MOSCOW, November 25 (R-Sport) – SKA St. Petersburg fought back from two goals down to beat Vityaz Chekhov 4-3 at home and take first place in the KHL’s Western Conference on Sunday.
SKA leads second-placed Lokomotiv Yaroslavl by three points and is on a three-game winning streak, while Vityaz is 11th with five straight losses.
Vityaz was 2-0 ahead by the 40th minute after Anton Korolev and Alexander Korolyuk netted their efforts earlier on each other’s assists, but then goaltender Ivan Kasutin let four shots slip past him during a 10-minute stretch in the third period.
The last one to score for SKA was Tony Martensson, whose 52nd-minute goal was crucial, before Vityaz's Josh Hennessy made it 4-3 at 57:48.
Also on Sunday, Ak Bars Kazan beat Donbass Donetsk 6-4 at home to clinch second place in the Eastern Conference.
The two-time KHL champion leapfrogged Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Traktor Chelyabinsk, which both suffered defeats earlier on Sunday, and now is two points behind leader Avangard Omsk.
After an exchange of goals early in the first period, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin scored his second goal for Ak Bars at 17:27 to put the team 2-1 ahead.
Ak Bars was up 5-1 in the second period via goals by Dmitri Obukhov, Alexei Morozov and Kirill Petrov, but Donbass center Vaclav Nedorost pulled one back one minute before the second break.
Sergei Peretyagin shortened the gap with another goal for Donbass at 43:30, but former Pittsburgh Penguins wing Morozov replied later to make the score 6-3.
It proved enough for a win even though Ak Bars goaltender Konstantin Barulin inadvertently slid the puck into his own goal after Tuomas Kiiskinen’s shot with five minutes to play.
Donbass, which outshot Ak Bars 56-21, is ninth in the West with three consecutive defeats.
Elsewhere, this year's NHL No. 1 draft pick Nail Yakupov was on form with two assists as his lockout team Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk edged out Spartak Moscow 2-1 at home and Severstal Cherepovets beat visiting Dynamo Minsk 4-3 on penalty shots.
