.  The roughing penalty he took (that led to Dynamo's 1st goal) was completely unnecessary.  Magnitogorsk as a whole needs a boost right now and it would be nice if Captain Geno would provide it.

Others - Mats Zuccarello had an excellent game, recording a goal and an assist despite only playing 13:51.  Joe Pavelski was pretty quiet for Minsk though he succeeded in the faceoff circle going 15 for 27.  He also had a secondary assist on Minsk's second goal.  Sergei Mozyakin had an assist to boost his league leading point total to 42 (4 points ahead of Alexander Radulov).  Pekka Rinne played much better in his second game against Magnitogorsk this season.  He had 35 saves on 38 shots.


Next Game:  12/3, 8am EST vs HC Spartak Moscow


Links:

ESPN has added a schedule and standings page for the KHL: http://espn.go.com/nhl/khl

Magnitogorsk has a twitter page: https://twitter.com/MetallurgMgn

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Malkin's Penalty in Overtime Leads to a Loss


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(16-0-7-5)
@
HC Vityaz
Chekhov
(4-6-6-12)


Players You May Recognize

Alexei Zhamnov (General Manager), Trevor Gillies, Alexander Korolyuk, Daniil Markov, Brian Fahey, Andrei Markov

Recap

Oh, KHL streams...
A quick note on some changes over the past couple games.  Denis Platonov is no longer wearing the C, it was given to Evgeni Malkin when Platonov missed a game and Malkin kept it today with Platonov in the lineup.  Also, the new first line is Mozyakin-Malkin-Kulemin.  Now onto the game!

HC Vityaz Chekhov has had a miserable November so far, going winless for the month.  Their last win was October 31st in a shootout and they only have 4 regulation wins all season.  Despite that, I guess a team has to win eventually...

The first period started quite slow with a lot of neutral zone play and a few turnovers.  The game livened up significantly around the 10 minute mark when Metallurg's Justin Hodgman slashed goaltender Ivan Lisutin while trying to chip at a rebound.  Vityaz defenseman Daniil Markov took exception to this and flat out attacked Hodgman, jumping him from behind and repeatedly punching him with his gloves off.  Markov was given a double minor for roughing, a 10 minute misconduct, and ejected with a game misconduct.

A look at the scoreboard in Chekhov with no jumbotron.
Magnitogorsk did not score on the ensuing powerplay, but scoring chances increased for both teams as the pace picked up.  Mats Zuccarello opened up the scoring for Metallurg when he took a pass from Hodgman and skated across the crease to backhand a shot under a diving Lisutin.  Chekhov would tie the game less than 2 minutes later while Oleg Tverdovsky was in the penalty box for slashing.  Evgeni Malkin tried to pass the puck back to Georgi Misharin in his own end, but Misharin was not ready and the puck bounced off of his skate.  Alexander Korolyuk took the puck for a wide open chance in the slot and put a slapshot past goalie Ari Ahonen.

The second period was dominated by tight play and obstruction penalties as each team had two powerplay chances.  Neither team scored on their powerplays though and it looked like the period would pass along quietly until Aleksey Badyukov wristed a puck past Ahonen to give Chekhov a 2-1 lead.  With the period winding down and Magnitogorsk facing a 1 goal deficit, Sergei Mozyakin threw a slapshot at the net from the blue line with less than 10 seconds left.  The rebound came out perfectly to Nikolai Kulemin, who quickly shot the puck past Lisutin to tie the game with 5 seconds left in the 2nd period.

Maurice knew OT was trouble.
HC Vityaz Chekhov took the lead just over a minute into the 3rd period when Yakov Seleznyov shot a backhander from the slot past Ahonen, who did not look ready for the shot.  The period continued on quietly as Magnitogorsk could not mount much of an attack with Chekhov keeping 3 players back at all times.  Metallurg finally earned a break though when Korolyuk was called for slashing with less than 4 minutes left.  The powerplay succeeded and Victor Antipin tied the game as he backhanded a bouncing puck in the slot past Lisutin.

As the game went to overtime, not many could expect a Magnitogorsk win based on their 0-7 overtime record this season.  True to form, Evgeni Malkin was called for kneeing with 1:34 left in overtime and Brian Fahey scored on the first shot of the powerplay to give Chekhov the overtime win.  Malkin vehemently argued with the refs after the game about the call and received an additional 10 minute misconduct for abuse of officials after the fact.  Make that 0-8 in overtime.


Final Score:  HC Vityaz Chekhov 4  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (OT)

Magnitogorsk drops to 16-0-8-5 despite outshooting Vityaz 49-20 and Chekhov improves to 4-7-6-12.

Player Notes

Not your best night, Captain Geno.
Evgeni Malkin - Geno registered 11 shots with no points, was 11 for 28 in faceoffs, and was given 12 PIM in 23:22 of ice time.  Many of those shots were bad angle shots on the powerplay and he was simply not his creative self today.  He was seen arguing with the refs over icing calls early in the 3rd and then again after his penalty at the end of the game, which absolutely was a penalty regardless of his argument.  This was not a great day as Captain for Geno and I'm sure Paul Maurice isn't happy with it.

Others - Sergei Mozyakin added 2 assists to boost his league leading point total to 41 and move him back into the assists lead with 25.  His stickhandling was beautiful today as he played keep away from Chekhov players multiple times in the offensive zone.  Nikolai Kulemin and Mats Zuccarello also put together strong performances with a goal each.  Both players spent a significant amount of time causing havoc around the Vityaz net.  Sergei Gonchar had a quiet game, recording just 3 shots, and he had an easy night in the defensive end.  


Next Game:  11/30, 11am EST @ Dynamo Minsk

If you haven't looked at it yet, check out my previous post to see an interview with Paul Maurice, who talks about Malkin's spin-around backhand goal against Cam Ward in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009.

Links:

ESPN has added a schedule and standings page for the KHL: http://espn.go.com/nhl/khl

Magnitogorsk has a twitter page: https://twitter.com/MetallurgMgn

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Malkin Scores Only Goal in OT Loss

On Sunday, Magnitogorsk hosted HC Yurga and lost in overtime (shocking, I know).  Here are the stats from the game:

HC Yurga 2  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (OT)

Nikolai Kulemin - 1a, 5 shots, 20:34 ice time
Evgeni Malkin - 1g, 4 PIM, 13 shots, 26 of 39 faceoffs, 23:35 ice time
Sergei Gonchar - 2 shots, 2 PIM, 22:44 ice time
Sergei Mozyakin - 1a, 4 shots, 19:07 ice time



Next game: 11/28 @ Vityaz Chekhov, 10:30am

Current Metallurg players in the league leaders:

Points: Mozyakin (1st - 39), Malkin (3rd - 33)
Goals: Mozyakin (1st- 16)
Assists: Mozyakin (1st - 23), Malkin (2nd - 22)
GAA: Ahonen (4th - 1.80)
Save %: Ahonen (4th - .937)

Also, check out this interview done by Paul Maurice and his assistant coach (takes a little bit to load):


Friday, November 23, 2012

Mozyakin Sets Up 3 Goals to Power Magnitogorsk to a Win


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(15-0-6-5)
vs
Barys
Astana
(11-0-5-10)


Players You May Recognize

Nik Antropov, Victor Hedman, Andrew Hutchinson, Nigel Dawes, Brandon Bochenski, Dustin Boyd

Recap

Despite some struggles since the KHL's Euro Hockey Tour break, Metallurg Magnitogorsk should be perfectly fine as long as they get to play Barys Astana once a week.  Barys is the only team that Metallurg has defeated since the break, and both wins have been decisive victories with 5 goal outputs.

I kinda wish the Pens still had O'Reilly...
or were playing hockey...
Magnitogorsk got off to a very quick start, taking the lead within the first minute of the game thanks to a Cal O'Reilly one-timer from the slot.  Sergei Mozyakin recorded his first of 3 assists on the opening goal, which helped him pass Alexander Radulov for the KHL's scoring lead.  After dominating the first five minutes, Magnitogorsk ran into some penalty trouble when Evgeni Malkin was called for slashing.  Momentum shifted to Barys, who couldn't score during Malkin's penalty but drew another penalty on Mikhail Yakubov immediately after.  Their second powerplay needed just 35 seconds to score as Nik Antropov found Maxim Spiridonov alone across the crease for an easy tap-in goal.

That would be the only goal Barys scored though as Magnitogorsk fought back to gain momentum with their home crowd and got a little help from some poor goaltending as well.  With 5 minutes left in the 1st period, Nikolai Kulemin held the puck near the goal line by the Barys net patiently.  After surveying his passing options (there were none), he took a bad angle shot which somehow slipped into the net for a 2-1 lead.

Hedman won the battle of 71's here.
Barys put together another effort to tie the game late in the period after Cal O'Reilly was called for hooking and then given a 10 minute misconduct for arguing the call (Abuse of Officials, officially), but Magnitogorsk's penalty kill held strong.  The first 10 minutes of the 2nd period were filled with penalties and chippy play as Sergei Gonchar got into a scrum with Mihail Grigoriev.  The bad blood continued as Malkin went around the offensive zone and cross-checked 3 different players (no penalties were called) and then got into a small wrestling match with Victor Hedman which led to roughing minors for each.

Once tempers subsided on both sides, Metallurg went to work at putting the game away during the rest of the 2nd period.  Dmitry Kazionov scored 2 goals and Sergei Gonchar added a powerplay goal in a 5 minute span to take Barys completely out of the game with a 5-1 score.  After the 5th goal, Barys pulled their starting goalie Lassila and put in backup Pavel Poluektov.

Poluektov didn't let a shot in for the rest of the game and the 3rd period went very quickly and quietly as both teams appeared to be ready to move on.  There were more instances of YMCA, the wave, and thunder sticks being used in the crowd than quality chances on the ice.

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5   Barys Astana 1

Metallurg improves to 16-0-6-5 and Barys drops to 11-0-5-11.

Player Notes

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin showed a lot of fire in this game with quite a few physical altercations.  He played well but certainly seemed more intent on causing chaos with his body than the puck today.  He only managed 3 shots, an unusually low total for him, and recorded just 1 assist in only 19:50 of ice time (also an unusually low number).  He was only 8 for 18 in faceoffs as well.  My guess is someone woke up on the wrong side of bed today.

I think he was going for the Mighty Ducks jersey pullover
Sergei Gonchar - In 19 minutes of ice time, Gonchar scored a powerplay goal and assisted on another in the easy win.  He was not tested much defensively, but was flawless in his own end when necessary.  He also showed quite a bit of fight today, getting into a couple shoving matches.  He had a talk with the refs after the 2nd period and was laughing with them though, so things couldn't have been too bad.

Others - Nikolai Kulemin was named Magnitogorsk's player of the game with only 1 goal recorded...I'm not sure why.  Mozyakin is the KHL's leader in points with 37 right now, followed by Alexander Radulov with 36 and Evgeni Malkin in 3rd with 33 points.  Cal O'Reilly only played 9:42 because of his 10 minute misconduct.  Head coach Paul Maurice was clearly unhappy and sat him much longer than necessary.

Next Game:  11/25, 6am EST vs HC Yugra


Links:

ESPN has added a schedule and standings page for the KHL: http://espn.go.com/nhl/khl

Magnitogorsk has a twitter page: https://twitter.com/MetallurgMgn

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Karri Ramo baffles Magnitogorsk in a 2-1 Game.


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(15-0-6-4)
vs
Avangard
Omsk
(11-7-3-6)


Players You May Recognize

Karri Ramo, Sergei Kostitsyn, Nikita Nikitin, Alexander Frolov, Alexander Perezhogin


Recap


A week ago, the Euro Hockey Tour break ended and Magnitogorsk visited Omsk in their first game after the break.  The game was built up as a heavyweight match between two of the top teams in the East and featured on ESPN 3.  Magnitogorsk lost that game in overtime, 3-2.  Unfortunately, the result was similar in today's match as Magnitogorsk lost 2-1 in regulation at home despite a plethora of chances to tie the game.

Karri Ramo started in net for Avangard Omsk and somehow that spelled the end for Magnitogorsk instantly.  Ramo played a fantastic game, stopping 32 of 33 shots including numerous breakaways and point blank chances.  Ari Ahonen stopped 29 of 31 shots for Magnitogorsk, but it wasn't enough for the snake-bitten offense to overcome.

Avangard Omsk took the lead early on a fluke play as Alexander Frolov streaked down the right side of the ice and tried to backhand a pass towards the crease.  His pass worked out better than anticipated as it deflected off of Sergei Gonchar's skate and into the air past Ari Ahonen for a 1-0 lead.

Both teams traded chances for the rest of the period, including three 2 on 1 breaks within the last two minutes, but the period ended 1-0.  Evgeni Malkin and Nikolai Kulemin looked fantastic after the first, but Karri Ramo was already the star of the game through one.

The second period started quickly with an Enver Lisin breakaway that was stopped by Ramo.  The ref proceeded to call a penalty shot because Lisin was partially slashed even though he got the shot off.  Ramo stopped Lisin yet again on the penalty shot to preserve the 1-0 lead.  The teams traded powerplays through a mostly quiet 2nd period before the energy skyrocketed again towards the end.

With four minutes left in the period, Igor Volkov snuck past both Metallurg defenders and received a breakaway pass at the blue line.  All it took was a quick forehand to backhand deke and Volkov lifted the puck past a diving Ari Ahonen for a 2-0 lead.  Less than 2 minutes later, Malkin worked his own offensive magic for Magnitogorsk.  Geno skated in and around two Avangard defenders before dishing a perfect pass to Sergei Gonchar across the slot.  Gonchar one-timed the puck past Karri Ramo to cut the lead down to 2-1.

The third period started with more insanity when Avangard received a penalty shot because Sergei Mozyakin covered the puck in the crease during a crazy scrum.  Ari Ahonen was up to the task and stopped the penalty shot to keep it at a one goal game.  Unfortunately Magnitogorsk was unable to find a tying goal as Ramo continued to dazzle in net.





Final Score:  Avangard Omsk 2  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1

Metallurg drops to 15-0-6-5 and Avangard improves to 12-7-3-6.

Player Notes

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin finished with 1 assist, 5 shots, 18 for 26 in faceoffs, and 21:22 of ice time.  He skated like he was shot out of a cannon all night and had some beautiful puck-handling moves in the offensive zone.  Despite the small offensive output, Malkin was a force in most of his shifts and created chances all over the ice with Kulemin.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar finished with 1 goal on 4 shots in 20:15 of ice time.  Gonchar's one-timer was beautiful, though his overall play was marred by the accidental 1st goal and being on the ice for the breakaway goal against.  Also, his reluctance to shoot on the powerplay and preference to feed it to Malkin on the half-boards is getting rather predictable for penalty killers to adjust to.

Other Players - Oleg Tverdovsky, who missed several games before the break with an injury, looked back up to speed and played quite well throughout the game. He had a great shot in front of the net but was stopped by the amazing Karri Ramo.  Enver Lisin and Justin Hodgman both had awful games in terms of turnovers and general positioning.  Nikolai Kulemin looked fantastic with Malkin but was robbed a couple times by Ramo and then missed the net on two tough chances.

Next Game:  11/23, 8am EST vs Barys Astana


Links:

ESPN has added a schedule and standings page for the KHL: http://espn.go.com/nhl/khl

Magnitogorsk has a twitter page: https://twitter.com/MetallurgMgn

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Magnitogorsk Gets Back to Winning


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(14-0-6-4)
@
Barys
Astana
(10-0-5-9)


Players You May Recognize

Nik Antropov, Ryan McDonagh, Victor Hedman, Andrew Hutchinson, Nigel Dawes, Brandon Bochenski, Dustin Boyd

Recap

Looking back at Friday's game, Magnitogorsk lost 3-2 to Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk.  Malkin went pointless and angry, as did Sergei Gonchar who accumulated 14 PIM including a misconduct.  Here's the video recap from Friday's game (note Malkin slamming his stick and shouting at the ref in the end):

Now on to today's game.  Magnitogorsk traveled to Astana looking for their first win since the Euro Hockey Tour break.  Unfortunately, there was no live stream for this game, so here are the pertinent stats and another video recap:

Malkin - 2g (including 1 short handed), 1a, 8 shots, 20/28 faceoffs, 23:08 TOI, 2 PIM

Gonchar - no points, no shots, 20:52 TOI, 4 PIM, it also appears that Gonchar held on a breakaway late in the 3rd period but the Barys penalty shot was unsuccessful

Here's the text report of the game:  http://text.khl.ru/en/34691.html

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5   Barys Astana 3

Metallurg improves to 15-0-6-4 and Barys drops to 10-0-5-10.


Next Game:  11/21, 8am EST @ Avangard Omsk


Links:

ESPN has added a schedule and standings page for the KHL: http://espn.go.com/nhl/khl

Magnitogorsk has a twitter page: https://twitter.com/MetallurgMgn

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

KHL Resumes Play With a Magnitogorsk OT Loss


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(14-0-5-3)
vs
Avangard
Omsk
(10-6-2-6)


Players You May Recognize

Karri Ramo, Sergei Kostitsyn, Nikita Nikitin, Alexander Frolov, Alexander Perezhogin

Recap

What is that goat doing to Geno?
After 11 days off and an encounter with goats, it was finally time for Evgeni Malkin and Metallurg Magnitogorsk to get back to competitive play in the KHL.  Their first game after the break was a big one against the Chernyshev Division leaders, Avangard Omsk.  Ari Ahonen started in net for Magnitogorsk against Karri Ramo for Omsk.

After a ceremonial faceoff between Malkin and Omsk captain Alexander Frolov, play began at a tense yet sloppy pace.  Magnitogorsk had stronger breakouts, Omsk had better sustained pressure, but neither team put a quality shot on net through the first half of the period.  With less than 6 minutes left in the first, Omsk defenseman Dmitri Semin was called for a hooking penalty.  Metallurg's lethal powerplay took the ice and a 1-0 lead when Sergei Mozyakin capitalized on a turnover and blasted a slapshot past Ramo.  It was Mozyakin's league leading 14th goal of the season, his 7th on the powerplay.

This is generally frowned upon by coaches.
The first period ended 1-0 and the second started with more back and forth play that failed to produce quality chances.  Omsk then unexpectedly tied the game on what looked like a harmless wrist shot from the right circle by Alexander Popov that beat Ahonen high on his blocker side.  As Avangard gained momentum, Magnitogorsk fell apart in their discipline.  Evgeni Malkin was called for hooking and Mikhail Yakubov was then called for cross-checking 20 seconds into the penalty kill, resulting in a 5 on 3 for Avangard.  Sergei Kostitsyn gave Omsk a 2-1 lead during the 5 on 3 powerplay with a quick poke at a puck that was loose just outside of the crease.

Not sure what Ahonen thought he was going to save,
but Geno took care of it anyways.
Magnitogorsk killed the remaining 5 on 4 time, but struggled to gain any traction in the offensive zone for the rest of the period.  Alexander Frolov almost gave Omsk a 3-1 lead late in the period but was thwarted by a magnificent block from a diving Evgeni Malkin.  Avangard started the 3rd period with a 2-1 lead and both teams had fantastic chances within the first 5 minutes.  Malkin took another penalty, this time for high sticking, but this one was killed.

Halfway through the 3rd period, confusion spread as a pile of bodies and the puck all collided in Karri Ramo's crease.  Mats Zuccarello was the only person to react as if the puck went in and a lengthy review ensued.  Though we were never shown a definitive camera angle that had the puck crossing the red line, the result was called a goal and credited to Dmitri Kazionov.  Play continued at a solid pace and neither team found a winner in regulation.

In five previous overtime games, Magnitogorsk had yet to find a winning tally.  Their failed efforts continued in this game as Karri Ramo made some beautiful saves on Sergei Mozyakin and Justin Hodgman in the extra period.  Moments after Ramo played savior for Avangard, Nikita Nikitin, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Kirill Lyamin executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play that ended with a Lyamin slapshot in the back of the net.  Game over.


Final Score:  Avangard Omsk 3  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (OT)

Metallurg drops to 14-0-6-3 and Avangard improves to 10-7-2-6.

Player Notes

Geno was swarmed at his hotel before the game.
Evgeni Malkin - Malkin was a force at both sides of the ice, registering 7 shots and playing some great defense including his massively important blocked shot.  At times he was an uncontrollable force though, taking 2 unnecessary penalties and also getting into multiple arguments with the refs.  He went 14 for 28 in the faceoff circle and finished with 22:54 of ice time, accumulating no points.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar had a very slow start to the game and seemed a little clutchy/grabby in the first 2 periods despite having no penalties called on him.  He played a much stronger third period and broke up two odd man breaks for Avangard late in the game.  He finished with 23:05 of ice time and 2 shots.

Omsk captain Alexander Frolov
Other Players - Sergei Kostitsyn had a goal and an assist for Avangard and looked very in sync with Alexander Frolov as his center.  The pair combined for a few very nice passing plays and one-timers, though Frolov appeared to be snake-bitten with his shot.  Nikita Nikitin finished with 2 assists and played extremely well in the defensive zone as he was often given the task of handling the Malkin line.  


Next Game:  11/16, 8am EST @ Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk

Note: Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended in the US, game times are 9 hours off of Moscow time.
**I'm going to miss this game but I will post the video recaps from the KHL later in the day.**

Links:

ESPN has added a schedule and standings page for the KHL: http://espn.go.com/nhl/khl

Magnitogorsk has a twitter page: https://twitter.com/MetallurgMgn

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Magnitogorsk Enters the Break on a Winning Streak


The Matchup:


Metallurg 
Magnitogorsk 
(13-0-5-3)
vs
HC Vityaz
Chekhov
(4-6-5-8)


Players You May Recognize

Alexei Zhamnov (General Manager), Trevor Gillies, Alexander Korolyuk, Daniil Markov, Andrei Markov (injured)

Recap

In their last game before the Euro Hockey Tour (thanks @stapler_87 for the heads up on that), Magnitogorsk hosted perennial bottom feeder HC Vityaz Chekhov.  Since the NHL players do not participate in the Euro Hockey Tour, this was our last chance to watch Malkin, Gonchar, Kulemin, etc. for a couple of weeks.  After a slow start, they put together a winning effort to head into the fall break of KHL hockey on a 4 game winning streak.

Maurice wasn't the only one throwing around F bombs.
Georgi Gelashvili started in net for Magnitogorsk but was not tested often.  He only faced 4 shots in a quiet first period for both teams and would only face 13 shots overall.  Metallurg dominated puck possession and managed 15 shots on net in the first, but most were from the perimeter and none were especially challenging.  The second period continued along in a similar manner until the halfway point.  A less talented Vityaz Chekhov team started to put pressure on Magnitogorsk, which resulted in a timeout for Paul Maurice's team and a pep talk filled with F bombs.

Despite the inspiring/angry timeout, the visitors struck first as Anton Korolev scored off of an offensive zone faceoff win with just over 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd period.  The lead would last less than a minute though when Mats Zuccarello found Dmitry Kazionov on a pass from blue line to blue line.  Kazionov faked an attempt to split the defense and then threw a quick backhander on net that snuck past Chekhov goalie Ivan Kasutin.

Tied 1-1 after 2 periods, I imagine that Maurice's intermission speech was filled with more F bombs and Magnitogorsk came out flying in the 3rd period.  Metallurg started on the powerplay after Malkin drew a tripping penalty and it took just 38 seconds for them to take the lead.  Viktor Antipin scored the game winner, assisted by Sergei Mozyakin and Sergei Gonchar.  Four minutes later, Evgeni Malkin made it 3-1 as he one-timed a cross-crease pass from Mozyakin.  Magnitogorsk dominated the rest of the 3rd period, adding one more insurance goal by Mozyakin and outshooting Chekhov 8 to 1 in the period.  


Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4  HC Vityaz Chekhov  1

Magnitogorsk improves to 14-0-5-3 and Chekhov drops to 4-6-5-9.

Player Notes

Malkin is poised to take over the scoring race
when the KHL returns from break.
Evgeni Malkin - Malkin finished with a goal on 4 shots, a dismal 6 for 19 in faceoffs, and 2 PIM in 21:30 of ice time.  He drew two tripping penalties, including the one that allowed Magnitogorsk to take the lead permanently.  It was generally a quiet game for Geno, but it that pretty much can be said for every player on both teams.  Malkin enters the break with 28 points in 20 games, good for 3rd in the KHL in points behind Mozyakin and Alexander Radulov.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar had 5 shots and 2 assists in 22:40 of ice time.  He didn't face any challenges defensively and did a wonderful job of keeping the puck in the zone when Magnitogorsk had their offensive pushes.  He heads into the break with 13 points in 18 games, which leads Magnitogorsk defensemen by 6 points.


Next Game:  11/14, 8am EST @ Avangard Omsk


Links:

Go to onhockey.ru for all of your streaming needs.

If you want highlights for the games, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/KHLofficialvideo.