The new season of the Kontinental Hockey League has started. The first match of the regular championship (the 17th in a row) took place in Magnitogorsk.
The current champion, the local Metallurg, fought for the Opening Cup against Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, which it had beaten in the final series of the Gagarin Cup.
Belarusians also played for the champion: Vladislav Eremenko and Danila Palivko took to the ice.
The first goal of the new KHL season was scored into the opponent's goal by the "railwaymen" player Artur Kayumov. It happened in the 32nd minute of the match.
Ten minutes later, Nikita Kiryanov doubled Lokomotiv’s lead, and around the middle of the third period, Maxim Shalunov scored the third goal into the home team’s net.
The end of the match turned out to be quite heated. Magnitogorsk began to play catch-up.
At first, Dmitry Silantyev got one goal back – the pass was made to him by the Belarusian Eremenko.
Luke Johnson soon scored another goal, thereby reducing the deficit to a minimum.
However, the visitors did not allow themselves to be torpedoed for the third time. As a result, the Yaroslavl team won (3:2) and earned their first two points in the new KHL season.
Let us add that on September 5, Minsk Dynamo will start the tournament, hosting Khabarovsk Amur in the Belarusian capital.
