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.

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.