Florida Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov notched one assist in two KHL games this past weekend as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl posted a 4-1 win over Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg on Friday and then dropped a 5-1 decision to Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Sunnday. Both games were played in Yaroslavl at Arena 2000.
In Friday’s game versus Avtomobilist, Kulikov collected his third assist and sixth point of the season, logged 20:11 of ice time, had three shots on goal, was called for interference in the third period and finished with a +1 rating. He was again teamed with veteran Alexander Guskov on the second pairing.
Stanislav Zhmakin beat Lokomotiv’s Semyon Varlamov to stake Avtomobilist to a 1-0 lead at the 15:40 mark of the first period. The goal came with Yekaterinburg on the power play.
Columbus Blue Jackets center Artem Anisimov tied the game with an unassisted goal two minutes later. The goal was Anisimov’s eleventh of the season.
Maxim Trunyov got the eventual game-winner midway through the second period. Daniil Apalkov picked up the only assist on the goal.
In the third period, Kulikov got the primary assist on an even strength goal from Sergei Plotkinov. Emil Galimov picked up the secondary helper.
Dmitry Maltsev completed the scoring with his second goal of the season. Trunyov got one of the assists for his second point of the game. The other assist went to Yegor Yakovlev.
Varlamov made 24 saves to post the win for Lokomotiv. Chris Holt made 25 saves while taking the loss for Avtomobilist.
In the Sunday tilt against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Kulikov logged 17:50 of ice time, had one shot on goal, was called for roughing in the third period and finished with a -2 rating. He was paired with Mikhail Pashnin for the first time this season.
Sergei Plotkinov opened the scoring off a feed from Staffan Kronwall to give Lokomotiv the lead just twenty-one seconds into the first period.
Mats Zuccarello would score later in the first period to tie the game and then scored again in the second period to make it 4-1 for the visitors. Zuccarello added an assist to finish with three points.
Denis Platonov, Ryan O’Reilly and Sergei Bernatsky netted the other goals for Metallurg. Pittsburgh Penguins star Evengi Malkin picked up one assist.
Curtis Sanford took the loss for Lokomotiv and was pulled after giving up the fifth goal. Ari Ahonen posted the win for Metallurg.