Traktor begins the hot streak

First period
Traktor had a most auspicious start of the match. A mere minute into the match Panov stormed through the right wing and took a slapshot; Kontiola was ready to add the puck into the net, but his shot was blocked. Right after that Yevgeny Katichev decimated Musatov with a stiff hit. Still in high spirits, Traktor scored twice within the span of 15 seconds. First Aleksandr Shinin utilized Glinkin’s pass from behind the net to open the score; and right after the face-off Yevgeny Kuznetsov spurted to the net and outplayed Salavat’s goaltender Tarkki to double Traktor’s lead. The home team continued to steamroll through the visitors and scored for the third time, but the goal was cancelled due to puck’s contact with the skate. Salavat woke up momentarily and gained a power play, having a chance to pull one back, but thanks to Ryabykin’s two selfless blocks and Fokin’s great saves Traktor hung on to the comfortable lead. Nonetheless, visitors slowly got back into the game and eventually managed to cut the goal margin at the hands of Igor Mirnov. Then goals stopped for a while, and the penalties ensued; six seconds before the buzzer Proshkin and Chistov received coincidental penalties; the former also received 10-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct to go along with his 2-minute penalty.

Second period
Standstill set in from the beginning of the period; nothing noteworthy happened for a good seven minutes. When these quite times were over, Ryabykin got an unnecessary penalty that did not lead to any trouble only thanks to Fokin. Traktor was given their chance at power play later on which turned out to be somewhat lackluster except several shots by Quint and Vasilchenko. After a quiet two or three minutes Glinkin put on a great solo effort; Anton outplayed three of Salavat’s defensemen, got to the net where he was seemingly stopped illegally, but the referees had another opinion on this one. Closing moments of the period saw Fokin keep the lead for Traktor on two exchanges.

Third period
Traktor was left shorthanded at the top of the period, but then the referees quickly made it a four-on-four game. This was when Traktor constructed a third goal; Bulis got into the zone and passed the puck to Yakutsenya who took a nice shot that found the goal. Traktor continued to rock and roll and created a couple of scoring chances at the hands of the aforementioned Yakutsenya and Kuznetsov, but Tarkki kept Salavat afloat for a while. After that there was a lot of power game from both sides without any chances on goal, at least for the time being; then Vlad Fokin gained an opportunity to showcase his skills, and did he ever do it! Two of Zinovyev’s crease shots and Svitov’s goal-scoring chance all neutralized by Traktor’s goaltender made him one of the stars of tonight’s contest. As a result, Traktor prevails in a second consecutive game and awaits their next opponent, Neftekhimik.

Stats and details

Traktorvs.Salavat Yulaev – 3:1 (2:1, 0:0, 1:0)
Goals: Shinin (Glinkin), 4 (1:0); Kuznetsov (Bulis, Ryabykin), 4 (2:0); Mirnov (Svitov), 13 (2:1); Yakutsenya (Quint, Bulis), 43 (3:1).

Traktor (Chelyabinsk)
Fokin;
Quint – Ryabykin (A), Chistov – Bulis – Kuznetsov,
Belov – Vasilchenko, Panov (A) – Kontiola – Yakutsenya,
Razin – Katichev, Kostitsyn – Popov – Antipov (C),
Nesterov – Shinin, Glinkin – Karpov – Nichushkin.

Salavat Yulaev (Ufa)
Tarkki;
Koltsov – Zubarev, Saprykin – Svitov (A) – Mirnov,
Proshkin (C) – Konev, Slepyshev – Zinovyev – Pihlstrӧm,
Baranka – Gurkin, Filatov – Khlystov (A) – Parshin,
Isangulov – Atyushov, Musatov – Glukhov – Stepanov.

Penalty Minutes: 12 (4+4+4) - 24 (18+4+2)
Shots: 28 (10+7+11) - 29 (6+9+14).
Faceoffs Won: 23 (6+11+6) - 30 (14+8+8).
Time on Ice: Ryabykin (20:47), Kuznetsov (19:47), Quint (18:46) - Zubarev (23:04), Koltsov (21:36), Svitov (19:10).
Power Play Goals: 0-0.

Referees: Viktor Gashilov (Perm), Sergey Gusev (Serov).
Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev (Perm), Yakov Paley (Magnitogorsk).

January 19, 2013. Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 7500.