Slovakian forward Tomas Zaborsky scored four goals as he led Avangard Omsk to a 5-2 home win at minnows Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk on Sunday.
Last year’s runner-up Avangard gained its seventh victory in the last eight games and rose to second in the Eastern Conference, while Yugra remains 10th.
Zaborsky, who moved to Russia this summer after becoming the top scorer of the Finnish league last season, has already notched up 20 points to lead Avangard on scoring.
The hosts took a 3-0 lead in the first period when Zaborsky scored two goals and then assisted left wing Alexander Popov, in his fifteenth season with the Siberian team.
Defensemen Rinat Ibragimov and Ivan Lekomtsev gave hope to the visitors with goals that cut the gap to 3-2.
In the third period, Zaborsky scored with a wrist shot before an empty-net goal in the dying seconds of the game.
Avangard reached its first Gagarin Cup final last year, but was stopped by eventual champion Dynamo Moscow in a 4-3 series defeat.
