Malkin's 5 Point Effort Leads Metallurg to Victory

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(17-0-9-5)

vs

Dynamo

Riga

(7-3-2-19)

Players You May Recognize

Viktor Ignatjev (assistant coach), Mikael Tellqvist Alexandre Giroux, Raitis Ivanans, Kaspars Daugavins, Mathieu Carle, Paul Szczechura

Recap

As North America lives and dies on every word about the NHL lockout negotiations right now, Evgeni Malkin continues to show off his talents to Russia.  Facing last place Dynamo Riga with just 2 games before the KHL's December break, Magnitogorsk looked to stay on the winning track and make a statement.  The team was without Cal O'Reilly again and Paul Maurice stated that O'Reilly might be done for the season after taking a hit from behind (thanks @stapler_87).

Magnitogorsk started slowly until the physical game picked up.  Raitis Ivanans and Sergei Berntasky were sent to the box for roughing and Malkin alone had 3 chances during 4 on 4 play but could not capitalize.  Mathieu Carle was called for holding after 5 on 5 resumed to put Magnitogorsk on the powerplay.  The powerplay went awry though when Sergei Gonchar was caught out of position and Evgeni Malkin tried to stop Gints Meija on a 1 on 1 short-handed break.  Meija cut across Malkin and took a quick wrist shot that beat Ahonen for a 1-0 Riga lead.

Advice: Don't leave passing lanes that open.

Malkin would make up for his inability to stop Meija later in the period when he drew a hook from Alexandre Giroux.  The resulting man-advantage ended with a one-timer goal from the left faceoff circle by Sergei Mozyakin, assisted by Gonchar and Malkin.  Malkin and Gonchar would figure into the scoring again before the period ended as Geno skated the puck around the back of the net and threw a pass across the crease to Gonchar.  Gonchar immediately one-timed it past goalie Maris Jucers who could not cover the nearside post fast enough.  The first period ended with a 2-1 Magnitogorsk lead.

The 2nd period was rather dull as the teams skated up and down the ice without creating many quality chances.  They each added a goal to boost the score to 3-2.  Riga temporarily tied the game at 2 with four minutes left in the period when Yaroslav Kosov missed his assignment covering Robert Burkarts in the slot.  Burkarts took a pass from Meija and easily beat Ahonen glove side.  Nikolai Kulemin regained the lead for Magnitogorsk with just 7 seconds left in the period after Malkin found him wide open in the high slot on the powerplay.

Geno went full leg kick, yell, and stare down.

With a three point night through 2 periods, Malkin was far from done as Magnitogorsk turned this game into a blowout during the 3rd period.  They got off to a rough start, taking 2 high-sticking penalties and giving Riga a 5 on 3 chance within the first two minutes of the period.  Both penalties were killed though and Metallurg turned on the offense a few minutes later.  With 13 minutes left in the game, Magnitogorsk went on the powerplay thanks to a hooking call on Jamie Johnson.  Malkin scored his 13th goal of the season off of a Mozyakin pass as he was left uncovered by the back post.  Midway through the period, Metallurg scored their 4th powerplay goal of the game to make it 5-2.  Malkin found Gonchar at the point and he ripped a slapshot that was deflected in by Kulemin.

Just 35 seconds later, Sergei Mozyakin would get his second goal of the game on a shot that banked off of Jucers pads.  At 6-2, Dynamo Riga called a timeout but it was too late to change momentum or the result of the game.  Magnitogorsk added one last goal by Enver Lisin that deflected in off of a defenseman to make it 7-2.  Malkin finished with 5 points (1g, 4a) and Mozyakin with 4 (2g, 2a).

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7  Dynamo Riga 2

Magnitogorsk improves to 18-0-9-5 and Riga drops to 7-3-2-20.

Player Notes

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin's 5 point night moved him into second place in the KHL scoring race behind Mozyakin and ahead of Alexander Radulov.  Malkin now has 13 goals and 28 assists for 41 points in 28 games.  He finished the game playing just over 22 minutes and went 13 for 24 in faceoffs while recording 8 shots.  Despite his high shot total, he still maintained a pass-first approach during powerplays and it worked to perfection.

Others - Sergei Mozyakin now has a 7 point lead in the scoring race over Malkin and I hope Geno brings him over to the US when the lockout ends.  Nikolai Kulemin had an easily overlooked 3 point night (2g, 1a).  Kulemin-Malkin-Mozyakin on the powerplay has simply been dominant all season.  Sergei Gonchar also had a 3 point night (1g, 2a) and had a strong game aside from the awful start with a short-handed goal allowed.  

Next Game:  12/7, 8am EST vs HC Donbass

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.