KHL: Yakupov Scores Twice in Neftekhimik Win

© RIA Novosti . Maxim Bogodvid / Go to the mediabankNail Yakupov
Nail Yakupov  - Sputnik International
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Two goals from NHL No. 1 draft pick Nail Yakupov brought his lockout team Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk a 6-5 home win over Atlant Moscow Region on Saturday.

Two goals from NHL No. 1 draft pick Nail Yakupov brought his lockout team Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk a 6-5 home win over Atlant Moscow Region on Saturday.

Neftekhimik moved up a place to sixth in the Eastern Conference, while a seventh consecutive defeat leaves Atlant languishing in 10th in the West.

Atlant, without a coach since Janne Karlsson fired on Sunday, scored two early goals through ex-Columbus Blue Jackets wing Nikolay Zherdev and Dmitry Kosmachev, before Yakupov reduced the gap with a wrist shot on 15 minutes.

The Edmonton Oilers forward scored his second to equalize at 3-3 after Atlant’s center Igor Ignatushkin and Neftekhimik's Slovak forward Martin Cibak exchanged goals at the start of the second period.

Andrei Subbotin put the hosts in the lead for the first time in the match two minutes before the second break, before Atlant struck twice early in the third.

Neftekhimik forward Igor Polygalov sent the match into overtime, where Finnish wing Oskar Osala hit the top corner to finish off the goal extravaganza.

Yakupov is now Neftekhimik's top goalscorer with 8 goals in the last 9 matches.

Elsewhere in the West, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl took second place after a 2-0 victory against Severstal Cherepovets.

Lokomotiv lockout signing Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves for his first shutout since joining the KHL from the Colorado Avalanche last month.

The hosts opened the score on 34 minutes when Sergei Plotnikov was first to a rebound after a powerful shot by Alexei Kruchinin.

Left wing Alexander Chernikov doubled the lead early in the third period with a goal from a zero angle.

Severstal remains sixth in the West, with nine wins in 20 games.

 

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