Michael and Anton return = victory

A long-awaited return of Michael Garnett took place in this game. Anton Glinkin also returned to the lineup and appeared in the third line. Therefore, Artyom Penkovski was moved to the second line as Wilson became the center of this line. Kondratyev, Osnovin, Vasilchenko and Velichkin were left off the lineup for this game.

A trademark Traktor start took place in this game once again as 27 seconds after the starting horn Tomas Netik caught all of D-men and Garnett off guard and battled for the puck at the crease, finally making it go in. Slovan quickly tried to extend the goal margin, which kind of allowed Michael Garnett to feel the rhythm of the game after missing 2 months. Michael made a couple of great saves and received well-deserved ovations from the home crowd. After a couple of scoring chances created by Martin Ruzicka and company, Traktor tied the game right around the buzzer; Panov spurted through the right wing and took a heavy shot while Bulis somehow added the puck between the pads of Jaroslav Janus. One one after one.

Traktor more or less dominated the second period, which, however, did not reflect on the scoreboard. After scoring opportunities that were missed by Chistov and Khlystov Traktor garnered a PP chance. Unfortunately for the black-and-white, that did not go as planned when Bartovic received a breakaway chance and subsequently a penalty shot. Even though Garnett did not officially turn it away, he did everything he could to not allow Milan pull visitors ahead. A handful of minutes later Slovan still scored their goal and pulled ahead. Jeglic became the goalscorer off of a deflection. Traktor was not done for, and once again in the closing moments of the period a PP beauty of a goal took place when Popov delivered a saucer pass to Glinkin who had to hit the empty net, and this, we all know, is not a problem for Anton.

The third period began with a Traktor goal which, to get ahead of ourselves, became the game-winning one. Semyon Kokuyov recalled his scoring ways in VHL and pulled Traktor ahead for the first time in this game. Hosts organized a few more scoring chances, but none of them gave the fans in attendance a chance to jump to their feet in excitement. Slovan tried hard to save the matchup and pulled the goalie one minute before the horn, but it did not give any dividends to Slovaks. Traktor is victorious in two straight matches and looks to continue that positive trend on Monday against Medvescak.

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. SLOVAN – 3:2 (1:1, 1:1, 1:0)
Goals: Netik (Bartovic), 1 (1:0); Bulis (Chistov, Panov), 20 (1:1); Jeglic (Ticar, Foster), 36 (2:1); Glinkin (Popov), 39 (2:2 – PP goal); Kokuyov (Piganovich), 45 (3:2).

Penalty shot: Bartovic, 32 (wide).

TRAKTOR
Garnett;
Quint – Katichev, Bulis (C) – Panov (A) – Chistov;
Borodkin – Piganovich, Penkovski – Wilson – Kokuyov;
Khlystov – Atyushov (A), Glinkin – Popov – Ruzicka;
Kostromitin, Mokin – Sayustov – Toluzakov.

SLOVAN
Janus (0:00 – 59:03);
Sigalet – Stajnoch, Bartovic (C) – Surovy – Netik;
Baranka – Sersen (A), Vondrka – Nedorost – Hudacek;
Starosta – Foster, Jeglic – Ticar – Nagy (A);
Lunter – Bliznak – White.

PIM: 6 (4+2+0) – 12 (4+6+2).
Shots: 25 (5+12+8) – 34 (16+6+12).
Faceoffs won: 25 (10+8+7) – 30 (6+14+10).
Hits: 18 (7+4+7) – 13 (2+6+5).
Shots blocked: 12 (5+2+5) – 6 (2+3+1).
TOI: Quint (22:19), Piganovich (20:35), Panov (19:38) – Sersen (22:44), Nagy (21:51), Baranka (21:35),
PP goals: 1-0.

Referees: Nikolai Akuzovskiy (Togilatti), Sergei Karabanov (Moscow).
Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev (Perm), Andrei Matyusha (Barnaul).

October 18, 2014. Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 5700.