Goal drought

Semyon Kokuyov and Igor Velichkin returned to team lineup. The former replaced Dmitry Sayustov, the latter became the 13th forward.Vasily Demchenko was the substitute goalie while Borodkin was put in the second D line. Also, Yevgeny Katichev was the odd 7th D-man for this game.

An SOG column in the stats of the first period speaks volumes. Traktor outshot Lada15 to 4, but was unable to score. After a couple of decent yet not that great scoring chances by Chistov and Borodkin Traktor kicked it into another gear. During the power play Popov missed the already empty net, and Atyushov fired a scintillating blue line slapshot that found the iron. Zip zip after one.

Some two minutes into the second twenty Bulis found Panov with a laser-like pass, but Kostya could not outsmart Ilya Yezhov, who has recently become the savior of Lada. Another breakaway chance for Traktor was not converted by Kokuyov who hit the bar. Lada, however, was able to capitalize on their seemingly one and only chance during the swift counterattack spearheaded by Denis Golubev. That goal did not faze the hosts, and the newly appointed Cap, Stas Chistov could have alone tied the score twice, but shot wide after both wraparound attempts.

The third twenty did not differ much from the previous two – Traktor attacked, Lada tried to hang on. Minute number 46 gave Traktor another sure-fire scoring chance, but two times the black-and-white could not add the bouncing puck into the net. A little bit later on Glinkin wrapped around Yezhov’s goal and was really close to tying it up, but missed the far corner just by a whisker. Visitors had a chance of their own when Traktor allowed a sharp counter; however, Garnett stopped a shot by Anton Shenfeld. One minute before the horn hosts pulled the goalie, but could not quite muster enough strength to construct any sort of final onslaught. Traktor fails to move up the leaderboards and is now preparing to close out the home series on Saturday against Neftekhimik.

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. LADA – 0:1 (0:0, 0:1, 0:0)
Goal: Golubev (Petrov), 28 (0:1).

TRAKTOR
Garnett (0:00-59:13);
Quint – Kondratyev, Panov (A) – Bulis (A) – Chistov (C);
Borodkin – Piganovich, Glinkin – Pestunov – Popov;
Davydov – Atyushov (A), Gubarev – Osnovin – Ruzicka;
Katichev, Penkovsky – Zavarukhin – Kokuyov;
Velichkin.

LADA
Yezhov;
Barantsev – Hunkes, Chernikov – Petrov (A) – Golubev;
Ogurtsov – Shulakov, Belousov – Zatovic – Shenfeld;
Stulov – Vorobyov (A), Valuysky – Nikitenko (C) – Bocharov;
Romanov, Fedorov – Sharov – A. Streltsov;
V. Streltsov.

PIM: 12 (2+4+6) – 10 (4+2+2).
Shots: 34 (15+11+8) – 20 (4+8+8).
Faceoffs won: 31 (13+14+4) – 34 (11+10+13).
Hits: 24 (4+9+11) – 13 (5+5+3).
Shots blocked: 7 (1+3+3) – 13 (9+2+2).
TOI: Piganovich (23:07), Quint (21:16), Kondratyev (21:10) – Hunkes (20:56), Golubev (20:38), Vorobyov (20:20).

Referees: Yevgeny Gamaley (Magnitogorsk), Sergey Karabanov (Moscow).
Linesmen: Stepan Korshak, Aleksandr Chernyshev (both – Yaroslavl).

November 13, 2014. Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 6150.