Magnitogorsk Dismantles the "Other" Metallurg Team

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(21-0-9-7)

vs

Metallurg

Novokuznetsk

(11-3-4-18)

NHL/Former NHL Players You May Recognize

Randy Robitaille, Chris Simon, Brent Sopel

Pregame Notes

• The ceremony preceding Wednesday's game was for Sergei Mozyakin being named player of the month.
• Standings Update: Magnitogorsk sits in 3rd place in the West with 72 points.  Novokuznetsk is in 10th in the East with 43 points.
• KHL Scoring Race Update:  Mozyakin entered tonight's game with the lead (56), 5 points ahead of Malkin (51) and 10 points ahead of Alexander Radulov (46).
• Starting goalies: Yury Klyuchnikov for Novokuznetsk and Ari Ahonen for Magnitogorsk.
• Injury report remains the same: Cal O'Reilly, Oleg Tverdovsky, and Evgeny Biryukov out.
• Enver Lisin finally returned to the lineup, joining Justin Hodgman's line with Mats Zuccarello

Recap

Novokuznetsk was helped by a few key shot blocks
in the first period.

Coming off of a disappointing loss to Sibir Novosibirsk, Magnitogorsk made a tremendous effort to take control of this game early and they never let go.  A dominant performance began early as Magnitogorsk spent a majority of the first 6 minutes cycling in the Novokuznetsk zone.  Their efforts paid off with an offensive zone faceoff that led to the first goal of the game.  It started when Evgeni Malkin won a faceoff cleanly back to Sergei Gonchar at the point.  As Gonchar received the puck, Sergei Mozyakin skated back to the blueline across from Gonchar and opened up for a one-timer.  Gonchar's pass was perfectly timed and Mozyakin's shot hit the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.  The rest of the period was dominated by special teams play as each team took 3 penalties, but neither powerplay could manage a goal.  Novokuznetsk looked very strong on the penalty kill and played very aggressively and physically on defense.  Meanwhile, Magnitogorsk managed to control the puck on the penalty kill more than their opponent did.

Magnitogorsk then opened up the second period with a quick goal to double their lead as Alexei Bondarev found Mats Zuccarello streaking up the ice for a breakaway.  Zuccarello deked to his backhand and then forehand to get goalie Yury Klyuchnikov sprawling out of position as he slid the puck into the net.  Klyuchnikov steadied the ship for Novokuznetsk for a few minutes as Magnitogorsk continued an onslaught of shots (outshooting Novokuznetsk 12-3 in the period), but it was only a matter of time before the lead would increase.

It was a tough day for Klyuchnikov, who dealt with
traffic in his crease constantly.

Halfway through the period, Malkin carried the puck down the left side boards at full speed backing off both Novokuznetsk defenders.  As the defenders backed off, he dropped the puck off for Mozyakin, who skated through Malkin's wake directly to the crease.  As Klyuchnikov anticipated a shot, Mozyakin dished the puck to Kulemin, who was uncovered on the left side of the crease and had a wide open net to shoot at for a 3-0 lead.  Less than two minutes later, Ryan O'Reilly increased the lead to 4-0 as he streaked down the right side and simply fired a wrist shot that beat Klyuchnikov on his glove side.  Though Novokuznetsk's goalie looked angry and irritated after the 4th goal, he remained in the game.  Each team had another powerplay towards the end of the period, but both penalty kills were up to the task again.

Malkin was all smiles after 3 points in an easy win.

Magnitogorsk began the 3rd period on the powerplay after defender Brent Sopel knocked the net off of its moorings intentionally with 3 seconds left in the 2nd.  Though the final result was pretty much set, the penalty was still costly as Malkin added a goal of his own on a one-timer set up by Gonchar.  Facing a 5-0 deficit, Novokuznetsk gave up the fight as Magnitogorsk dominated in time of possession and looked like they were on a powerplay during 5 on 5 play.  Ryan O'Reilly capped off the scoring 5 minutes into the period by getting his 2nd of the night when he knocked a rebound past Klyuchnikov.  With a 6-0 score, the only excitement the rest of the way was a fight between Enver Lisin and Stanislav Romanov, for which both were given double minors for roughing.  Ari Ahonen was barely challenged as he recorded 22 saves to earn a shutout.

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 6  Metallurg Novokuznetsk 0

Box Score: http://text.khl.ru/en/35104.html

Magnitogorsk drops to 22-0-9-7 and Novosibirsk improves to 11-3-4-19.

Player Notes

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin finished with 1 goal, 2 assists, 5 shots, and 13 for 22 (59.1%) in faceoffs in only 21:24 of ice time.  He had some dazzling moves against a weaker Novokuznetsk defense, once deking through 3 players and also almost completing a pylon drill around 4 players before drawing a slashing penalty.  He looked relaxed, confident, and happy in a complete game for him and his teammates.

Others (Metallurg) - Ryan O'Reilly continues to make the KHL look easy as he scored his 3rd and 4th goals in 6 games and added an assist.  The most impressive part is O'Reilly isn't getting much time on the powerplay or in the offensive zone but he is being very productive with his chances.  Mats Zuccarello and Enver Lisin had instant chemistry with each other while Justin Hodgman had a quiet game on that line.  Zuccarello and Lisin had multiple 2 on 1 chances and timed their attacks very well together.  Sergei Mozyakin "only" had 2 points to allow Malkin to gain some ground on him.  Nikolai Kulemin showed some very aggressive play to go along with his goal, racking up 8 PIM in this game.

Next Game:  12/30, 6am EST vs Amur Khabarovsk

**I might miss this one but will at least post highlights and stats if I do miss it**

Links:

Thank you to onhockey.ru (@onhockey on Twitter).  Not only have they been dependable for KHL streams, but they even named my blog on the stream for this game (as you can see in the screencaps).

Keep track of Malkin and the KHL scoring race here:  http://en.khl.ru/stat/leaders/222/.

Another Two Points for Malkin, Another Win for Magnitogorsk

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(8-0-4-3)

vs

Atlant

Moscow Oblast

(5-3-3-6)

Players You May Recognize

Anton Khudobin, Nikolai Zherdev, Konstantin Koltsov, Sandis Ozolinsh, Maxim Mayorov

Recap

Based on sheer records alone, this game looked like a complete mismatch as Atlant entered Magnitogorsk on a 3 game losing streak.  Goalie Anton Khudobin ensured it was a tight game in a losing effort though.

The first period was rather quiet despite an enormous shot advantage for Magnitogorsk (15-3).  Georgi Gelashvili started for the second straight game for Metallurg, but faced very little work early on.  Meanwhile, Magnitogorsk was kept to mostly perimeter shots and could not penetrate the slot or crease area whatsoever in the first period.  Of Khudobin's 15 first period saves, maybe 1 was really a challenge.

The game opened up quite a bit in the second period as both teams traded chances and rushed up and down the ice.  Atlant finally got some pressure on Magnitogorsk early, but an errant pass sent Metallurg going the other way.  Evgeni Malkin swooped in past a defender and put a low shot on Khudobin which was stopped.  Malkin fell to the ice though and slid into both Khudobin and the side of the net as the puck sat loose on the crease.  With no whistle to stop play, Enver Lisin crashed the crease and poked the loose puck into the net for a 1-0 lead.

As the game got more physical, Malkin and Kulemin
were quite ready to get involved.

At this point, the online stream died for a little bit, but when it returned Magnitogorsk was killing a penalty on Denis Platonov.  The penalty kill was successful, but Atlant scored shortly thereafter as Jonas Andersson shot a rebound from just outside of the crease to tie the score at 1.  As the second period came to a close, the game got notably physical.  Nikolai Kulemin had a great open ice hit on an Atlant defender which forced a turnover and a solid scoring chance, but Khudobin was ready for it.  Later in the shift, Malkin tried to go 1 on 3 into the slot and an Atlant defender hip checked him, nearly flipping him over on his head.  With that, the period would end 1-1.

The third period played out more like the first as Magnitogorsk returned to dominance, outshooting Atlant 12-4.  Enver Lisin would score his 2nd of the night, the game winner, halfway through the period as his line took advantage of a 3 on 2 break.  Justin Hodgman brought the puck into the zone and passed it off to Lisin in the high slot after both defenders had backed up towards the crease.  Lisin held the puck for a few seconds before sniping it past Khudobin.  The game would come to a close as Evgeni Malkin finished it off with an empty net goal.

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3  Atlant Moscow Oblast 1

Magnitogorsk improves to 9-0-4-3 and Atlant drops to 5-3-3-7.

Player Notes

Malkin focused on a faceoff late in the 3rd.

Evgeni Malkin - Geno put up a goal and an assist for the second straight game.  He absolutely frightened me when he was flipped on his 1 on 3 effort, but showed no ill effects from the hit.  He finished the game with 6 shots in 19:32 of ice time and was 13 for 22 in the faceoff circle.  If the NHL does return soon, it will be interesting to see if Malkin starts off on fire as he looks to be in mid-season form right now.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar played a MUCH better game tonight than 2 days ago.  He was solid defensively, not getting caught out of position even once.  He also played a 2 on 1 perfectly as he pushed the puck carrier to the outside and cut off the passing lane at the same time.  He finished the game with 4 shots in 18:26 in a solid effort.

Others - Nikolai Kulemin looked fantastic in both his physical game and his defensive awareness.  His poke-checking on the PK and in the defensive zone was superb and he caused numerous Atlant turnovers.  Sandis Ozolinsh, who I assumed quit hockey long ago, looked great in playing over 24 minutes for Atlant.  He was smooth with the puck and a workhorse all night.  His game made me wonder why he's no longer in the NHL.  Enver Lisin was pretty much johnny on the spot for loose pucks and open passes in this game.  Finally, Atlant captain Konstantin Koltsov disappointed me in this game.  I was hoping his speed would be a game changer and entertaining, but it looked pedestrian compared to those around him.  

Next Game:  10/22, 12:30pm EST vs Dynamo Riga, on ESPN 3

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.