KAZAN (Interstat) — Maxim Arefyev made 24 saves and Ak Bars Kazan scored three unanswered goals in a 3-1 Kontinental Hockey League victory over Amur Khabarovsk on Friday at TatNeft Arena. The announced attendance was 8,257. Ak Bars improved to 11-11, while Amur fell to 10-10. Ak Bars rebounded from a 4-0 loss to Avangard in its previous game, and Amur had lost 2-1 at Dynamo in its previous game. Arefyev stopped 24 of 25 shots and earned the win, helping Ak Bars protect a lead built during a strong first half of the game. The host club also killed an early penalty and kept Amur from finding rhythm in the opening period.

Denis Zernov gave Ak Bars the lead at 4:33 of the first period, scoring off assists from Kirill Semyonov and Mitchell Miller. Semyonov, a 6-foot, 165-pound forward, finished with one assist, two shots on goal, four penalty minutes and one hit. Miller had two assists and five shots on goal. Arefyev was called for tripping at 11:21, but Ak Bars killed the penalty and carried the lead into the first intermission. Arefyev had stopped 31 shots in a 2-1 win at Salavat Yulaev in his previous start, and he was sharp again while facing 25 shots. Ak Bars controlled much of the opening period, and Amur struggled to generate consistent pressure around the net.

Ak Bars pulled away in the second period. Grigory Denisenko scored at 20:18 elapsed with an assist from Miller, and Ravil Yakupov made it 3-0 at 25:08 elapsed off assists from Maxim D. Bykov and Andrei Stas. Denisenko, a 5-foot-10, 163-pound forward, had one goal, two shots and three hits. Yakupov, a 5-foot-11, 192-pound forward, had one goal, three shots and two hits. Stas added one assist and one shot. Semyonov took tripping and hooking penalties later in the period, but Amur could not convert. Amur’s Semyon Demidov was called for tripping at 21:24 elapsed, and Ivan Sherstnyov received a high-sticking penalty at 25:32 elapsed. Amur broke through at 38:59 elapsed when Yegor Voronkov scored off assists from Vitaly Abramov and Vasily Machulin. Voronkov, a 6-foot, 187-pound defenseman, had one goal and one shot. Abramov, a 5-foot-10, 187-pound forward, had one assist, two shots and one hit. Machulin, a 6-foot-3, 198-pound defenseman, had one assist, three shots and one hit.

The third period produced no scoring, though Ak Bars killed a hooking penalty to Dmitry Katelevsky at 48:51 elapsed and Amur’s Oleg Li was sent off for interference at 50:35 elapsed. Arefyev protected the two-goal cushion the rest of the way. Zernov finished with one goal and one shot for Ak Bars. Amur’s best chances came late, but Arefyev denied the visitors and Ak Bars held on. The win allowed Ak Bars to avoid another home defeat after the loss to Avangard. Amur, which had won two straight before the loss to Dynamo, remained at .500.

Arefyev’s recent run included 38 saves in a 3-1 loss at Traktor and 35 saves in a 2-1 loss to Torpedo before his 31-save effort at Salavat Yulaev. He finished this one with 24 saves on 25 shots, allowing only Voronkov’s second-period goal. Ak Bars is scheduled to host SKA in its next game, while Amur visits Admiral.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected Ak Bars 3, Amur 2, and the ELO system gave Ak Bars a 76.2 percent probability to win. The total score of 4 went over the over/under line of 4.5.