Kazakhstan's Barys routed Lada with a tennis-like score of 6:0 in their first away match of the Kontinental Hockey League 2026/27 season. The Astana side's top scorer, Justin Bailey, scored a double to extend his point streak to four matches. The American forward now has 5 goals and 4 assists. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The match in Tolyatti mattered for many reasons

The match in Tolyatti was important for the Kazakh side for many reasons. After bright, high-scoring wins over Sibir (7:1) and Salavat Yulaev (8:6), Mikhail Kravets' team unexpectedly stalled against Amur (1:3). All of those meetings took place at Barys Arena.

Against Lada, the Astana side played away in the regular season for the first time. It was also their first game against a Western Conference team. At the preseason tournament for the Cup of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Barys beat the carmakers 2:1. This time the score was considerably bigger.

Match score

LADA (Tolyatti, Russia) – BARYS (Astana, Kazakhstan) 0:6 (0:1, 0:2, 0:3)

Goals: Massie (Omirbekov, Muratov) 18:20 (0:1), Bailey (Kaiyrzhan) 21:00 (0:2), Simonov (Lyapunov, Beketayev) 39:14 (0:3), McCoshen (Savitsky) 46:01 (0:4), Bailey 53:04 (0:5), Thompson (Priskie) 55:14-PP (0:6)

How the game unfolded

From the opening faceoff, the visitors held a tangible advantage. Completely outshooting the hosts (10:1 on goal), the Kazakh side beat Nikita Podskrebalin only once. Shortly before the intermission, Jake Massie redirected the puck into the net after a shot by Alikhan Omirbekov – 1:0.

As the match went on, the Kazakh side kept building its superiority. Early in the second twenty-minute period, Justin Bailey's cannon shot found the target. The 31-year-old forward of the San Diego Gulls, who previously played in the NHL for Buffalo, Philadelphia, Vancouver and San Jose, has been scoring points in every game since joining Barys. The goal against the Tolyatti side was the American's fourth in the KHL. He scored his fifth in the third period, making it 5:0.

Between Bailey's goals, Semyon Simonov and Ian McCoshen also got on the scoresheet. The final touch on the result was applied by Tyce Thompson, who converted a power play. 6:0 – the Kazakh side's third win at the start of the season!

About the KHL regular season

The KHL regular championship, which started on September 5, will run until March 20, 2027. Each of the 22 teams will play 68 games. Based on the regular season results, 8 teams from each conference earn the right to take part in the playoffs.

The current holder of the Gagarin Cup is Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, which defeated Ak Bars Kazan in six matches in the May final series.

The first away tour of the 2026/27 season will continue for Barys with games in Magnitogorsk, Yaroslavl and Moscow.