BALASHIKHA, Russia (Interstat) — Konstantin Okulov scored 7:34 into overtime to complete a third-period comeback, lifting Avangard Omsk to a 3-2 victory over Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in a Kontinental Hockey League game Sunday at Balashikha Arena.

The win avenged a pair of recent losses to Avtomobilist and improved Avangard’s season record to 12 wins and 5 losses. Avtomobilist fell to 11-8.

The game was a penalty-filled affair, particularly for the home team, which spent much of the first two periods short-handed. Avangard was assessed six of the game’s eight total penalties, including a string of three in the first period that gave Avtomobilist significant momentum.

Despite the parade to the penalty box, it was Avangard that struck first. With just 56 seconds remaining in the opening period, Mikhail Kotlyarevsky netted his second goal of the season, assisted by Igor Martynov and goaltender Nikita Serebryakov, to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

The score remained unchanged through a second period that saw more penalties than scoring chances. Avangard’s discipline issues continued with minors to Mikhail Gulyayev for holding and Artyom Blazhiyevsky for slashing, but their penalty kill, backed by Serebryakov, held firm.

Avtomobilist finally broke through early in the third period. Semyon Kizimov scored his fifth goal of the season at the 5:09 mark to tie the game 1-1.

The momentum was short-lived for the visitors, as Kizimov took a penalty for too many men on the ice less than three minutes later. Avangard’s power play, which had been stifled all night, quickly capitalized. Andrew Poturalski redeemed himself after an earlier tripping penalty by firing home his seventh goal of the year just 18 seconds into the man-advantage, restoring Avangard’s lead at 2-1. Konstantin Okulov recorded the primary assist.

Avtomobilist pushed back and was rewarded in the final minutes of regulation. With just over five minutes left on the clock, Stephane Da Costa netted his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Brooks Macek and Kirill Vorobyov, to tie the game 2-2 and force overtime.

In the extra frame, Okulov emerged as the hero, taking a feed from Nikolai Prokhorkin and beating the Avtomobilist goaltender for his seventh goal of the campaign to seal the victory for Avangard.

The win provides a measure of revenge for Avangard, which was shut out 3-0 by Avtomobilist just nine days prior in Yekaterinburg. In their other meeting this season on Oct. 6, Avtomobilist secured a 4-1 road victory. The result defied the pregame projections from Interstat, whose game simulator had predicted a 5-2 Avangard win and whose ELO system gave the Hawks a 61.6 percent probability of victory.

Avangard’s defensive corps, including Blazhiyevsky, Vyacheslav Voynov, Gulyayev, Marsel Ibragimov, Maxime Lajoie, Joseph Cecconi, Semyon Chistyakov and Damir Sharipzyanov, played a key role in killing off numerous penalties and limiting Avtomobilist’s chances at even strength.

Avangard looks to continue its strong start when it hosts Severstal Cherepovets on Thursday. Avtomobilist, meanwhile, will aim to rebound from the overtime loss when it returns home to face Traktor Chelyabinsk, also on Thursday.