Hunting white bars

A goalless loss to Slovan prompted Anvar Gatiyatulin to shuffle up the lines quite a bit. Jiri Novotny ousted Alexander Sharov from the second line; Sharovhimself was put in the fourth line’s center alongside Semyon Afonasyevsky and the returning Marsel Sholokhov. The third line consisted of Ilya Zinovyev, Alexander Chernikov and Yuri Petrov. Birthday boy Vitali Kravtsov was the 13thforward. Pavel Francouz was the starting goalie.

Barys tried to knock Traktor down early on with a flurry of offence but did not get the job done. Traktor immediately responded to that with the go-ahead goal scored by Paul Szczechura off of a Yakutsenya pass during a breakaway opportunity. Shortly thereafter, Barys tried to pressure visitors, but the black-and-white did not budge an inch. Closer to the break, Traktor seized the advantage and could have increased the lead if it wasn’t for Henrik Karlsson.

The second twenty started with a Traktor penalty that went on without much trouble. When Kevin Dallman destroyed Alexander Chernikov, the black-and-white decided to respond with their second goal of the game. It was a power play goal…no, it was THE power play goal. Nothing to write here – go see this goal for yourself. Google it, YouTube it, do whatever you need to, but watch it. By the way, this was Paul Szczechura’s tenth season goal. This seemingly broke down the spirit of Barys, and hosts started hitting the bad boys’ box one after another. Soon enough, the score increased to three nothing when Alexei Petrov converted a power play opportunity.

The third twenty was a sight to see. Early on, Cam Barker pulled one back for Barys and kept hope alive. This lit the fire under Barys’ players, and Pavel Francouz had to face enormous shooting pressure. Somewhere during these minutes, fatigue of the road series started kicking in, and Traktor started collecting penalties. Five minutes before the horn, Barys converted their second power play of the period; this time, Nigel Dawes was the perpetrator. Alexei Kruchinin calmed things down somewhat, scoring his ninth goal of this regular season. However, Dawes immediately cut the goal margin to one.

The final two minutes of the game were HAWT FAYA! Anvar Gatiyatulin took a timeout to give his team a moment to compose themselves. Barys was pushing the envelope, Francouz was holding on, and when Barys could not quite cut it, Brandon Bochenski was unable to hold his temper and got two game misconduct penalties.

This win allowed Traktor to keep the fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Game details

BARYS vs. TRAKTOR – 3:4 (0:1, 0:2, 3:1)
Goals: Szczechura (Yakutsenya, Kruchinin), 4 (0:1); Szczechura (Kruchinin, Alexei Petrov), 32 (0:2 – PP goal); Alexei Petrov (Kruchinin), 40 (0:3 – PP goal); Barker (Trivino), 43 (1:3 – PP goal); Dawes (Dallman), 55 (2:3 – PP goal); Kruchinin (Yakutsenya), 57 (2:4); Dawes (Semenov, Boyd), 58 (3:4)

BARYS
Karlsson (58:43-58:46, 59:41-60:00 – empty net);
Dallman (A) – Semenov (A), Dawes – Boyd – Bochenski (C);
Barker – Shalapov, Pushkaryov – St. Pierre – Panyukov;
Lipin – Savchenko, Khudyakov – Kuchin – Ivanov;
Nikulin – Tryasunov, Belgibayev – Trivino – Grents.

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

Shots on goal: 35 (9+12+14) – 27 (11+10+6).
Faceoffs won: 29 (8+11+10) – 22 (7+5+10).
Shots blocked: 11 (7+3+1) – 13 (6+1+6).
Hits: 14 (6+4+4) – 9 (4+1+4).
PIM: 66 (0+16+50) – 8 (0+2+6).
PP goals: 2-2.
TOI: Boyd (22:39), Dawes (21:54), Bochenski (21:12) – Belov (22:21), Denisov (22:06), Roy (21:06).

Referees: Vladimir Bukin, Alexander Soin.
Linesmen: Alexander Chernyshev, Nikita Shalagin.

December 23, 2016. Barys Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan. Attendance – 4123.