Made in China

This game was played in Shanghai, not in Beijing (where Kunlun Red Star is actually based), because the modern LeSportsCenter currently hosts concerts and other performances. The team will head to Beijing in a week after the last home game of this series against Amur.

Anvar Gatiyatulin resorted to several changes in the team’s lineup. Artyom Penkovsky and Michal Birner were replaced by Danil Gubarev and Semyon Afonasyevsky respectively; Nikolai Belov and Artyom Borodkin swapped their spots in the first and the third D pairs. Plus, Vasili Demchenko got a day off as Pavel Francouz was the starting goalie for this bout.

The first two minutes of the game were like a famous Chinese firework – bang-bang, two goals within the span of half a minute. First, Kirill Koltsov opened the score with a nice wrist shot, but during the very next attack, Linus Videll beat Pavel Francouz from close range. After a hot start, both teams decided to take a huge pause, and the rest of the period was eventful.

Five minutes into the second twenty, Nikolai Belov (surprisingly) was the first on a breakaway and made the decision to take a shot, and it turned out to be just right. Shortly thereafter, Milan Bakos had an opportunity to tie the game up but missed the mark on a breakaway after he appeared on the ice from the sin bin.

The third period was going on without a hitch for Traktor; Kunlun was trying their best to save the game, but it seemed as though they were completely gassed. The black-and-white were patient and when the opportunity knocked, they answered the door; Nikolai Belov scored his second goal of the game and third for Traktor defensemen. However, Kunlun was not to be outdone. Once again, just like early in the game, hosts quickly retaliated with a goal of their own scored by Max Wärn. Kunlun had plenty of time to try to drag this one into the OT, but Traktor held their own.

Game details

KUNLUN RED STAR vs. TRAKTOR – 2:3 (1:1, 0:1, 1:1)
Goals: Koltsov, 2 (0:1); Videll (Bellemore), 2 (1:1); Belov (Zinovyev), 25 (1:2); Belov, 57 (1:3); Wärn (Lahti, Mäntylä), 57 (2:3).

KUNLUN RED STAR
Makarov (58:22-60:00 – empty net);
Järvinen – Mäntylä, Rau – Lahti – Wärn;
Viklund – Bellemore, Bakos – Collins – Videll;
Peretyagin – Yuen, Marcinko – Fluery – Yashin;
Mikulovich, Ying – Xia – Pereskokov, Velichkin.

TRAKTOR
Francouz;
Shinin (C) – Belov, Yakutsenya – Szczechura – Vesce;
Koltsov – Denisov (A), Chernikov – Yuri Petrov – Pankov;
Alexei Petrov – Borodkin, Kruchinin – Pestunov (A) – Afonasyevsky;
Klimontov, Gubarev – Sharov – Zinovyev, Sholokhov.

Shots on goal: 25 (6+9+10) – 27 (7+12+8).
Faceoffs won: 38 (10+11+17) – 25 (10+7+8).
Shots blocked: 6 (2+2+2) – 9 (0+5+4).
Hits: 3 (1+0+2) – 8 (4+3+1).
PIM: 6 (0+4+2) – 6 (2+4+0).
TOI: Järvinen (24:17), Mäntylä (21:01), Bellemore (20:55) – Belov (21:26), Denisov (19:55), Yakutsenya (19:37).

Referees: Roman Shchenev, Alexei Belov.
Linesmen: Alexander Otmakhov, Stanislav Raming.

October 21, 2016. Feiyang Sports Palace, Shanghai, China.