Soul of fire

Vitali Kravtsov made his full-fledged debut (before that, he only was the odd 13th forward), taking a spot in the fourth line alongside Yuri Petrov and Alexander Chernikov. Pavel Francouz started the game in between the pipes.

The 62th head-to-head game between the two teams began at a decent pace. Both teams came in determined to seize the advantage early, but Traktor got a little bit of an edge. Alexei Kruchinin, forward of national Russian team and a happy father, had a scoring chance similar to that he had in the CSKA game, but it went awry along the way as he sent the puck high above the bar. Another fine chance on goal was created by Jiri Novotny, but Czech forward who has been on quite a roll over the past couple of games hit the post.

Magnitka started the second twenty in a shorthanded situation but soon acquired a power play opportunity when Novotny was ejected for a 2+10 penalty for illegal check to the head. This penalty was killed off uneventfully, but when the officials ‘awarded’ Pavel Francouz with a tripping penalty, the goalless tie was finally broken – in a standard play, Sergei Mozyakin hit a blistering one timer that found the back of the net. Squeezed between those two fateful penalties was a Dmitri Pestunov shot that almost resulted in a goal, but for the second time in forty minutes, the black-and-white were out of luck as the puck hit the iron.

Early on in the third, hosts rushed forward in an attempt to tie the game. Vasili Koshechkin had to showcase his undeniably great goaltending skills to keep Metallurg in the lead. Sometime later, Denis Platonov hit the penalty box, and Traktor finally managed to tie this game up. This goal was not your typical PP goal though; Kirill Koltsov fed Artyom Penkovsky who outplayed an opposition defenseman, skated away for a rendezvous with Koshechkin and beat him. Moreover, the pressure applied by Traktor led to the go-ahead – and, as it turned out, the game-winning – goal when Paul Szczechura was quick to transfer the rebounded puck into the net. The game hit its climax two minutes before the horn; Dmitri Pestunov hooked Sergei Mozyakin and was sent to the sin bin for two minutes, which actually meant for the entirety of the remaining segment of this hockey game. Magnitka won the draw and managed to set up an attack as Koshechkin hit the bench for an extra attacker. Chelyabinsk faithful were booing like crazy, and Traktor was withstanding the pressure. Tommi Santala eased up the pressure somewhat as he hit Chernikov’s stick for the reason he only knows. Still, it was not over as the visitors still put enormous pressure on the four defending Traktor players, but nothing came out of it. The black-and-white hung on to the lead and secured a fourth spot in the Eastern Conference standings which, in turn, guarantees a home ice advantage for the first round of playoffs.

Traktor and Metallurg will face off once again on Friday, this time in Magnitogorsk. This will be the last game of the 2016/17 regular season for both teams.

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. METALLURG Magnitogorsk – 2:1 (0:0, 0:1, 2:0)
Goals: Mozyakin (Lee, Zaripov), 29 (0:1 – PP goal); Penkovsky (Francouz, Koltsov), 48 (1:1 – PP goal); Szczechura (Yakutsenya, Kruchinin), 55 (2:1).

TRAKTOR
Francouz;
Koltsov – Borodkin, Kruchinin – Szczechura – Yakutsenya;
Shinin (C) – Belov, Sharov – Pestunov (A) – Penkovsky;
Alexei Petrov (A) – Zhuldikov, Tridchikov – Novotny– Roy;
Klimontov – Mamayev, Chernikov – Yuri Petrov – Kravtsov.

METALLURG
Koshechkin (58:16-58:52, 59:11-60:00 – empty net goal);
Biryukov – Lee (A), Mozyakin (C) – Kovar – Zaripov (A);
Bereglazov – Dronov, Kosov – Filippi – Timkin;
Khabarov – Tereshchenko, Osala – Santala – Potekhin;
Budkin, Platonov – Kaletnik – Denis Kazionov, Zhelezkov.

Shots on goal: 34 (13+9+11) – 25 (9+10+6).
Faceoffs won: 26 (7+9+10) – 24 (7+10+7).
Shots blocked: 10 (1+2+7) – 8 (2+4+2).
Hits: 3 (2+1+0) – 7 (2+3+2).
PIM: 18 (0+16+2) – 12 (4+2+6).
PP goals: 1-1.
TOI: Yakutsenya (21:25), Borodkin (20:17), Koltsov (18:11), Belov (18:11) – Lee (21:49), Bereglazov (19:31), Mozyakin (18:59).

Referees: Vladimir Bukin, Nikolai Akuzovsky.
Linesmen: Ivan Sazonov, Yevgeni Streltsov.

February 15, 2017. Traktor Arena n.a. Valeri Belousov, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 7500.