Comfortable wins for Admiral, Avtomobilist. September 20 round-up

There were just two games on Friday. First Admiral enjoyed comfortable win at home to Dynamo. Then Avangard announced the signing of Ryan Spooner and showed why he is needed in Omsk after a 0-3 reverse at home to Avtomobilist.Sailors continue to enjoy life at homeAdmiral Vladivostok 4 Dynamo Moscow 1 (1-1, 1-0, 2-0)After his team thrashed Kunlun 7-1, Leonids Tambijevs had no reason to make big changes. He merely tinkered with the fourth line, where former Dynamo forward Ivan Muranov got a game against his old club.Dynamo head coach Alexei Kudashov reacted to a 1-3 loss against CSKA by making bigger changes. He shuffled each of his defensive pairings and swapped Nikita Gusev and Max Comtois’s roles in the line-up.Muranov picked up the first penalty of the game, but Eric O’Dell soon followed him into the box. During that spell of four-on-four action Comtois opened the scoring. However, Muranov returned to the ice before O’Dell and his team-mates capitalized on that brief power play when Georgy Solyannikov’s blast found the net.Admiral looked livelier in the first period and had another power play chance that straddled the first intermission. Dynamo killed that successfully, but almost immediately went back to the PK. This time, Admiral took advantage. Solyannikov turned provider and another ex-Dynamo man, Yegor Petukhov, found the net.The middle frame was dominated by frequent penalties, with the teams managing barely three minutes at equal strength. Dynamo had to kill a three-on-five situation, and a five-minute major as Admiral dominated but failed to add to its lead.Early in the third, with Dynamo again on the PK, Admiral took control of the scoreboard. Pavel Shen scored on the PP, then Stepan Starkov added a fourth with the teams at equal strength. Daniil Gutik finished the game with three assists. That proved to be the turning point; for all the Muscovites continued to battle, not even a five-on-three power play could offer a way back as Comtois and Anton Slepyshev both spurned presentable chances.Galkin highlights need for Ryan’s returnAvangard Omsk 0 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (0-1, 0-2, 0-0)Vladimir Galkin stopped 37 shots to frustrate Avangard. He recorded his second shut-out of the season to send the home team to a fourth successive loss.Ahead of Friday’s game, the Hawks had big news. Canadian forward Ryan Spooner, third in scoring on last year’s team, signed a one-year deal to come back to Omsk. With Reid Boucher still not fully fit and Vladimir Tkachyov facing a long lay-off, Spooner promises to add potency and experience to the Avangard offense.The visit of Avtomobilist came too soon for the new man to feature, but there was a feel-good factor that translated into a dominant start for the home team. Avangard had the better of the first period, outshooting the Motormen 13-6 and coming close to opening the scoring when a Darren Dietz shot hit the post.However, the need for a proven goalscorer was also evident. The home team could not break the deadlock and instead fell behind in the 15th minute to Maxim Osipov’s goal. The defenseman stepped up from the blue line to collect a pass from Stephane Da Costa and fire it past Pavel Khomchenko.That was the only score of the first period and in the second, the visitor took control. After one early chance that Ivan Igumnov fired wide, Avtomobilist stepped up its press to deprive Avangard of opportunities. At the other end, Brendan Leipsic doubled the lead with a well-placed wrister off another Da Costa feed. Then Danil Romantsev forced a turnover in center ice and sent Vladimir Kuznetsov through on goal to make it 3-0 in the 29th minute. That chased starting goalie Khomchenko from the game, with Ilya Proskuryakov taking over in the home net.A change of personnel seemed to help. Avangard got on the power play and dinged piping for a second time in the game. This time Cole Cassels was the unfortunate forward. Lifted by that near miss, the Hawks continued to press until the second intermission but could not find a way past Galkin.In the third period, Avtomobilist looked to stifle the game. The visitor allowed just seven shots on Galkin’s net – compared with 30 through the first two sessions. The better chances came at the other end, with Kuznetsov hitting the post, Leipsic seeing his rush beaten back by Proskuryakov and Kashtanov turning and firing a testing shot that the goalie did well to stop. In the closing minutes, a flare-up between Curtis Valk and Igor Martynov saw both players sit for roughing as the Motormen closed out the win.