Final KHL Recap: Magnitogorsk Loses in a Shootout as NHL Lockout Ends

It was a fun ride Geno, time to bring it back here.

With the end of the NHL Lockout, this will be my final post about the KHL and Metallurg Magnitogorsk as NHL players return back to North America.  It has been a fun ride and I must admit that following the KHL was far more enjoyable than I expected.  Thank you to onhockey.ru (@onhockey) for providing streams online and promoting my blog.  Of course, thank you all for reading these KHL recaps and following as well.  I hope you continue to read along as Evgeni Malkin takes his dominant play back to Pittsburgh.

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(24-0-9-7)

@

Slovan

Bratislava

(14-6-5-14)

NHL/Former NHL Players You May Recognize

Lubomir Visnovski, Andrej Sekera, Miroslav Satan (injured)

Pregame Notes

• Magnitogorsk assistant coach Tom Barrasso was fined for "abuse of the officials" in the previous game:  http://en.khl.ru/news/2013/1/6/24976.html
• Standings Update: Magnitogorsk sits in 3rd place in the West with 81 points.  Bratislava is 5th in the East with 59 points.
• KHL Scoring Race Update:  Mozyakin entered tonight's game with the lead (65), 3 points ahead of Malkin (52) and 15 points ahead of Alexander Radulov (50).
• Starting goalies: Jaroslav Janus for Chelyabinsk and Ari Ahonen for Magnitogorsk.
• Injury report remains the same: Cal O'Reilly, Oleg Tverdovsky, and Evgeny Biryukov out.
• Of course, with the NHL Lockout ending, this is likely the last game for Evgeni Malkin, Nikolai Kulemin, and Sergei Gonchar.  Ryan O'Reilly's situation remains to be seen as an NHL restricted free agent.

Recap

Paul Maurice *tear*

Though Evgeni Malkin found out the NHL Lockout was ending before this game started, he opted to play one more game for Magnitogorsk along with Sergei Gonchar and Nikolai Kulemin before their KHL journey ended.  Coming off of a 3 game stretch at home where Magnitogorsk had outscored opponents 16-0 in front of 3 consecutive Ari Ahonen shutouts, there was hope that the team could have one more dominant win together.  Unfortunately, for Magnitogorsk fans and the team, all good things must come to an end.

As the puck dropped and I began chanting "please don't get hurt", it was clear Magnitogorsk would get off to a sluggish start.  Within the first shift, both Malkin and Kulemin avoided traffic with the puck and it made you wonder how much effort they were actually going to put in.  The teams played a seemingly contact-free game for the first 5 minutes before Slovan defender Andrej Sekera (of the Buffalo Sabres) took a tripping penalty.  Metallurg dominated the offensive zone but had very few chances on the powerplay, which ended early as Kulemin took an interference penalty trying to retrieve a rebound.  Slovan capitalized on their powerplay as Viktor Antipin fell a step behind Milan Bartovic, who proceeded to tap a perfect pass from Libor Hudacek into the net.

A few minutes later, Yaroslav Khabarov put Slovan back on the powerplay when he covered the puck with his hands for a delay of game penalty.  Bratislava scored with the man advantage yet again on a wrist shot from the left side by Hudacek.  The period ended 2-0 in favor of Slovan and Malkin's finale looked like a dud early on.

He wasn't going out without a fight.

Magnitogorsk came out in the 2nd period with much more firepower and a completely different attitude than in the first.  They outshot Bratislava 15-6 in the period, though it took them until the final minute to finally score.  Jaroslav Janus made several spectacular saves before succumbing to an onslaught in the final minute of the period after Sekera was sent off for a cross-checking penalty.  With less than a minute left in the period and Magnitogorsk on the powerplay, Kulemin took a pass from Sergei Mozyakin down to the left faceoff dot by Janus.  As Kulemin drew the eyes of both defensemen, he slipped a pass into the slot to Malkin, who performed a half spin-o-rama away from the nearest defenseman and backhanded the puck past Janus to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The top line struck again just seconds later as Malkin won the faceoff, Kulemin skated the puck into the offensive zone and passed it across the ice to Mozyakin, and Mozyakin one-timed it into an almost empty net as Janus could not react quickly enough.   In a span of 12 seconds in the finale minute of the period, Magnitogorsk took a 2-0 deficit and turned it into a tie game in front of a stunned Slovan crowd.

It was a nice try, Antipin.

Bratislava came out hard in the 3rd period and Magnitogorsk gave them a couple more powerplay chances, which was one too many.  With Evgeni Malkin in the box for tripping (which he argued fervently), Slovan caught Ari Ahonen completely out of position and fired a shot past Viktor Antipin who attempted to play goalie temporarily.  Malkin was livid after the goal and put his focus into tying the game, which would happen  4 minutes later.  With the top line out on an extended shift, Malkin carried the puck along the offensive blue line as Mozyakin went deep into the zone.  Slovan defenders lost track of Mozyakin and Malkin fired a pass down to him at the crease where he easily beat Janus with a one-timer to tie the game at 3.  Both Malkin and Enver Lisin had breakaway chances to win the game in the final minute, but were stymied by some clutch saves.

Overtime came and went with barely any chances.  Slovan had the best shot but Ahonen fought it off with his blocker easily.  As Magnitogorsk carried their 0-9 overtime record to a shootout, the ending was rather clear.  Ryan O'Reilly missed on his first chance while Mario Bliznak scored for Slovan.  Both Evgeni Malkin and Jan Lipiansky were stopped in the second round.  Sergei Mozyakin came up with a shootout tying goal in the 3rd round and Ahonen stopped Michal Vondrka to keep the game alive.  However, Mozyakin was unable to score on his chance in the 4th round and Mario Bliznak scored his second of the shootout to win it for Slovan.  Make that 0-10 in overtime.

Final Score:  Slovan Bratislava 4  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (SO)

Box Score: http://text.khl.ru/en/35139.html

Magnitogorsk drops to 24-0-10-7 and Bratislava improves to 14-7-5-14.

Player Notes

The last of many Gonchar-Malkin-Mozyakin celebrations.

Evgeni Malkin

Malkin finished the game with 1 goal, 2 assists, 7 shots, 11 for 26 (42.3%) in faceoffs and 2 PIM in 23:21 of ice time.  After a slow start, his competitive fire erupted as he figured in to every Magnitogorsk goal of the day.  As usual, Sergei Mozyakin also figured into every goal, so Malkin finishes his KHL season still in 2nd place in scoring, behind Mozyakin.  I hate to see those two broken up, there was incredibly chemistry between them and it was really something special to watch.

Malkin's Final KHL Stats:  37 games, 23 goals, 42 assists, (65 points), +23, 58 PIM, 226 shots, 10.2% shooting, 492/899 faceoffs (54.7%), and averaging 22:26 TOI.
Goal breakdown was 12 even strength, 10 powerplay, 1 shorthanded

Nikolai Kulemin

Kulemin added 3 assists in this game and, as usual, was the perfect 3rd musketeer for the Malkin-Mozyakin combination.  He helped create space for both players, frequently chased down loose pucks, and kept defensemen honest.

Kulemin's Final KHL Stats:  36 games, 14 goals, 24 assists, (38 points), +25, 26 PIM, 98 shots, 14.3% shooting, 11/21 faceoffs (52.4%), and averaging 19:27 TOI.
Goal breakdown: 7 even strength, 7 powerplay

Sergei Gonchar

Gonchar went pointless in his final Magnitogorsk game, but also was not on for any of the PP goals against at least.  He played on the 2nd pairing as usual and made a quiet exit out of the KHL.

Gonchar's Final KHL Stats:  37 games, 3 goals, 26 assists, (29 points), +20, 40 PIM, 92 shots, 3.3% shooting, and averaging 21.39 TOI.
Goal breakdown: 2 even strength, 1 powerplay

Next Game:  1/8, 1pm EST @ Lev Praha

The rest of the Magnitogorsk schedule is here:  http://en.khl.ru/calendar/222/01/3995/.

Good luck to Metallurg Magnitogorsk and their fans!!  Thanks for everything!

Top Line Destroys Khabarovsk Behind Mozyakin's 4 Goals

The Matchup (from 12/30):

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(22-0-9-7)

vs

Amur

Khabarovsk

(9-3-1-25)

Stats

• Evgeni Malkin - 1 goal, 4 assists, 2 PIM, 7 shots, 18 for 29 (62.1%) in faceoffs in 20:43 of ice time
• Sergei Mozyakin - 4 goals, 1 assist, 10 shots in 19:05 of ice time
• Nikolai Kulemin - 4 assists, 1 shot in 19:13 of ice time
• Sergei Gonchar - 1 assist, 1 shot in 21:50 of ice time
• Ari Ahonen - 26 saves on 26 shots, 2nd consecutive shutout

Highlight Videos

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7  Amur Khabarovsk 0

Box Score: http://en.khl.ru/report/222/?idgame=35116

Magnitogorsk improves to 23-0-9-7 and Khabarovsk drops to 9-3-1-26.

Next Game:  1/4, 6am EST vs Traktor Chelyabinsk

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/.

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/.

Mozyakin from Malkin Isn't Enough for Magnitogorsk

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(21-0-9-6)

vs

Sibir

Novosibirsk

(13-5-4-13)

NHL/Former NHL Players You May Recognize

Petr Skudra (assistant coach)

Pregame Notes

A little electric guitar and a Malkin jersey for the anthem.

• Here's a little Magnitogorsk fun to start off the day (link courtesy of @MarkFrane)
• The full All Star teams have been announced.  Paul Maurice has been named one of the coaches for Team East, joining players Evgeni Malkin (starter), Sergei Gonchar (starter), and Sergei Mozyakin (2nd line) from Metallurg.
• Other (former) NHL players added: Aleksey Morozov and Victor Hedman to Team East.  Artem Anisimov, Mikhail Grabovski, and Nicklas Backstrom to Team West.
• Standings Update: Magnitogorsk sits in 3rd place in the West with 72 points.  Sibir is in 8th in the East with 53 points.
• KHL Scoring Race Update:  Mozyakin entered tonight's game with the lead (53), 4 points ahead of Malkin (49) and 9 points ahead of Alexander Radulov (44).
• Starting goalies: Sergei Gaiduchenko for Sibir and Ari Ahonen for Metallurg.
• Injury report remains the same: Cal O'Reilly, Oleg Tverdovsky, and Evgeny Biryukov out.

Recap

Might as well have been an empty net.

In what has become an alarming trend as of late for Metallurg, they fell behind early for the 3rd straight game.  Unfortunately, they would not be able to come from behind for a victory this time.  The teams played physical from the start and it led to the first big chance for Sibir as Georgi Misharin was sent to the penalty box for high sticking.  Sibir capitalized on the chance for a 1-0 lead when Viktor Drugov received a pass across the slot and quickly wristed a shot into the net before Ari Ahonen could slide into position.  Magnitogorsk tied the game shortly afterwards on their first powerplay when, let's all say it together: Sergei Mozyakin one-timed a pass from Evgeni Malkin.  It started with Sergei Gonchar at the point passing to Malkin on the right half boards.  Malkin then threaded a pass to Mozyakin on the other side of the ice and Gaiduchenko wasn't even close to getting in front of the one-timer.

Metallurg gained a significant amount of momentum off of Mozyakin's goal and the crowd continued to go wild as defenseman Sergei Bernatsky dropped the gloves with Arturs Kulda.  The air would be sucked out of the arena quickly though after Viktor Bobrov gave Novosibirsk a 2-1 lead.  Bobrov entered the Magnitogorsk zone 1 on 1 with a defenseman and fired a wrist shot from just inside the blue line.  Ahonen appeared to misread the puck and missed the save for a weak goal against.  Magnitogorsk fought back towards the end of the period, but couldn't find an equalizer before the horn sounded.

The second period started as dismally as everything has been starting for Magnitogorsk lately.  12 seconds into the period, Magnitogorsk lined up in the defensive zone for a faceoff.  Malkin was waived out and Nikolai Kulemin stepped in to lose the draw cleanly.  In a matter of three seconds, Jori Lehtera skated behind the net with the puck and fed Sibir captain Maxim Krivonozkhin in front.  His shot went unchallenged by any defenseman and he beat Ahonen for a 3-1 Sibir lead.

Luckily for Magnitogorsk, Ivan Velichkin was given a 4 minute double minor for high sticking just a minute later and Metallurg had a chance to get back into the game.  Though the first line was unsuccessful on the first powerplay, Dmitri Kazionov found a way to jam the puck in towards the end of the second powerplay to bring the score back to 3-2.  The teams spent the majority of the period trading chances back and forth with Metallurg getting quite a few more shots on net (19-8).  It finally paid off with three minutes left in the period when, together again: Sergei Mozyakin one-timed a pass from Evgeni Malkin.  This time, Malkin stood behind the net with the puck and waited patiently as Mozyakin steamrolled through the slot.  The pass and shot happened so fast that the slow motion camera angles even had issues picking it up on the stream.

Maurice was livid as he watched the game
slip away in the 3rd.

With a 3-3 tie after 2 periods, momentum favored Metallurg heavily and it looked like they were well on their way to yet another come from behind victory.  Krivonozkhin had other ideas though, as did Ari Ahonen apparently since he allowed a very weak short-side goal to the Sibir captain, who had taken a bad angle shot from the boards below the faceoff circle.  Magnitogorsk fought through the period trying to tie it up and had quite a few chances in front of the net but couldn't get a lucky bounce.  With less than 3 minutes left in the game, Sergei Bernatsky took a necessary but brutal hooking penalty in front of Ahonen to save a goal.  Jonas Enlund scored just 16 seconds into the Sibir powerplay, all but assuring Magnitogorsk of defeat.  Ahonen was pulled in favor of an extra attacker, but Gaiduchenko stood strong in net.

Final Score:  Sibir Novosibirsk 5  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3

Magnitogorsk drops to 21-0-9-7 and Novosibirsk improves to 14-5-4-13.

Player Notes

A pair that should never be broken up...
(hint hint, Ray Shero)

Evgeni Malkin - The chemistry between Sergei Mozyakin and Evgeni Malkin is something very special to watch.  The two have an enormous amount of trust in each other and read the play quite well together.  Malkin finished with 2 assists, 6 shots, and an astounding 19 for 24 (79.2%) in faceoffs in 25:23 of ice time.  He looked healthy and dominant again to put away any worries from last game.  Of course, continually feeding Mozyakin also means he didn't gain any ground in the scoring race.

Others (Metallurg) - Ari Ahonen had a dismal game compared to his usual stellar play, allowing 5 goals on just 28 shots.  Ryan O'Reilly had another strong game but failed to get on the scoresheet despite having 5 shots.  He is quickly developing chemistry with Kazionov.  Nikolai Kulemin also played well, recording an assist on Mozyakin's second goal and 6 shots.  Kulemin deserves a great deal of credit for preventing defenders from focusing solely on Malkin and Mozyakin on the top line.

Next Game:  12/28, 8am EST vs Metallurg Novokuznetsk

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/.

Magnitogorsk Finds Magic Late to Steal a Win

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(19-0-9-6)

@

Torpedo

Nizhny Novgorod

(13-1-5-14)

Players You May Recognize

Petr Schastlivy, Anton Volchenkov, Alexander Semin

Pregame Notes

• Evgeni Malkin misses Sidney Crosby
• With Cal O'Reilly and Oleg Tverdovsky already out with injuries, Magnitogorsk added Evgeny Biryukov to the injured list.  He left the previous game early after getting his face (cheek) smashed into the boards.
• With Biryukov out of the lineup, Sergei Gonchar received the 2nd "A" on his jersey, joining Sergei Mozyakin.
• Mozyakin has been named to the Team East All-Star team.  He was voted in by journalists for the 2nd line.  Other notable NHLers added were Andrei Markov, Alexander Radulov, and Evgenii Dadonov for Team West.  The full rosters will be unveiled on the 24th and fans can vote for team captains starting January 7th.
• Enver Lisin is still out of the lineup.  I still don't know why, but he's not on the injured list at least.

Recap

As Ari Ahonen fell out of the Top 5 for most goaltending stats over the past month, head coach Paul Maurice started using backup Georgi Gelashvili more frequently.  The move almost cost his team a win tonight against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod.  Gelashvili gave up 3 goals in the first 12 minutes of the game before getting pulled in favor of Ahonen.  The rest would be up to Magnitogorsk's offense.

Semin has been average in the KHL with 12 pts in 15 games

Both teams started at a slow, quiet pace before a scoring frenzy erupted in the first period.  3:09 into the game, Torpedo struck first as Maxim Potapov found Petr Schastlivy wide open in front of the net.  Schastlivy took his time and deked Gelashvili out of position before flipping a backhander over him for the 1-0 lead.  Just 28 seconds later, Metallurg tied the game when Nikolai Kulemin received a pass in the slot from Malkin and ripped a wrist shot past Torpedo goalie Vitaly Koval.  The frenzy wasn't over yet though as Mikhail Varnakov brought the puck into the Magnitogorsk zone with Alexander Semin on a 2 on 1.  Varnakov passed it across to Semin, who made it 2-1 Torpedo with a backhander.

The pace settled down considerably after Semin's goal and both teams kept their defensemen back to put an end to the odd man rushes.  It wasn't enough for Magnitogorsk though.  With Gelashvili flailing like a fish out of water, Radek Smolenak out-battled Sergei Gonchar in front of the net to chip a puck over the goalie's leg pads half way through the period.  This marked the end for Gelashvili as Ari Ahonen took over in net.  This also marked the end for Torpedo's offense.

The teams traded powerplay opportunities for the rest of the 1st period but the score remained 3-1.  After a dismal penalty killing effort in the previous game, Magnitogorsk changed their PK lines and added Ryan O'Reilly which worked nicely.

The second period was a display of more solid penalty killing for both teams, a goal for Magnitogorsk, and a fight for Evgeni Malkin.  Each team had 2 powerplays but neither managed much in the way of shots let alone a goal.  Roughly halfway through the period, Mats Zuccarello and Justin Hodgman entered the neutral zone 2 on 3 against Torpedo.  Zuccarello made a brilliant pass to open ice on the left side where only Hodgman could catch up to it.  As Hodgman sped up to get the puck, he also blew past the closest defender and cut across the crease to beat Koval and cut the deficit to 3-2.  Even the Russian announcers described it with "bravo" and "fantastic!"

Gorbunov was saved by the refs from angry Geno

Late in the period, Malkin stole the show with his fists instead of his skills.  Back behind the play, [the announcers said something about someone doing something to Gonchar], and Evgeni Malkin dropped the gloves with Vladimir Gorbunov.  Gorbunov, a 2000 draft pick of the New York Islanders, didn't get much of a chance to fight though as Malkin fell on him and the refs intervened very quickly.  Both players were given double minors for roughing.  The period ended shortly after with Ryan O'Reilly being pulled away from a shoving match by refs as tempers escalated.  Magnitogorsk outshot Torpedo 14-2 in the second period, but was definitely outhit by Torpedo, who seemed to be targeting O'Reilly especially.

Pure elation for Kulemin after scoring the go ahead goal.

Most of the third period flew by very quickly with few whistles and fewer chances.  Each team had an unsuccessful powerplay and it appeared that Torpedo would hold on for the victory with less than 3 minutes to go.  With just 2:22 remaining in the 3rd period, everything fell apart for Nizhny Novgorod though.  It started with a breakdown in the slot where Ryan O'Reilly was left with a huge opening to receive a pass from Alexei Bondarev and rip a wrist shot past Koval to tie the game.  Just over a minute later, Torpedo had a defensive breakdown in the exact same area of the slot and Nikolai Kulemin was left wide open to take a Sergei Mozyakin pass and fire an identical wrist shot past Koval to take the lead.

Nizhny Novgorod called timeout down 4-3 with 1:16 left in the game, but the damage was done.  Evgeni Malkin soon finished the game off with an empty netter assisted by O'Reilly, and Magnitogorsk stole a regulation win with 3 goals in the last 2:22.

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5  Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3

Magnitogorsk improves to 20-0-9-6 and Nizhny Novgorod drops to 13-1-5-15.

Player Notes

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin finished with 1 goal, 1 assist, 7 shots, 9 for 19 (47.4%) in faceoffs, and 4 PIM in 20:21 of ice time.  He looked superb skating through the offensive zone and made defenseman and Torpedo captain Dmitry Bykov look foolish multiple times.  His offensive production was more valuable than his stats show since Vitaly Koval played a solid game, especially in the second period.  While Geno has never been one to shy away from physical contact, he certainly sought it out tonight, culminating in his short fight.

O'Reilly's 1st KHL goal was a significant one.

Others (Metallurg) - Ryan O'Reilly was targeted heavily in the hitting game but broke free of it in the 3rd period for a goal and an assist.  I wonder if it was in the Torpedo game plan to "welcome" him to the KHL in such a manner and that bothers me if Crosby eventually joins the KHL.  Regardless, O'Reilly improved drastically in his 2nd KHL game and he won't be on the 3rd line for long at this rate.  Mats Zuccarello and Justin Hodgman continued to play very well together and clearly have a lot of chemistry.  Hodgman's goal in the 2nd period was a huge turning point for Magnitogorsk and Zuccarello's pass and vision was exceptional.

Others (Torpedo) - Anton Volchenkov had a quiet game, amassing 2 PIMs and no shots.  He was only on the ice for 16:24 which is far less than I expected to see.  Alexander Semin reminded me of just how great his hands and stick-handling ability are.  There is no questioning his skill but I don't believe the bigger ice surface is a big advantage for him.  Magnitogorsk defensemen were able to back off from him instead of getting flat out burned by tricky moves.  

Next Game:  12/23, 8am EST @ Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

Links:

A huge 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/.

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.

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.

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):

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.

Call It a Winning Streak! Magnitogorsk Wins 5-2!

Another missed game (though Magnitogorsk is 3-0 when I don't watch them)...next one is Friday, 11/2 at 9am vs. HC Vityaz Chekhov.  I'll be on my game and recapping that one fully!

Here's what we missed;

Metallurg Magnitogorsk  5   Severstal Cherepovets  2

Cal O'Reilly - 1a, 8 for 13 faceoffs, 17:19 TOI

Mats Zuccarello - 1a, 1 shot, 16:03 TOI, 2 PIM

Evgeni Malkin - 3a, 5 shots, 8 for 21 faceoffs, 20:11 TOI

Nikolai Kulemin - 1a, 3 shots, 0 for 1 faceoffs, 19:03 TOI
Sergei Gonchar - 1 shot, 20:55 TOI

Magnitogorsk Dominates in Consecutive 7-2 Wins

I apologize for the lack of updates, but I was out of town and well...the KHL is rather difficult to see without ideal circumstances!  Evgeni Malkin was named the Forward of the week in the KHL!

Here's what we missed:

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7   HC Spartak Moscow 2

Nikolai Kulemin - 1g, 3 shots, 0 for 2 faceoffs, 17:33 ice time

Evgeni Malkin - 1g, 1a, 7 shots, 2 PIM, 14 for 26 faceoffs, 20:52 ice time

Sergei Gonchar - 2a, 1 shot, 22:41 ice time

Mats Zuccarello - 1g, 1a, 3 shots, 2 PIM, 14:00 ice time

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7   HC Dinamo Minsk 2

Cal O'Reilly - 1a, 1 shot, 6 for 13 faceoffs, 15:37 ice time

Mats Zuccarello - 1g, 1a, 1 shot, 14:00 ice time

Sergei Gonchar - 1a, 3 shots, 19:32 ice time

Evgeni Malkin - 1a, 3 shots, 6 for 15 faceoffs, 10 PIM (apparently abuse of the officials misconduct), 16:35 ice time

Evander Kane (Minsk) - 1g, 6 shots, 2 PIM, 13:41 ice time

Joe Pavelski (Minsk) - 1 shot, 8 for 14 faceoffs, 16:39 ice time

Pekka Rinne (Minsk) - 22 saves on 29 shots

Ruslan Fedotenko...For The Win?!

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(10-0-4-3)

@

Donbass
Donetsk

(5-2-3-9)

Players You May Recognize

Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ruslan Fedotenko, Erik Ersberg, Oskar Bartulis, Anton Babchuk, Evgenii Dadonov

Recap

This game was the second of a three game stretch where Magnitogorsk visits the three worst teams in the Western Conference.  Unlike Monday's 5-2 win, this one did not go quite as planned.  Metallurg allowed four special teams goals (3 powerplay and 1 shorthanded) in a 4-3 loss in overtime.  They were lucky to even make it to overtime, relying on a late tying goal by Sergei Mozyakin with just 8 seconds left in the game.

Fedotenko almost falling on a faceoff against Malkin.

The first period started innocently enough as both teams skated up and down the ice with no big plays or key chances.  Magnitogorsk's Mikhail Yakubov was called for tripping 6 minutes into the period and the team killed the powerplay despite committing 3 turnovers (2 by Malkin) on the penalty kill.  Shortly thereafter, Magnitogorsk went on the powerplay thanks to a too many men penalty and quickly got on the scoreboard first.  On a broken play, Sergei Mozyakin poked a loose puck from behind the net into empty space in the slot area.  Evgeni Malkin rushed over from the right half-boards to pick up the puck, skated around a defender, and wristed a shot past Donetsk goaltender Erik Ersberg for a 1-0 lead.

After another successful penalty kill to end the first period, Magnitogorsk found themselves down a man yet again to start the second period due to a tripping penalty.  Donetsk tied the game on the powerplay as Alexei Ponikarovsky sent a backhand pass to Ruslan Fedotenko alone in front of the net.  Fedotenko took a quick wrist shot to beat Georgi Gelashvili on his glove side.

Metallurg had a chance to take the lead three minutes later on another powerplay, but instead gave up a 3 on 2 shorthanded break that led to a goal by Peter Podhradski, assisted by Ponikarovsky.  The team then gave up a shorthanded breakaway which was interrupted by a hook from defenseman Aleksey Bondarev.  Donbass took a penalty shot but was stopped by Gelashvili to keep the game at 2-1.  The score would not remain that way for long though as Fedotenko scored his 2nd goal of the night on the powerplay by capitalizing on a rebound while Yaroslav Khabarov sat in the penalty box.

As things began to look bleak for a Magnitogorsk team that seemed out of sync, Donetsk was called for interference and the momentum shifted.  Nikolai Kulemin scored from in front of the net on the powerplay (assisted by Malkin) to make it 3-2 just before the second period ended.

Platonov argued his case to no avail.

The first half of the third period was uneventful as Magnitogorsk still couldn't find a way to get much puck possession.  Their chances of a comeback plummeted with 8 minutes left in the 3rd period as captain Denis Platonov was given a 5 minute major and game misconduct for punching a player in the head during a scrum after the whistle.  With Metallurg on their heels, Donbass could not find a way to capitalize on the long powerplay and momentum shifted completely towards the away team for the final 3 minutes.  With the goalie pulled, Evgeni Malkin sent a pass that found its way to Sergei Mozyakin with 8 seconds left.  Mozyakin ripped it past Ersberg to tie the game to the disbelief of the Donbass crowd.

Stunned heading to OT.

The teams went to overtime and of course it was a penalty that finished it off.  Evgeny Biryukov was called for hooking with 2 minutes left in overtime leading to a 4 on 3 for Donetsk.  After a few passes, Ponikarovsky found a wide open Fedotenko on the backside of the crease and he one-timed the puck in for the hat trick and a win.  No hats were thrown.

Final Score:  Donbass Donetsk 4  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (OT)

Magnitogorsk drops to 10-0-5-3 and Donetsk improves to 5-3-3-9.

Player Notes

Evgeni Malkin - Geno's three point night was his 4th straight multi-point game and has moved him into a tie for 6th place in the KHL in points with Ilya Kovalchuk (20 points).  He is currently 4 points behind the leader, Alexander Radulov.  He is also 3 points behind Magnitogorsk's leader, Sergei Mozyakin.  Malkin continues to dominate on the powerplay, though the rest of his game was lacking today.  He was especially turnover prone in the defensive zone as the whole team looked a little off.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar had another quiet game though he made a slightly bigger impact on the powerplay, registering 3 shots.  His go-to from the point seems to be pass to Malkin for a one-timer, which is getting easier and easier to predict.  His defensive awareness has improved greatly as his production has dropped though as this was the 3rd straight game where he was back for odd man breaks when no one else was.

Others - Alexei Ponikarovsky had a 4 point night (all primary assists) and looked very comfortable on the first line with Ruslan Fedotenko.  He had only recorded 3 assists total in his preivous 13 games.  Meanwhile, Fedotenko had 3 goals, all on the powerplay, after recording only 1 in his first 13 games.  Both Fedotenko and Ponikarovsky both had their best games of the season by far against Magnitogorsk.

Next Game:  10/26, 11:30am EST @ Spartacus

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.