Pressure-resistant

After a partially successful trip to the national team, Andrei Popov and Anton Glinkin returned to the lineup, reuniting with Dmitri Pestunov in the second line. Therefore, Francis Pare returned to the top line; Igor Velichkin became the 13th forward. Aleksei Zavarukhin was sent to Chelmet while Aleksei Vasilchenko could not land a spot on the lineup for this game.

The first head-to-head game led to the subsequent firing of Karri Kivi; Traktor was beat on home ice (2:3), and after that, the first foreign-born Traktor head coach was relieved of his duties. Andrei Nikolishin became the new head coach and was able to give the team a much needed boost and organize an overall solid team.

Traktor began the game with some heavy pressure in the neutral zone and impressive forechecking. The newly reunited second line was the most active during this period of time, and Lars Haugen had to turn aside two very decent shots by Popov and Glinkin. In light of this fact, the goal scored by Ryan Vesce off the rebound looked to be the most illogical things of all that could have happened.

As soon as the second period kicked off, Francis Pare came up with a goal totally out of the blue; Pare outskated two Dinamo defensemen and sent the puck right over Lars Haugen’s shoulder and into the net. The black-and-white then had a chance to grab the lead immediately when the top line painted up a beautiful combination, but Artyom Penkovsky was a tad unlucky in the finishing stages of the attack. Later on, an unfortunate incident happened when Aleksandr Pavlovich checked Panov into the boards, injuring the latter in the process. Panov was helped to the locker room and never appeared on the ice afterwards. Traktor was really active during the five-minute power play, but Haugen was one fire, stopping every shot in his path. At the other end of the rink, Vasili Demchenko was equally impressive; a stopped breakaway was the biggest notch on his belt during the period. Some ninety seconds before the horn Francis Pare was close to scoring his second goal, but just missed the mark.

The third stanza was a torture for Traktor and a complete nerve-rack for all black-and-white fans. Throughout the period, hosts created no less than a dozen of scoring chances; however, Vasili Demchenko was the true savior of Traktor, allowing the only goal scored when Dinamo had a huge two-man advantage. However, this effort was stuffed between two Traktor goals; first, the puck slid into the net between Haugen’s pads after an Osnovin shot, and then Stas Chistov caught a rebound from Ruzicka and scored his first goal in the last 18 hockey games. Dinamo Minsk coaching staff predictably pulled the goalie, attempting to save the game, but, when it was actually a six on four situation due to a minor by Kondratyev, Martin Ruzicka once again tallied an empty net goal a la the Riga game and secured the win for the black-and-white who are now closer than ever to the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference rankings.

Game details

DINAMO Minsk vs. TRAKTOR – 2:4 (1:0, 0:1, 1:3)
Goals: Vesce (Linglet, Ellison), 12 (1:0); Pare (Borodkin), 21 (1:1); Osnovin (Ruzicka, Kondratyev), 47 (1:2); Ellison (Szczechura, Vesce), 49 (2:2 – PP goal); Chistov (Ruzicka, Osnovin), 52 (2:3); Ruzicka, 59 (2:4 – shorthanded empty net goal).

DINAMO Minsk
Haugen (0:00 – 58:48, 58:58 – 60:00);
Goroshko – Krajicek, Linglet – Vesce (C) – Ellison;
Bailen – Svarny, Materukhin – Szczechura – Stepanov;
Shinkevich – Kaznadey, Meleshko (A) – Kulakov (A) – Pavlovich;
Lisovets, Demkov – Drozd – Zakharov;
Buinitsky.

TRAKTOR
Demchenko;
Quint – Borodkin, Penkovsky – Pare – Chistov (C);
Kondratyev – Piganovich, Popov – Pestunov – Glinkin;
Martynov – Atyushov (A), Panov (A) – Osnovin – Ruzicka;
Davydov, Kokuyov – Gubarev – Mokin.

PIM: 29 (0+27+2) – 8 (0+2+6).
Shots: 27 (4+12+11) – 28 (7+11+10).
Faceoffs won: 30 (8+10+12) – 16 (4+7+5).
Hits: 14 (6+4+4) – 8 (2+4+2).
Shots blocked: 12 (2+5+5) – 9 (0+3+6).
TOI: Bailen (24:32), Svarny (21:37), Ellison (20:38) – Quint (24:41), Chistov (20:40), Piganovich (20:20).
PP goals: 1-0.

Referees: Aleksei Belov (Yaroslavl), Vyacheslav Bulanov (Moscow).
Linesmen: Juris Balodis (Riga, Latvia), Dmitri Golovlyov (Naberezhnye Chelny).

February 9, 2015. Minsk-Arena, Minsk, Belorussia. Attendance – 11528.

Photo by Aleksandr Shichko of pressball.by