MOSCOW, September 9 (R-Sport) – Ex-NHL forward Nigel Dawes enjoyed a four-point game as his Barys Astana team recorded a 10-1 pounding of Severstal Cherepovets in its opening game of the Russian KHL season.
Barys' North American forward line played a leading part in Sunday’s goal extravaganza as Dawes and Brandon Bochenski both made a double, while former Calgary Flames center Dustin Boyd added another goal.
“A lot of players showed great performance today,” Barys coach Ari-Pekka Selin said. “But we should forget about this victory and concentrate on the next game on Tuesday [against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl].”
Reigning champion and current leader Dynamo Moscow won its third game in a row, beating Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 4-0, as Dynamo's goaltender Alexander Yeryomenko registering his first shutout of the season with 31 saves.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov scored a goal for the third game in a row, while Denis Mosalyov’s finished with a double and Marek Kvapil also hit the target.
Dynamo’s victory was overshadowed by a serious injury to center Sergei Soin, who broke his collarbone in the third period and will be out of action for at least a month.
In the Eastern Conference, two former champions clashed as Ak Bars Kazan needed a shootout to beat Salavat Yulaev Ufa 4-3, with ex-Winnipeg Jets center Alex Burmistrov scoring the winning penalty shot.
In Yekaterinburg, goals from six different players brought SKA St. Petersburg a 6-4 away win over local team Avtomobilist, but Ilya Kovalchuk earned no points in his second game since quitting the NHL.
“Ilya has yet to come to his top shape and hasn’t found good understanding with the teammates,” SKA coach Jukka Jalonen said. “The KHL is too strong for even the best players, like Kovalchuk or [Sidney] Crosby, to do everything they want on the ice.”
New team Medvescak Zagreb started the season brightly Friday when they demolished CSKA Moscow 7-1, but failed to produce another such performance, suffering a 5-1 home defeat to Dinamo Riga. CSKA recovered from Friday's setback as an overtime goal by Georgy Misharin gave them a 2-1 road victory over Dynamo Minsk.
Elsewhere, two goals from veteran Alexander Korolyuk were not enough for Vityaz Podolsk to overcome resistance of Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Despite conceding three goals in the first 12 minutes of the game, Metallurg stormed back to a 5-4 win.
Spartak Moscow remains the only team without a single goal conceded, as they delivered a 5-0 defeat to Slovan Bratislava thanks to two goals from Matt Anderson and 23 saves by Jeff Glass in his second shutout.
In other games, Donbass Donetsk grabbed a 3-2 overtime win over Lev Prague, Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk defeated Atlant Moscow Region 4-1, Avangard Omsk dispatched Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 5-2, while last season’s Gagarin Cup finalist Traktor Chelyabinsk earned its first victory, beating Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4-3 on the road.
