NIZHNEIMERETINSKAYA BUKHTA, Russia (Interstat) — Sochi defeated visiting Salavat Yulaev 6-3 on Wednesday in a Kontinental Hockey League game at Bolshoy Ice Dome, breaking open a close contest with a three-goal burst early in the third period. Yegor Petukhov had two goals and an assist for Sochi, which improved to 2-8. Salavat Yulaev dropped to 6-4. Attendance was 5,991. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Sochi, while Salavat Yulaev had won its previous two games.

Matvei Guskov, Sochi’s top star, opened the scoring at 7:41 of the first period with his first goal, assisted by Ilya Fedotov and Timur Akhiyarov. The period included several penalties: Nikita Zorkin of Salavat Yulaev was called for tripping at 8:41, while Maxim Korostelyov of Sochi received a holding penalty and Alexander Zharovsky of Salavat Yulaev was whistled for high sticking, both at 13:05. Sochi carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Salavat Yulaev answered in the second period. Yegor Suchkov scored at 24:32, with assists from Vadim Shipachyov and Danil Alalykin, tying the game at 1. Dean Stewart then scored at 29:21, assisted by Zharovsky and Alalykin, giving Salavat Yulaev a 2-1 advantage. The period was choppy, with Devin Brosseau called for boarding at 20:47, Sochi’s Pyotr Andreyanov penalized for too many players on the ice at 27:31, Guskov called for slashing at 30:23, Alexander Alexeyev penalized twice for cross checking at 30:46 and 36:40, Ilya V. Nikolayev called for tripping at 37:56, and Yaroslav Tsulygin whistled for hooking at 38:49.

Sochi regained control late in the second. Petukhov scored at 37:37, assisted by Guskov, to tie the game at 2. Gage Quinney then put Sochi ahead at 39:16, with Akhiyarov earning the assist, sending the hosts into the second intermission with a 3-2 lead.

The third period turned decisively in Sochi’s favor. Petukhov scored again at 42:40, assisted by Nikolai P. Polyakov and Akhiyarov, for a 4-2 lead. Artur Gizdatullin made it 5-2 at 44:16, with Guskov and Petukhov assisting. Timur Khafizov scored at 45:58, assisted by Quinney and Akhiyarov, pushing the margin to 6-2. Salavat Yulaev’s Artyom Nabiyev scored at 56:40, assisted by Denis Orlovich-Grudkov and Vladislav Yefremov, to complete the scoring at 6-3. Sochi also had to kill penalties, with Shipachyov called for slashing at 43:24, Vengryzhanovsky and Rempal and Brosseau involved in coincidental penalties at 44:33, and Andreyanov penalized for delaying the game at 57:18.

Quinney’s goal at 39:16 stood as the game-winner. Sochi then scored three unanswered goals in a span of 3 minutes, 18 seconds early in the third period, turning a 3-2 lead into a 6-2 cushion. The teams combined for 15 penalties, including several overlapping calls in the middle period. Matvei Guskov’s three-point game paced Sochi’s balanced attack.

Guskov finished with one goal and two assists, four shots, two penalty minutes and one hit. Quinney had one goal and one assist, four shots and one hit. Andreyanov made 29 saves on 32 shots for the win. Akhiyarov recorded four assists, two shots and one hit. Khafizov added a goal, five shots and one hit. Petukhov totaled two goals, one assist, six shots and one hit. For Salavat Yulaev, Alalykin contributed two assists and four shots, Suchkov scored on two shots, Stewart scored on three shots, and Nabiyev scored on three shots. Shipachyov and Zharovsky also factored into the offense, but Salavat Yulaev could not recover after Sochi’s third-period surge.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Salavat Yulaev 2, Sochi 1. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Salavat Yulaev with an 80.8 percent probability to win.