Metallurg Survives a Wild 1st Period for a 7-4 Win

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(16-0-9-5)

vs

HC Spartak
Moscow

(7-3-5-15)

Players You May Recognize

Shaone Morrison, Oleg Petrov

Recap

The last time these two teams met, Magnitogorsk coasted to a very easy 7-2 win that was never in question. This game was just pure insanity throughout.  Cal O'Reilly did not dress, either for undisclosed reasons or disclosed reasons that were in Russian so I didn't understand them.  Backup Georgi Gelashvili started in net for Magnitogorsk against Sergei Borisov for HC Spartak Moscow.  Neither one would survive the start, though one would return.

Metallurg took control of the match early on due to a seemingly harmless shot from the point by Viktor Antipin.  Borisov attempted to glove the shot but deflected it behind him instead.  Thirty seconds later, Spartak forward Alexander Suglobov was called for slashing and Antipin scored his 2nd goal in a minute.  Nikolai Kulemin passed the puck from the high slot to Evgeni Malkin on the side boards. Malkin sent it right back to the crease where Antipin was waiting to deflect it in for a 2-0 lead.  Borisov was immediately pulled before the game was 5 minutes old and Alexei Yakhin (yes, Yakhin) went in for Spartak.

The goaltender change settled down Spartak and they drew a 5 on 3 after Gonchar was called for cross-checking and Khabarov for tripping, but they were unable to score.  Then with 5 minutes left in the period, all hell broke loose.

In the span of 1:41:
- Mikhail Yakubov was called for interference to put Spartak back on the powerplay.  Alexander Budkin cut the lead to 2-1 as he took a pass across the slot and slipped the puck under Gelashvili's pads.
- Anatoly Nikontsev then tied the game at two just 31 seconds later as he beat Gelashvili 5-hole trying to slide across the crease.
- Dmitry Kazionov put Magnitogorsk back in the lead 37 seconds later with a wrist shot from the point (assisted by Antipin) that was helped greatly by Platonov screening Yakhin.  Yakhin never even reacted to the shot.
- Andrei Ankudinov then scored off of an offensive zone faceoff (think of the James Neal play) 17 seconds later to tie the game 3-3.  Georgi Gelashvili was then pulled in favor of Ari Ahonen.

The period ended in a 3-3 tie as everyone tried to catch their breath from that 4 goal outburst.  It wouldn't take long for things to get fired up in the second period though.  Sergei Gonchar took a shot from the point which missed horribly wide, but bounced off the boards behind the net and back out to Kazionov at the faceoff circle.  Yakhin was not ready for the huge bounce to the other side and was completely out of position as Kazionov scored his 2nd of the game to make it 4-3, Metallurg.  A few minutes later, Mikhail Yunkov of Spartak was called for hooking and it took just seconds for Sergei Mozyakin to make it 5-3 with slapshot from the left point.

Yakhin was pulled and Borisov went back in net for Spartak after Mozyakin's goal.  The change didn't matter though as Mozyakin scored another powerplay goal a few minutes later to make it 6-3.  Malkin tried to make a centering pass to Mozyakin in the slot, but misfired on the pass and sent it straight to a defenseman.  The defenseman was not expecting the puck though and he tripped over himself and gave the puck up to Mozyakin all by himself in the slot.  Borisov had no chance to stop the quick wrister.

Malkin scored himself before scoring a goal later.

Spartak would stop the bleeding with a goal of their own when Nikolai Bushuyev found a loose puck on the crease just a minute later to make it 6-4 just before the end of the second period.  After magnificent scoring outbursts in the first and second, the third period went along rather quietly.  Enver Lisin had a penalty shot opportunity but fanned on his deke and then shot the puck straight up over the net.  Then, there was a big scare when Evgeni Malkin blocked a point shot off the faceoff.  Malkin remained down for a couple minutes but eventually skated off under his own power.  In dramatic fashion, Malkin came on for his next shift, took the puck, and skated through a Spartak defender before wristing a shot past Borisov for a 7-4 lead.  That would end the scoring and put the game away for Magnitogorsk.

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7  HC Spartak Moscow 4

Magnitogorsk improves to 17-0-9-5 and Spartak drops to 7-3-5-16.

Player Notes

#C #C #C #C

Evgeni Malkin - Geno had by far his best game since taking over the captaincy a week ago. He finished with 1 goal, 2 assists, 4 shots, 16 for 27 in faceoffs, and 26:15 of ice time.  He was in pass-first mode during powerplays and stayed out of trouble in the physical game (hooray no stupid penalties!!).  Malkin is currently 3rd in points with 36 and 2nd in assists with 25.  Now hopefully he never blocks another shot until he returns to the NHL.

Others - Sergei Gonchar was named "Man of the Match" for Magnitogorsk despite being absurdly inaccurate with his shots today.  He finished with 2 assists and 4 shots on net, though he also had at least another 5 that missed the net (one turning into an assist).  Sergei Mozyakin had 2 goals to keep him in the KHL points and goals lead with 45 and 18 respectively.  He also leads the league in assists with 27.  Viktor Antipin had a 4 point night (2 goals, 2 assists) and Dmitry Kazionov had a 2 goal night after moving up to the 2nd line in Cal O'Reilly absence.

Next Game:  12/5, 8am EST vs. Dynamo Riga

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.

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.

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.