Lada to face Team Kazakhstan in President’s Cup final

Saturday’s play wrapped up the group stage of the pre-season tournament in Astana. Team Kazakhstan defeated Amur to book its place in Sunday’s final, where it will face Lada after the Motormen edged Barys in OT. Metallurg got a first win of pre-season after coming from behind to defeat Neftekhimik, while Avtomobilist leads the way at the Republic of Bashkortostan Cup in Ufa. There were warm-up wins for Sibir and Ak Bars in the other action.President of Kazakhstan CupTeam Kazakhstan 3 Amur Khabarovsk 1 (3-0, 0-1, 0-0)Saturday’s action in Astana brought the group stage to an end and set up the pairings for Sunday’s classification games. Team Kazakhstan, heavily beaten on day one, continued its recovery to reel off a second successive victory and book a place in the final. For Amur, a third loss means a third-place playoff awaits.The game was effectively done inside eight minutes. The Kazakhs powered to a 3-0 lead and left the Tigers with too much to do. Mikhail Rakhmanov and Andrei Buyalsky opened a 2-0 lead with a couple of quick goals. Then came the first penalty of the game, and a power play tally for Kirill Panyukov.It wasn’t really until the start of the second that Amur managed to get some extended possession. An early power play helped, and as the Tigers felt their way into the game Alexander Bryntsev pulled a goal back with the teams back to equal strength. However, that was the end of the scoring as Team Kazakhstan clinched a 3-1 win.Barys Astana 3 Lada Togliatti 4 OT (1-1, 1-0, 1-2, 0-1)Lada joins Team Kazakhstan in Sunday’s final after coming from behind to secure a third victory in three games. Barys produced a much-improved performance after a 0-5 loss last time out but could not hold onto a two-goal lead and paid the price.There were early problems for the home team when Damir Zhafyarov and Nikita Kamalov went to the box and left their colleagues two men short. However, once Zhafyarov got back on the ice, Barys went in front on a short-handed goal from Dinmukhamed Kaiyrzhan. However, as the penalties kept coming, Lada tied it up on a power play goal from Maxim Mineyev.The middle frame saw Kaiyrzhan’s second of the game restore the Barys lead. He would go on to turn provider in the third as Connor Smith potted his first since joining the Kazakh club. Before that, though, Evgeny Groshev had tied the scores at 2-2. Lada remained competitive, and tied it up for a third time in the closing stages, this time with Artyom Ivanyuzhenkov on target. That forced overtime, and Vladislav Chervonenko got the decisive goal for the Motormen.Republic of Bashkortostan CupSeverstal Cherepovets 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (1-1, 1-1, 1-2)Avto recorded its second win in three games in Ufa, handing Severstal a first loss in the process. This was an entertaining game that could have gone either way, but two goals at the start of the third period gave the Motormen the edge.Prior to that, Severstal led twice. Alexei Kruchinin, who scored the winner against Salavat Yulaev on the opening day, broke the deadlock here with a second-minute power play goal. The lead lasted until late in the first when Brooks Macek tied it up. In the second period, Severstal again led on Ivan Yershov’s marker but Avto replied with a power play effort from Danil Romantsev.The pattern changed in the third. In the 43rd minute, Vladislav Razdyakonov gave Avtomobilist the lead for the first time and a couple of minutes later Alexander Sevostyanov doubled the advantage on the power play. Danil Aimurzin pulled one back for Severstal to ensure a tense finale, but Evgeny Galkin prevented the Steelmen from saving the game.Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (1-0, 0-2, 0-0)Magnitka got its first pre-season win after a youthful line-up came from behind to defeat Neftekhimik. Neither team went with a full-strength roster; Andrei Razin put a focus on his young players, while Oleg Leontiev limited himself to playing with three lines.Initially, the Wolves had few problems despite being short benched. They opened the scoring midway through the first period thanks to German Tochilkin.The second period saw Metallurg turn the game around: Nikolai Mayorov tied it up on the power play then young defenseman Nikita Poltavchuk beat Yaroslav Ozolin to make it 2-1. The Steelmen’s prospects were clearly eager to show what they could offer and did their chances no harm with a battling display.In the final frame neither team could find a goal. Both goalies had some work to do, but in the end Metallurg held on to secure its first success in this tournament.Warm-up gamesSibir Novosibirsk 3 Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk 0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0)Under new head coach Vadim Yepanchintsev, Sibir is changing tactics. This year’s preparations are taking place entirely at home, save for a short trip to Omsk for the Blinov Cup next week. The first game saw Yepanchintsev take on Ugra, the VHL team he took to the playoff semi-finals last season.The roster brought more changes: five lines and three goalies selected for the first action of the summer. Only Taylor Beck and Georgy Belousov were rested on Saturday. Despite the absence of those two leading forwards, Sibir quickly opened the scoring. Defenseman Timur Akhiyarov joined the rush at the perfect moment to convert Alexei Yakovlev’s feed. After that, the host had to kill a couple of penalties, but Anton Krasotkin was seldom troubled by the Ugra offense. At the other end, Sibir’s first PP brought another goal when new signing Maxim Karpov set up Andy Andreoff on the slot.In the second period, that fifth line began to feature more. Vladimir Mikhalyov led a youthful group that created some dangerous moments. Midway through the game, a third goal, this time from Zhukov, saw Krasotkin go to the bench unbeaten and Denis Kostin came into the game.Kostin, too, kept Ugra at bay through the rest of the 60 minutes. Later, as agreed, the teams played a period of overtime and a shoot-out, which brought some consolation for the visitor.Ak Bars Kazan 6 Neftyanik Almetyevsk 4 (1-1, 3-2, 2-1)The second pre-season meeting between these teams brought a second win for Ak Bars. But this was no stroll for the KHL team in a 10-goal tussle in Kazan.As in the first game, Neftyanik opened the scoring. Ak Bars responded with goals either side of the first intermission: Mitchell Miller’s power play strike tying the game before young Kirill Krutov put his team up in the 22nd minute. Midway through the game, another prospect, Radel Zamaltdinov made it 3-1.However, Neftyanik stuck around. The visitor was never able to wipe out the two-goal deficit, but regularly cut into the lead. Maxim Korinevsky’s two goals helped to keep the game competitive, but Krutov also finished the game with two tallies. Late strikes from Artur Brovkin and Denis Komkov were enough to see a youthful Ak Bars team over the line.