Not done yet

Pavel Francouz suffered a relapse of his injury, therefore, Yegor Nazarov was the backup goalie for Vasili Demchenko. Alexander Rybakov missed the game due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Martin Ruzicka. Vyacheslav Osnovincentered the third line while Anton Glinkin took a spot on the right wing of the second line. Danil Gubarev was ‘upgraded’ to play in the third line.

Traktor gave up the initiative early on but was able to get the best out of the few scoring chances that came along throughout the period. The only opportunity for the Omsk team to score took place when DenisParshin was all alone off of a Sobotka pass, but Alexander Shinin was there to block the shot just at the nick of time. Visitors, on the other hand, had at least two opportunities to open the score, and even though Kruchinin could not convert his first attempt, missing the corner just by a whisker, Anton Glinkin, while in the clear, beat Denis Kostin to send the black-and-white to the locker room with a one goal advantage.

Avangard quickly scored the equalizing goal. During a power play (the only one in this game for Avangard, by the way) Anton Kuryanov caught the rebounded puck and directed it past Demchenko and into the net. However, the black-and-white quickly pulled ahead for the second time in this game; a beautiful tic-tac-toe that involved Kruchinin,Pestunov and Yakutsenya finished with a scoring effort of the latter. Before the break, Popov could have further increased the goal margin on two separate occasions, but Kostin got the better of the forward both times.

Just like in the Salavat game, Traktor had to hang on to the favorable score in the third period, and Chelyabinsk did just that, although not without chances on goal organized by Avangard. Kempnyand the aforementioned Kuryanov set out to beat Demchenko and tie the game at two apiece, but Vasili stopped both scoring attempts. Five minutes before the horn, Dmitri Pestunov blocked two straight shots and kept visitors in the lead. Avangard pulled the goalie, but all to no avail. Traktor got a W and is still in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs.

Game details

AVANGARD vs. TRAKTOR – 1:2 (0:1, 1:1, 0:0)

Goals: Glinkin (Pestunov, Martynov), 14 (0:1); Kuryanov (Lemtyugov, Sobotka), 23 (1:1 – PP goal); Yakutsenya (Kruchinin, Pestunov), 25 (1:2).

AVANGARD
Kostin (0:00 – 59:17);
Kempny – Pervyshin, Parshin – Sobotka (C) – Perezhogin;
Kulyash – Ahnelöv, Khokhryakov – Glukhov – Lemtyugov;
Alexandrov – Lekomtsev, Kazakov – Kuryanov – Pyanov;
Dervuk – Gusev, Chernikov – Petrov – Fishchenko.

TRAKTOR
Demchenko;
Novak – Martynov, Kruchinin – Popov – Yakutsenya;
Borodkin – Denisov (C), Glinkin – Pestunov (A) – Afonasyevsky;
Shinin – Klimontov, Gubarev – Osnovin – Kokuyov;
Petrov (A) – Zhuldikov, Ruzicka – Sharov – Zinovyev.

Shots on goal: 29 (10+11+8) – 23 (5+11+7).
Faceoffs won: 29 (6+13+10) – 25 (8+12+5).
PIM: 4 (2+2+0) – 2 (0+2+0).
Shots blocked: 8 (4+2+2) – 13 (5+4+4).
Hits: 18 (7+5+6) – 7 (3+2+2).
PP goals: 1-0.
Ice time: Kempny (20:59), Sobotka (20:44), Parshin (20:23) – Martynov (22:01), Novak (19:47), Yakutsenya (17:42)

Referees: Sergei Belyayev (Moscow Oblast), Ildar Safiullov (Nizhnekamsk).
Linesmen: Tornike Kuchava, Nikita Novikov (both – Moscow).

January 25, 2016. Arena Omsk, Omsk, Russia. Attendance – 8370.

Photo courtesy of Avangard Press Office