Two games, two shoot-outs. October 2 round-up

Wednesday brought two KHL games, and both went to shootouts. Amur snatched a tying goal with less than three seconds left at Ak Bars, before the home team claimed a shoot-out verdict. There was also drama in Nizhnekamsk, where Lada recovered from 0-2 in the third period to take Neftekhimik to a shoot-out. Last week, on home ice, the Motormen took a shoot-out verdict against the Wolves but today Neftekhimik avenged that result.Last-gasp goal cannot save AmurAk Bars Kazan 3 Amur Khabarovsk 2 (0-1, 0-0, 2-1, 0-0, 1-0)There was late drama in Kazan when Amur tied the game with less than three seconds on the clock. However, Ak Bars managed to win it in a shoot-out and draw level with Avtomobilist on 16 points at the top of the Eastern Conference.Ak Bars came into Wednesday’s game looking to draw level with Avtomobilist at the top of the Eastern Conference. Victory in regulation would be enough for the home team to claim leadership for itself, albeit by the narrowest of margins. Amur, meanwhile, was looking to end a run of 10 losses in Kazan dating back to Nov. 2013 and a 2-1 victory.Recent form offered little to suggest that Amur could improve that record today. Ak Bars was on a six-game hot streak and began the game with all the confidence you’d expect. However, there was no early breakthrough and the Tigers grew in assurance. Gradually the visitor started asking questions of Amir Miftakhov and that led to the opening goal in the 15th minute. Captain Evgeny Grachyov forced a turnover on the Ak Bars blue line and drove forward before firing home an angled shot from the circle. By the end of the first, Amur even had a lead on the shot count to go with its lead in the game.The second period was also evenly contested. As expected, Ak Bars stepped up its control of possession but Amur always posed a threat on the counter. It took some smart work from Miftakhov and his opposite number Igor Bobkov to ensure the score was unchanged through 40 minutes.In the end, Ak Bars’ pressure paid off in the 47th minute. Mitchell Miller intercepted Arnaud Durandeau’s pass and set off a counterattack for the home team. Kirill Semyonov took on the play, heading down the boards and shaping to shoot. Instead, though, he spotted Semyon Terekhov arriving in the middle of the zone and set him up for the tying goal.Then came drama. Ak Bars pushed for a winner and seemed to have done the job when Dmitrij Jaskin made it 2-1 in the 58th minute. The home power play had struggled for much of the game, but finally got a goal when Nikita Lyamkin’s point shot deflected off the Czech international and found the net.However, the home team could not close out the game. A penalty on Ilya Safonov gave Amur a power play and, with 2.5 seconds left of the clock, Alex Galchenyuk saved the Tigers when he forced home a rebound from close range.The extras went by in a single breath; no break in play for five minutes, but also no winning goal. It took a shoot-out to separate the teams, with Jaskin proving to be the only player to find the net. Ak Bars took the verdict; Amur’s wait for a win in Kazan goes on.Shoot-out verdict snaps six-game skidNeftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 Lada Togliatti 2 SO (1-0, 1-0, 0-2, 0-0, 1-0)The Wolves began this four-game home stand looking to end a six-game skid. However, Oleg Leontyev’s team had not suffered too many heavy losses in that time and the last two games were tied through regulation. That includes a 5-4 shoot-out loss in Togliatti late last month. However, for a team that set the early pace in the east, the winless run remained a concern. Lada, meanwhile, was on a similar run of tight games. The Motormen’s last seven had all been one-goal verdicts (two wins, five losses). Oleg Bratash’s team was hoping to move closer to the top eight with success in Nizhnekamsk.In a fairly even first period, the home team got the only goal in the 13th minute. Andrei Belozyorov dumped the puck down the left-hand boards and Vyacheslav Leshchenko chased it down before cutting inside to fire past Vladislav Podyapolsky.The second period brought a fight between Lada’s Maxim Berezin and home defenseman Luka Profaca. That put Neftekhimik on the power play, and Evgeny Mityakin needed just seven seconds to extend the lead. However, for much of the middle frame Lada had more of the play and home goalie Filipp Dolganov had to be alert to keep his goal intact.Since these teams had played a lot of tight games recently, it was little surprise that Lada found a way back into this one. The visitor halved the deficit at the start of the final frame. Nikita Popugayev potted his fourth goal of the season – he now leads the team in goals and is tied for the overall scoring lead with six points.That ushered in a spell of Lada dominance and, in the 57th minute, the visitor tied the game at 2-2. Berezin was the scorer and, just as in last month’s game in Togliatti, the teams were heading to overtime and, eventually, another shoot-out. As in Kazan, the visitor was unable to convert any of its attempts. At the other end, Nikita Khoruzhev and Yegor Korbit gave Neftekhimik the win.