Like walk in the park (not)

The first twenty turned out to be a very interesting affair, with back-and-forth action throughout its duration. Alexander Pankov and Alexander Chernikov could have opened the score early but were unable to beat Metallurg goalie Mikhail Biryukov. Hosts managed to pull off one great attack when Mikhail Anisin found the post instead of the back of the net. Closer to the end of the period, Traktor received a power play opportunity, and this time around the black-and-white utilized this chance to perfection – Paul Szczechura opened the score off of a nice passing combination.

The second period was somewhat of a letdown scoring chances-wise; the only one worth nothing was when Kirill Lebedev had a breakaway chance against Pavel Francouz, but Traktor’s goalie denied him by making a pad stop. As the horn signaling the end of the period sounded, Alexey Petrov got a penalty, so the visitors had to begin the third period with a man disadvantage.

Even though Kuznya was not able to convert this chance, the tying still came when four of the Traktor players were fatigued; Alexey Razumov was the goalscorer in this one. Metallurg started getting into the groove, stinging Traktor with some sharp attacks. However, the black-and-white got their act together and scored the game-winning goal (again, on the power play, which is a nice trend) at the hands of Maxim Yakutsenya. Hosts needed to save this game, but Kirill Dyakov completely derailed the team as he was sent to the penalty box exactly two minutes before the final horn. The final score, two one, Traktor; it was not a walk in the park by any means, but the Chelyabinsk team gets a W and continues the series on the road against Avangard on October 1.

Game details

METALLURG Novokuznetsk vs. TRAKTOR – 1:2 (0:1, 0:0, 1:1)
Goals: Szczechura (Belov, Pestunov), 19 (0:1 – PP goal); Razumov (Solovyov), 43 (1:1); Yakutsenya (Szczechura), 55 (1:2 – PP goal).

METALLURG
Biryukov;
Arbuzov – Vasilchenko, Razumov – Mikheyev – Solovyov;
Fatkullin – Dyakov, Yazykov – Vikharev – Semenov (A);
Pervyshin – Lyamkin, Komaristy (A) – Zemchenko – Butuzov;
Viksna, Lebedev – Polishchuk (C) – Anisin, Zinovyev.

TRAKTOR
Francouz;
Koltsov – Belov, Mirnov – Pestunov (A) – Yakutsenya;
Alexey Petrov (A) – Borodkin, Birner – Szczechura – Kruchinin;
Shinin (C) – Zhuldikov, Chernikov – Yuri Petrov – Pankov;
Mamayev – Klimontov, Penkovsky – Sharov – Sholokhov.

Shots on goal: 29 (13+9+7) – 40 (17+10+13).
Faceoffs won: 30 (11+8+11) – 25 (8+10+7).
Shots blocked: 7 (3+2+2) – 10 (3+2+5).
Hits: 19 (8+6+5) – 6 (2+1+3).
PIM: 10 (2+4+4) – 8 (0+2+6).
PP goals: 0-2.
TOI: Pervyshin (21:15), Fatkullin (20:25), Dyakov (20:19) – Belov (24:08), Yakutsenya (21:36), Koltsov (20:39).

Referees: Yuri Oskirko, Yuri Tsyplakov.
Linesmen: Ivan Sazonov, Alexander Zakharenkov.

September 29, 2016. Kuznetsk Metallurgists Sports Palace, Novokuznetsk, Russia. Attendance – 2675.