Pedal to the metal

Deron Quint returned to the lineup, taking a spot alongside Artyom Borodkin in the second D pair. Konstantin Klimontov was left on the bench, and his place was taken by team captain Vladimir Denisov. The fourth line was left intact while Osnovin was moved to the second line.

A litany of penalties gave both teams plenty of time to train their power and shorthanded play. Seven minutes into the game, Alexander Budkin opened the score off of an accurate pass from Linus Videll. After a while, Torpedo acquired another power play opportunity, but this time Traktor killed it off. After 12-minute mark, the black-and-white got their first man advantage of the game, but Torpedo goaltender Mikhail Biryukov was able to stop all four shots on goal taken by Traktor during these two minutes. Sometime later, he also stopped a wraparound attempt by Semyon Kokuyov. However, seconds before the horn Yegor Martynov took a shot on goal, and the puck was redirected into the net by Andrei Popov.

The second twenty was rather uneventful. Nine minutes after the start of the period, Alexander Frolov pulled Torpedo ahead. Of course, the black-and-white were not quite satisfied with the way things were going, and they spent the rest of the period in countless attempts to tie the game up. Semyon Kokuyov was closer to a goal than the rest of his partners, but his efforts were in vain as the score did not change up until the buzzer.

With playoffs slipping away, the black-and-white rushed forward, and 29 seconds in the molten hot Alexei Kruchinin beat Biryukov to tie this contest up at two. Soon enough, Kokuyov tore through the wing and was knocked down, but the penalty was not meant to be as Rybakov found the puck and added it into the empty net. Not allowing Torpedo to create anything substantial in the attacking zone, Traktor calmly kept the advantage. The aforementioned Kruchinin tallied an empty-net goal. Unfortunately, this was not enough as later in the day, both Barys and Neftekhimik gained victories, thus leaving the black-and-white without any chances of getting into postseason.

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. TORPEDO – 4:2 (1:1, 0:1, 3:0)
Goals: Budkin (Koltsov, Videll), 7 (0:1 – PP goal); Popov (Novak, Martynov), 20 (1:1 – PP goal); Frolov (Zherdev, Kostitsyn), 29 (1:2); Kruchinin (Yakutsenya), 41 (2:2); Rybakov (Quint, Kokuyov), 45 (3:2); Kruchinin, 59 (4:2 – empty-net goal).

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

TORPEDO
Biryukov (0:00 – 58:55, 58:58 – 60:00);
Sergiyenko – Osipov, Dvurechenski – Potapov (C) – Kulyomin;
Piganovich – Alyayev, Sopin – Galuzin (A) – Daugavins;
Makarov – Budkin, Zherdev – Syomin (A) – Videll;
Koltsov, Klingberg – Kostitsyn – Frolov.

Shots on goal: 25 (7+7+11) – 20 (7+8+5).
Faceoffs won: 25 (10+8+7) – 27 (9+8+10).
PIM: 12 (6+2+4) – 18 (8+4+6).
Shots blocked: 11 (1+3+7) – 13 (6+3+4).
Hits:7 (2+4+1) – 12 (3+6+3).
PP goals: 1-1.
Ice time: Martynov (22:06), Pestunov (19:23), Yakutsenya (19:14) – Osipov (21:34), Budkin (18:05), Sopin (17:52)

Referees: Vladislav Kiselyov, Artur Kulyov (both – Ufa).
Linesmen: Konstantin Gordenko, Viktor Tomilov (both – Ufa).

February 5, 2016. Traktor Arena n.a. Valeri Belousov, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 6000.