SKA, Ak Bars get first wins. September 7 round-up

Today saw Russian hockey mark the somber anniversary of the Yaroslavl air disaster on Sep. 7, 2011. On that day, the plane taking Lokomotiv’s team to Dinamo Minsk crashed after take-off, killing all players and team staff on board. Against that solemn background, four games took place and each of them saw a team secure its first win of the season. SKA’s success at Lada and Ak Bars’ come-from-behind win at Torpedo were the headline grabbers, but Sochi also enjoyed a notable victory in a shoot-out at Spartak and Pavel Desyatkov claimed his first scalp as a KHL head coach when his Vityaz team blanked Amur.Gritsyuk goal lifts SKA past LadaLada Togliatti 1 SKA St. Petersburg 3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1)Both teams startd their seasons with losses against last year’s finalists: SKA fell in OT in Magnitogorsk while Lada went down 0-3 at home to Lokomotiv. During SKA’s game against Metallurg, Roman Rotenberg made several changes to the line-up in the third period. However, the only permanent alteration was giving Artemy Pleshkov the start in goal ahead of Nikita Serebryakov, who was pulled early in the second period.Lada’s Oleg Bratash made bigger changes. Nikita Popugayev was elevated to the first line, Gleb Semyonov, Evgeny Groshev and Vladislav Chervonenko came into the team and Evgeny Kalabushkin, Danila Moiseyev and Alexei Ozhgikhin made way.SKA could hardly have asked for a better start to the game: almost immediately the visitor had two power plays. However, that did not lead to a goal and when Evgeny Kuznetsov went to the box the teams were playing four-on-four. That was the situation when Mikhail Vorobyov opened the scoring.Vorobyov’s marker was only goal of the first period and the home team made a good start to the second. Lada controlled the puck well and created chances. Chervonenko had a decent looks, as did Andrei Altybarmakyan. At the other end, Vorobyov had a good chance for a second goal snuffed out by Vladislav Podyapolsky. The incident helped SKA to move play away from its net and it wasn’t long before Arseny Gritsyuk made it 2-0 when he converted the rebound from Zakhar Bardakov’s effort.Lada had now completed five periods without a goal this season and the Motormen tried to step up a gear in the final frame. Arkhip Nekolenko got into a good position before SKA began to hit penalty trouble. The second home power play of the session finally saw Lada on the scoreboard: Anthony Greco claimed his first KHL goal, albeit with the help of a deflection as he drilled the puck towards the back door. That goal came during six-on-four play, but further attempts to play with an empty net enabled Marat Khairullin to add a third goal and send the points to Petersburg.Ak Bars rallies from 0-2 to claim first winTorpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 Ak Bars Kazan 3 SO (1-0, 1-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)There was plenty of intrigue around this early-season encounter. Not only were both teams looking to recover from losing their openers, Torpedo also included former Ak Bars men Evgeny Svechnikov and Dmitry Kagarlitsky on the roster. Svechnikov potted his first goal for his new club, but his former colleagues had the last laugh in a shoot-out win.At the end of 60 minutes, Saturday’s opponents at least had their first point of the season. However, Torpedo had cause for frustration after a blowing a 2-0 lead. Ak Bars, meanwhile, may have felt its control in the second and third periods deserved a win in regulation.Torpedo made a bright start, dominating the first period. The home team got its reward in the 13th minute when Maxim Letunov sent away on the counter Vasily Atanasov. He broke down the wing and fired past Amir Miftakhov from the circle. That was only goal of the first period, but the second began with another for Torpedo. This time, it came from Svechnikov. The 27-year-old began his career with Ak Bars and returned to Kazan last season after a spell in North America. However, in the summer he joined Igor Larionov’s men and picked the perfect game to open his account for his new club.However, the game changed after that. Ak Bars roused itself and began to dominate the play. The middle frame saw the visitor on top, with more than double the shots and attacking possession. Eventually, that led to a breakthrough when Artyom Galimov got away from Bogdan Konyushkov and put his shot in the top corner.Torpedo had a good chance to steady things with a penalty at the start of the third period. However, the power play offered little and once back to full strength Ak Bars tied the game. Nic Petan, a summer signing, added to his three points on debut with another assist as Dmitrij Jaskin made it 2-2 on 42:30. The visitor continued to dominate, and by the end of the 60 minutes, Ivan Bocharov had 40 saves for Torpedo as the action went into overtime.Bocharov continued to impress in the extras, stopping five more efforts to set up a shoot-out. However, Ilya Safonov found the answer to the Torpedo goalie and converted two attempts to give Ak Bars the win.Desyatkov gets first win, Amur awaits first goalVityaz Moscow Region 2 Amur Khabarovsk 0 (0-0, 1-0, 1-0)Defeated by Admiral on the opening day, Vityaz responded with victory over another Far East opponent, Amur. The Tigers, meanwhile, continued a goal-shy start to the campaign, following a 0-3 reverse in Minsk with a 0-2 loss at Balashikha.The first period was not just goalless but almost shot free. The teams managed to test goaltenders Maxim Dorozhko and Igor Bobkov just seven times in a cautious opening.The breakthrough came midway through the action, with Dmitry Buchelnikov assisting on Derek Barach’s power play goal. Amur had more of the play, but could not find a response.In the closing stages, with the Tigers still unable to get their claws into the Vityaz defense, Andrei Martemyanov called a time-out and played the last 49 seconds without a goalie. However, Vityaz took advantage and Yegor Morozov’s empty-net goal completed a first ever victory for Pavel Desyatkov as a head coach in the KHL.Sochi edges Spartak in a shoot-outSpartak Moscow 1 HC Sochi 2 SO (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)Sochi grabbed its first win of the season against a Spartak team that failed to build on an opening success against CSKA. The Red-and-Whites went into this game without Nikolai Goldobin. His place on the first line went to summer signing Will Bitten. In Goldobin’s absence, Spartak’s usually productive offense struggled: kept at bay until the 60th minute and then defeated in the shoot-out.Sochi’s youthful roster had the better of the first period, outshooting Spartak 15-7. That count was enhanced by some solid defense, with the visitor blocking five shots and working hard to keep the home dangermen at arm’s length.And hard work brings results: level at the intermission, the Leopards made the breakthrough after 32 minutes when captain Kirill Rasskazov scored off an Alexei Vasilkov assist. By that time, though, Spartak was beginning to ask more and more questions of young Sergei Ivanov in the visitor’s net. He stopped 16 shots in the middle frame and 11 more in the third before a last-minute goal from Ivan Morozov handed Spartak a reprieve