Magnitogorsk Gets Back to Winning

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(14-0-6-4)

@

Barys
Astana

(10-0-5-9)

Players You May Recognize

Nik Antropov, Ryan McDonagh, Victor Hedman, Andrew Hutchinson, Nigel Dawes, Brandon Bochenski, Dustin Boyd

Recap

Looking back at Friday's game, Magnitogorsk lost 3-2 to Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk.  Malkin went pointless and angry, as did Sergei Gonchar who accumulated 14 PIM including a misconduct.  Here's the video recap from Friday's game (note Malkin slamming his stick and shouting at the ref in the end):

Now on to today's game.  Magnitogorsk traveled to Astana looking for their first win since the Euro Hockey Tour break.  Unfortunately, there was no live stream for this game, so here are the pertinent stats and another video recap:

Malkin - 2g (including 1 short handed), 1a, 8 shots, 20/28 faceoffs, 23:08 TOI, 2 PIM

Gonchar - no points, no shots, 20:52 TOI, 4 PIM, it also appears that Gonchar held on a breakaway late in the 3rd period but the Barys penalty shot was unsuccessful

Here's the text report of the game:  http://text.khl.ru/en/34691.html

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5   Barys Astana 3

Metallurg improves to 15-0-6-4 and Barys drops to 10-0-5-10.

Next Game:  11/21, 8am EST @ Avangard Omsk

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.

KHL Resumes Play With a Magnitogorsk OT Loss

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(14-0-5-3)

vs

Avangard
Omsk

(10-6-2-6)

Players You May Recognize

Karri Ramo, Sergei Kostitsyn, Nikita Nikitin, Alexander Frolov, Alexander Perezhogin

Recap

What is that goat doing to Geno?

After 11 days off and an encounter with goats, it was finally time for Evgeni Malkin and Metallurg Magnitogorsk to get back to competitive play in the KHL.  Their first game after the break was a big one against the Chernyshev Division leaders, Avangard Omsk.  Ari Ahonen started in net for Magnitogorsk against Karri Ramo for Omsk.

After a ceremonial faceoff between Malkin and Omsk captain Alexander Frolov, play began at a tense yet sloppy pace.  Magnitogorsk had stronger breakouts, Omsk had better sustained pressure, but neither team put a quality shot on net through the first half of the period.  With less than 6 minutes left in the first, Omsk defenseman Dmitri Semin was called for a hooking penalty.  Metallurg's lethal powerplay took the ice and a 1-0 lead when Sergei Mozyakin capitalized on a turnover and blasted a slapshot past Ramo.  It was Mozyakin's league leading 14th goal of the season, his 7th on the powerplay.

This is generally frowned upon by coaches.

The first period ended 1-0 and the second started with more back and forth play that failed to produce quality chances.  Omsk then unexpectedly tied the game on what looked like a harmless wrist shot from the right circle by Alexander Popov that beat Ahonen high on his blocker side.  As Avangard gained momentum, Magnitogorsk fell apart in their discipline.  Evgeni Malkin was called for hooking and Mikhail Yakubov was then called for cross-checking 20 seconds into the penalty kill, resulting in a 5 on 3 for Avangard.  Sergei Kostitsyn gave Omsk a 2-1 lead during the 5 on 3 powerplay with a quick poke at a puck that was loose just outside of the crease.

Not sure what Ahonen thought he was going to save,
but Geno took care of it anyways.

Magnitogorsk killed the remaining 5 on 4 time, but struggled to gain any traction in the offensive zone for the rest of the period.  Alexander Frolov almost gave Omsk a 3-1 lead late in the period but was thwarted by a magnificent block from a diving Evgeni Malkin.  Avangard started the 3rd period with a 2-1 lead and both teams had fantastic chances within the first 5 minutes.  Malkin took another penalty, this time for high sticking, but this one was killed.

Halfway through the 3rd period, confusion spread as a pile of bodies and the puck all collided in Karri Ramo's crease.  Mats Zuccarello was the only person to react as if the puck went in and a lengthy review ensued.  Though we were never shown a definitive camera angle that had the puck crossing the red line, the result was called a goal and credited to Dmitri Kazionov.  Play continued at a solid pace and neither team found a winner in regulation.

In five previous overtime games, Magnitogorsk had yet to find a winning tally.  Their failed efforts continued in this game as Karri Ramo made some beautiful saves on Sergei Mozyakin and Justin Hodgman in the extra period.  Moments after Ramo played savior for Avangard, Nikita Nikitin, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Kirill Lyamin executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play that ended with a Lyamin slapshot in the back of the net.  Game over.

Final Score:  Avangard Omsk 3  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (OT)

Metallurg drops to 14-0-6-3 and Avangard improves to 10-7-2-6.

Player Notes

Geno was swarmed at his hotel before the game.

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin was a force at both sides of the ice, registering 7 shots and playing some great defense including his massively important blocked shot.  At times he was an uncontrollable force though, taking 2 unnecessary penalties and also getting into multiple arguments with the refs.  He went 14 for 28 in the faceoff circle and finished with 22:54 of ice time, accumulating no points.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar had a very slow start to the game and seemed a little clutchy/grabby in the first 2 periods despite having no penalties called on him.  He played a much stronger third period and broke up two odd man breaks for Avangard late in the game.  He finished with 23:05 of ice time and 2 shots.

Omsk captain Alexander Frolov

Other Players - Sergei Kostitsyn had a goal and an assist for Avangard and looked very in sync with Alexander Frolov as his center.  The pair combined for a few very nice passing plays and one-timers, though Frolov appeared to be snake-bitten with his shot.  Nikita Nikitin finished with 2 assists and played extremely well in the defensive zone as he was often given the task of handling the Malkin line.  

Next Game:  11/16, 8am EST @ Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk

Note: Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended in the US, game times are 9 hours off of Moscow time.

**I'm going to miss this game but I will post the video recaps from the KHL later in the day.**

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 Enters the Break on a Winning Streak

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(13-0-5-3)

vs

HC Vityaz
Chekhov

(4-6-5-8)

Players You May Recognize

Alexei Zhamnov (General Manager), Trevor Gillies, Alexander Korolyuk, Daniil Markov, Andrei Markov (injured)

Recap

In their last game before the Euro Hockey Tour (thanks @stapler_87 for the heads up on that), Magnitogorsk hosted perennial bottom feeder HC Vityaz Chekhov.  Since the NHL players do not participate in the Euro Hockey Tour, this was our last chance to watch Malkin, Gonchar, Kulemin, etc. for a couple of weeks.  After a slow start, they put together a winning effort to head into the fall break of KHL hockey on a 4 game winning streak.

Maurice wasn't the only one throwing around F bombs.

Georgi Gelashvili started in net for Magnitogorsk but was not tested often.  He only faced 4 shots in a quiet first period for both teams and would only face 13 shots overall.  Metallurg dominated puck possession and managed 15 shots on net in the first, but most were from the perimeter and none were especially challenging.  The second period continued along in a similar manner until the halfway point.  A less talented Vityaz Chekhov team started to put pressure on Magnitogorsk, which resulted in a timeout for Paul Maurice's team and a pep talk filled with F bombs.

Despite the inspiring/angry timeout, the visitors struck first as Anton Korolev scored off of an offensive zone faceoff win with just over 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd period.  The lead would last less than a minute though when Mats Zuccarello found Dmitry Kazionov on a pass from blue line to blue line.  Kazionov faked an attempt to split the defense and then threw a quick backhander on net that snuck past Chekhov goalie Ivan Kasutin.

Tied 1-1 after 2 periods, I imagine that Maurice's intermission speech was filled with more F bombs and Magnitogorsk came out flying in the 3rd period.  Metallurg started on the powerplay after Malkin drew a tripping penalty and it took just 38 seconds for them to take the lead.  Viktor Antipin scored the game winner, assisted by Sergei Mozyakin and Sergei Gonchar.  Four minutes later, Evgeni Malkin made it 3-1 as he one-timed a cross-crease pass from Mozyakin.  Magnitogorsk dominated the rest of the 3rd period, adding one more insurance goal by Mozyakin and outshooting Chekhov 8 to 1 in the period.  

Final Score:  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4  HC Vityaz Chekhov  1

Magnitogorsk improves to 14-0-5-3 and Chekhov drops to 4-6-5-9.

Player Notes

Malkin is poised to take over the scoring race
when the KHL returns from break.

Evgeni Malkin - Malkin finished with a goal on 4 shots, a dismal 6 for 19 in faceoffs, and 2 PIM in 21:30 of ice time.  He drew two tripping penalties, including the one that allowed Magnitogorsk to take the lead permanently.  It was generally a quiet game for Geno, but it that pretty much can be said for every player on both teams.  Malkin enters the break with 28 points in 20 games, good for 3rd in the KHL in points behind Mozyakin and Alexander Radulov.

Sergei Gonchar - Gonchar had 5 shots and 2 assists in 22:40 of ice time.  He didn't face any challenges defensively and did a wonderful job of keeping the puck in the zone when Magnitogorsk had their offensive pushes.  He heads into the break with 13 points in 18 games, which leads Magnitogorsk defensemen by 6 points.

Next Game:  11/14, 8am EST @ Avangard Omsk

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.