The new season of the Kontinental Hockey League started on September 3. According to tradition, it opened with a match of the Opening Cup, in which the current winner of the Gagarin Cup, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, faced Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, which they lost in the final.
In the off-season, Magnitogorsk made cosmetic changes to their roster. Striker Nikita Grebenkin, who left abroad, as well as Maxim Karpov, Danila Kvartalnov, Maxim Mukhametov and Arkhip Nekolenko left the team. They are called to replace Evgeniy Grigorenko, Scott Wilson, Danil Bashkirov and Mikhail Shalagin.
Lokomotiv has only two acquisitions. One of the newcomers is forward Alexander Radulov, who played in the NHL, as well as Byron Frese. Goaltenders Ivan Bocharov and Sergei Murashov, defenseman Roman Bychkov, as well as forwards Egor Averin, Sergei Andronov and Alexander Perevalov have left the team.
The teams failed to open the scoring in the first half. And in the second, Yaroslavl striker Artur Kayumov scored the first goal of the season. And a few seconds later, Nikita Kiryanov surprised the Magnitogorsk team for the second time.
Maxim Shalunov made it 3:0 in the third period, but Metallurg showed character and managed to reduce the deficit to a minimum. Goals were scored by Dmitry Silantiev and Luke Johnson.
But the guests survived and won 3:2.
