Astana's Barys have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in the Kontinental Hockey League regular season, and both came at home at Barys Arena. In a little over 30 hours, the Kazakh club fell 3-6 to Neftekhimik of Nizhnekamsk and then 2-5 to SKA of St. Petersburg, infohub.kz reports.
The grim script of Sunday's game was set by a goal from St. Petersburg's Zakhar Bardakov just 56 seconds in. As noted, when the Astana side concedes first this season, it invariably loses.
KONTINENTAL HOCKEY LEAGUE 2026/27
September 27
🏒 BARYS (Astana, Kazakhstan) – SKA (St. Petersburg, Russia) 3:5 (0:3, 2:2, 1:0)
Goals: Bardakov (Atanasov, Mironov) 00:56 (0:1), Plotnikov (Bardakov) 06:22 (0:2), Plotnikov (Goldobin, Wilson) 15:38 (0:3), Logvin (Britikov) 21:54 (1:3), Glotov (Korotky, Mironov) 30:22-PP (1:4), Glotov (Romanov) 31:56-SH (1:5), Logvin (Day, Kairzhan) 33:34 (2:5), Simonov (Priske, Lyapunov) 51:25 (3:5)
Mikhail Kravets' team went into the first intermission staring at a dismal 0:3 on the scoreboard. The second period did nothing to change the balance of power – 2:5.
In the third period, Semyon Simonov scored a third goal past Artyom Pleshkov, but that was all. Barys' late push fell short – 3:5.
The Kazakhs had already faced Igor Larionov's charges this season. At the August Nikolai Puchkov Memorial, the game went to a shootout. This time, Barys could not even force overtime.
The KHL regular season, which began on September 5, runs until March 20, 2027. Each of the 22 teams will play 68 games. At the end of the regular season, eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.
After losing two games in two days at Barys Arena, the Kazakhs head out on a road trip through Kazan, Nizhnekamsk and Moscow.