Alexander Semin of the Carolina Hurricanes scored his first goal as a KHL lockout signing Friday as his team Torpedo Nizhny Novogorod beat SKA St. Petersburg 4-2.
Torpedo’s 11th win in 19 games sees Semin’s team rise to fifth in the Western Conference, with SKA staying third.
"The match was interesting for the fans, but not for us," SKA coach Milos Riha said in comments on the Torpedo website.
"Torpedo's first two goals broke us."
SKA had seemed to be on course for its 14th win in 19 games when the locked-out Ilya Kovalchuk scored his eighth goal for SKA in a four-on-four situation after nine minutes.
St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko made the score 2-0 to the visitors eight minutes later, with Kovalchuk and ex-Los Angeles Kings player Kevin Dallman claiming assists.
Torpedo wing Dmitry Makarov reduced the deficit late in the second period before the hosts surged into the lead in the third.
Makarov’s second goal of the game came on a power-play in the first minute of the period, before Mikhail Varnakov put Torpedo into the lead for the first time at 3-2 seven minutes later.
Semin thwarted SKA’s hopes of a comeback when he scored off Mikko Kousa’s assist on 57 minutes to make it a two-goal game.
The ex-Washington Capitals forward now has three points in three KHL games.
