MOSCOW, December 3 (R-Sport) - Evgeni Malkin scored a goal and two assists Monday as his lockout team Metallurg Magnitogorsk thrashed lowly Spartak Moscow 7-4.
The emphatic win snaps a three-game losing streak for Metallurg, which stays fourth in the Eastern Conference but closes within three points of leader Traktor Chelyabinsk, while Spartak stays 13th in the West.
For Metallurg, Viktor Antipin Dmitry Kazionov and Sergei Mozyakin all scored two goals each, with Antipin and locked-out Washington Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar each grabbing two assists.
Spartak proved capable of shocking Metallurg when three goals in less than 90 seconds in the first period forced Metallurg coach Paul Maurice to replace goaltender Georgy Gelashvili.
Elsewhere, Traktor forged ahead at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 3-1 win at home to Dinamo Riga, which stays last in the West.
Konstantin Panov’s third-period goal for Traktor proved crucial, before ex-Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Deron Quint made it 3-1. Lockout signing Andrei Kostitsyn scored Traktor’s first goal and assisted Quint’s strike.
Martins Porejs scored for Riga, the lowest-scoring team in the league.
Donbass Donetsk piled more misery on bottom-placed Eastern team Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg with a 4-3 win.
Donbass is ninth in the West, as host team Avtomobilist’s record for the season slipped to 5-27.
A high-scoring game saw Dynamo Minsk beat Yugra Khanty-Mansiisk 7-5 on the road and rise to 10th place in the Western Conference.
Yugra is 10th in the East and became the second KHL team this season to concede 100 goals, earning the unwanted accolade in just 31 games.
