Lada quickly becoming Traktor`s sworn enemy

Marat Fakhrutdinov played his debut match tonight, having been placed in fourth line along with Zavarukhin and Ruzicka. Kokuyov took Bulis’ spot in top line. Khlystov was the odd seventh D-man, Velichkin – the 13th forward.

This was the third head-to-head match between Traktor and Lada during this season. Traktor won the first game in Togliatti with the score of 4:3; Kokuyov, Piganovich, Panov and Wilson each scored a goal in that game. Four days ago, however, Lada returned the favor by beating the black-and-white in Chelyabinsk one zip thanks to the only goal by Denis Golubev.

The first twenty looked a lot like the whole match that took place on November 13. Lada played pretty well in defense and executed some sharp counters. Traktor outshot hosts in this period, but it was Lada that opened the score. Martin Zatovic easily outplayed Kondratyev and sent the puck past Michael Garnett and into the net. Traktor continued the incessant attacks, and Chistov had a great breakaway chance, but Yezhov stopped this threat. Before the break, Borodkin earned a PP chance for Traktor, but visitors came up empty. One nothing after twenty minutes of play.

Immediately after the starting horn the evil genius for Traktor, Denis Golubev doubled Lada lead. Within a minute, Vasily Streltsov won the draw, and his brother Aleksandr Streltsov sent the puck right into the net. Shortly thereafter, Traktor managed to kill off a two man disadvantage. The black-and-white seemingly started picking up momentum, but it was quickly quelled by the fourth goal from Anton Shenfeld. Traktor managed to quickly pull one back; Penkovsky scored the first Traktor goal into Yezhov’s goal in almost five periods. Glinkin, Panov and Popov had scoring chances before the break, but Yezhov remained focused during these exchanges and did not allow anything in.

Lada is known for their ability to dry up the game, and this was exactly what happened there. Despite two scoring chances by Piganovich and Popov, the score did not change thanks in no small part to the brilliant Ilya Yezhov. Michael Garnett was also busy during this period and did not let the score increase in Lada’s favor. Traktor fails to avenge the one zip loss and moves to Sochi to take on the KHL debutant, HC Sochi.

Game details

LADA vs. TRAKTOR – 4:1 (1:0, 3:1, 0:0)
Goals: Zatovic (Romanov, Shenfeld), 8 (1:0); Golubev (Hunkes), 21 (2:0 – PP goal); A. Streltsov (V. Streltsov), 22 (3:0); Shenfeld (Belousov), 33 (4:0); Penkovsky, 34 (4:1).

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

TRAKTOR
Garnett;
Quint – Kondratyev, Kokyuov – Panov (A) – Chistov (C);
Borodkin – Piganovich, Glinkin – Pestunov – Popov;
Davydov – Atyushov (A), Penkovsky – Osnovin – Gubarev,
Khlystov, Fakhrutdinov – Zavarukhin – Ruzicka;
Velichkin.

PIM: 6 (2+4+0) – 14 (4+4+6).
Shots: 31 (8+14+9) – 28 (12+9+7).
Faceoffs won: 37 (10+15+12) – 20 (5+10+5).
Hits: 21 (10+6+5) – 40 (16+10+14).
Shots blocked: 8 (2+3+3) – 8 (3+1+4).
TOI: Vorobyov (20:47), Hunkes (18:56), Shulakov (18:38) – Quint (22:02), Piganovich (21:51), Pestunov (19:32).
PP goals: 1-0.

Referees: Yury Tsyplakov (Saint-Petersburg), Ildar Safiullov (Nizhnekamsk).
Linesmen: Tornike Kuchava, Nikita Novikov (both – Moscow).

November 17, 2014. Lada Arena, Togliatti, Russia. Attendance – 5500.