Malkin Adjusting to KHL, Owns Russia

Before we get to Evgeni Malkin’s 2^nd game of the ’12-’13 KHL season, let’s all look at how suave he is!

Evgeni Malkin – Your 2012 Russian Sportsman of the Year

The Matchup:  

Metallurg Magnitogorsk

 (2-0-1-2, 7 pts) 

@ 

Ak Bars Kazan 

(5-0-1-1, 16 pts)

Players you may recognize:

Metallurg: Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Cal O’Reilly, Nikolai Kulemin, Oleg Tverdovsky, Alexander Pechurski

Ak Bars: Aleksey Morozov, Janne Pesonen, Niko Kapanen

After thinking the KHL was less dangerous in my first experience watching an overseas game on Thursday, I’ve taken a complete 180 turn.  Sticks were flying at head level and players were getting boarded just like it was an NHL game. 

Errr, coming up next, Sportscenter?

 Ak Bars scored the 1^st goal of the game midway through the first period.  A slapshot squirted behind Metallurg goalie Ari Ahonen and was sitting on the doorstep for Dmitry Obukhov to tap in for a 1-0 lead.  Shortly after this, Ak Bars’ forward Artem Lukoyanov took a 2 minute boarding penalty to put Magnitogorsk on the powerplay. 

Leaving the NHL last season = Greatest decsion ever

Head coach Paul Maurice had his powerplay adjust from the last game, using more of an umbrella format with Gonchar taking the middle of the blue line.  Malkin was positioned a little deeper than Gonchar in the zone on the right side, but not quite as deep as his usual side-boards position that you see with the Penguins.  The new setup was immediately successful as Gonchar fired a shot from the blue line, Malkin Kulemin chipped at the rebound, and Justin Hodgman (or Dzhastin Hodzhmen if you ask Google Translate) scored to tie the game at 1.

The second period was rather quiet (Google translate says “speed slept, went quiet game”).  The third period was far more tense as Metallurg had two powerplay opportunities and Ak Bars had one.  The 2^nd penalty of the period was taken by Malkin as he tripped a player behind the net.  He made up for it by drawing a penalty late in the period as he tried to split the defense driving to the net.  All three powerplays were unproductive though.

With the game on his stick...fail.

After a 5 minute, 4 on 4 overtime, the teams remained tied and went to a shootout.  Metallurg’s first shooter, Sergey Mozyakin, scored on a nice little deke to open up the 5 hole (think Chris Kunitz’s move).  Denis Abdullin came right back and tied it for Ak Bars on the next shot.  The second round began with Evgeni Malkin, who shot wide left and missed the net.  Aleksey Morozov then took his turn for Ak Bars and scored on a gorgeous backhander, top-shelf with Ahoren sprawled out (think Crosby on Theodore).  Metallurg’s chance to tie was on Cal O’Reilly’s stick.  He proceeded to shoot it directly into the goalie, and that was it.

Final Score:  Ak Bars Kazan 2  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (SO)

Evgeni Malkin

Geno looked much more comfortable as a physical presence in his 2^nd game of the season.  He started leaning his shoulder into players and was not afraid to get gritty in the corners when necessary.  He finished with 7 shots, 2 PIM, 9 for 16 in the faceoff circle, and an assist (the assist was later given to Kulemin instead) in 22:26 of ice time.  I have no doubt he will be scoring soon as his comfort level increases.  It is still fascinating to me that KHL players really do not shy away from him though – players do not back off from him at all.  Also of note, he did play a little bit on the penalty kill, but not as much as last game.

I'm gonna pretend Dan Potash is holding the mic.

Sergei Gonchar

Gonchar looked much more defensively responsible than he did last game, though he was also tested less.  The move to the umbrella powerplay also helped him out in terms of quarterbacking the top powerplay line.  His final stat line was 2 shots and an assist in 20:13 of ice time.

Misc. Notes

• Cal O’Reilly acts like a sniper (and might very well be) in the KHL.  He looked very comfortable flying down the left wing and just shooting the puck.  O’Reilly looked much more confident in this game than any of the small sample size of games he had with the Penguins.
• Aleksey Morozov was rather quiet throughout the game but came up big when it mattered in the shootout.  Maybe there’s just another team in the KHL that he treats like the Devils.
• Janne Pesonen was non-existent; I can’t remember a single play he made.
• I only noticed today that Alexander Pechurski is the backup for Magnitogorsk.  If you remember, Pechurski had a one game tryout contract with the Penguins on an emergency basis in Vancouver a few years ago.  He was not expected to play, but John Curry was so awful that he needed to go in.
• It appears that follow through high sticks (ie – a high stick after a shot) are not called in the KHL.  They occurred at least 3 times (Malkin committing one of them) and can be awfully dangerous.  That’s not something I want to see around the Penguins superstar.

Respect.

Next Game: 9/24, 11:30am EST

Metallurg Magnitogorsk (2-0-2-2, 8 pts) @ HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (3-3-1-1, 16 pts)

Links

Here is where I usually find a link to watch the game:  http://livetv.ru/allupcomingsports/2/

Links appear about 20 minutes before game time.

If you are interested in a Malkin KHL jersey, check out this site:  http://lutchusa.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=18&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=3

I cannot vouch for it since I haven't used it, but it's worth a look if you're searching for one.  You can customize it to Malkin's name in English or Russian.

PS - I'm going to adjust the formatting and color scheme this weekend, so sorry if this post and the next few look odd.  Thanks for reading!!