Salavat Yulaev edges Sochi, Rempal enters KHL history

Salavat Yulaev returned from a short break and defeated Sochi with a score of 2:1. The Bashkir club ended a streak of two consecutive losses and climbed back to the sixth position in the conference.

A slow finish, Rempal«s historic scoring streak, and a discussion of the goals — in the UFA1.RU review.

Viazovoi Was Untested for Nearly 14 Minutes

Sochi did not register a shot on Semyon Viazovoi«s goal until the 13:57 mark, which came after Grigory Panin»s penalty. The penalty was unrelated to defense: a skater is not allowed to catch the puck in the air, only to bat it down «volleyball-style».

The penalty seemed to split the period into two parts. In the first, Salavat Yulaev had more puck possession and, although they did not create many chances (Sheldon Rempal hit the post on the first power play, Danil Alalykin attempted to score from close range at the 12-minute mark), they genuinely controlled the game.

The hosts could press with one player, but they rarely even crossed the neutral zone: only six times at even strength until the second commercial break (of which only two entries were meaningful) compared to 14 by the visitors (7 included shots on target, opponent penalties, quality puck possession).

Subsequently, Dmitry Mikhailov«s team finally woke up, but in terms of chances, the first period belonged to Ufa: varied shooting from the first line at the 17th minute, and at the 20th, Rempal cleverly set up Jack Rodewald for a prime scoring chance, drawing a penalty; on the ensuing 5-on-4, the same Sheldon hit the post again.

But the remainder of this segment — already in the second period — was played more actively by the «leopards», who even launched two counterattacks. Against the last team in the West and the second-to-last team in the entire KHL, this is not impressive. For a short time, Ufa lost the initiative and after the power play — at the 23rd minute was the first real chance from Sochi, followed by an icing.

However, the southerners lost concentration and managed to take penalties twice in a row. The Bashkir Canadians do not forgive such things.

Rodewald Opened the Scoring 5-on-3, Rempal Extended His Scoring Streak to 14 Games

Sheldon, of course, deftly shifted the defense before lifting the puck to Yevgeny Kulik, but how this goal ultimately happened is somewhat surprising.

Ideally, goaltender Pavel Khomchenko should have saved Jack«s shot: there was no traffic, he moved correctly, but for some reason hugged the post and only cleared the right side of the net for the center.

Longest Scoring Streaks in a Single KHL Regular Season: Rempal in the Company of Ovechkin, Radulov, and Mozyakin, and in Club History — Second After Thoresen

• Tkachev (Avangard), 2023/24 — 16 games, 8 goals + 23 assists;

• Mozyakin (Metallurg), 2016/17 — 16 games, 15 goals + 15 assists;

• Thoresen (Salavat Yulaev), 2009/10 — 16 games, 11 goals + 16 assists;

• Bochenski (Barys), 2015/16 — 15 games, 10 goals + 14 assists;

• Kovar (Metallurg), 2016/17 — 15 games, 9 goals + 13 assists;

• Rempal (Salavat Yulaev), 2025/26 — 14 games, 8 goals + 18 assists;

• Radulov (CSKA Moscow), 2012/13 — 14 games, 10 goals + 14 assists;

• Ovechkin (Dynamo Moscow), 2012/13 — 14 games, 11 goals + 12 assists;

• Slepyshev (CSKA Moscow), 2019/20 — 14 games, 11 goals + 10 assists.

They Should Have Scored More. Salavat Yulaev Made the Match Harder for Themselves

Sochi, of course, moved well, pressed a lot, but did not convert this into chances. They should have scored on a 2-on-1 with Devin Brossoit; shortly before that, defenseman Yevgeny Kulik unexpectedly soloed in the attack.

The end of the period also needed to be secured: the Black Sea team took a penalty against Yegor Suchkov (interestingly, Alexander Zharovsky came out with the second special teams unit), but Danil Alalykin committed a holding penalty and left the «white-greens» without a power play.

In the third period, the Bashkir team seemed tired, although they still defended reliably. With a narrow score against an outsider, again, not impressive.

At the 43rd minute, Alalykin had a breakaway; at the 48th, there was a cross to Artyom Gorshkov, but otherwise, the club from the Krasnodar Krai attacked predominantly, although there was no great threat: for the entire match, they had only three shots on goal from the «slot», and all three were between the 32nd and 34th minutes.

In the Finish, the Hosts Played 6-on-5: Gorshkov Blocked Two Shots, Rempal Scored into an Empty Net with His Off Hand Under Pressure

However, Seroukh Denied Viazovoi a Shutout on the Very Next Shift

A pass under the blue line between the defensive pair Komarov — Zorkin (although initially it was the pair Komarov — Gazimov), a lift to the future goal scorer, a deke around Komarov, and a shot into the «house» of Viazovoi, who couldn«t get set — that»s the recipe for this goal.

Probably, the «white-greens» allowed themselves to exhale and relax after Rempal«s goal, so they momentarily lost proper concentration.

It was a very sluggish, tight, and grinding game. At the press conference, head coach Viktor Kozlov linked this to the aftereffects of a short break in the championship and the fact that they were already playing for the result at the end. Tomorrow — a serious clash with Minsk Dynamo. Let«s see if the Ufa team has perked up.

Another mini-story — the line combinations. In the second and third periods, the coaching staff swapped the second and third centers: Alalykin played with Suchkov and Zharovsky (here one must say «I told you so»), Pimenov was moved to Pyotr Khokhryakov and Alexander Khokhlachev. Danil needs to add both speed and skill to the second line.

The victory in Sirius moved Salavat Yulaev to the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, but Traktor has played one game less.

Three Stars of the Match According to UFA1.RU

Rempal: a goal plus an assist, two posts hit, puck control distance of 0.58 km (maximum in the match and more than the two top Sochi players combined).

Rodewald: opened the scoring, the only player on the team to win more than half of the faceoffs (60%).

Gorshkov: two consecutive blocked shots in the finish ensured Rempal«s empty-net goal.

Final Games of January

26 January, 21:10. Minsk Dynamo — Salavat Yulaev.

28 January, 21:00. Ak Bars — Salavat Yulaev.

31 January, 16:30. Salavat Yulaev — Torpedo.