Traktor victorious in South Ural derby

First period
Being a derby, this match began providing the fans with buckets of emotions right from the start. First Bulis and Panov checked whether Ahonen was ready for the game, and he was on both exchanges. Garnett was not far behind Metallurg’s goalie and five minutes into the match made a great glove save. Andrey Kostitsyn did not change his style for an iota and executed three heavy hits during one shift. Shortly after Metallurg got a power play, but Traktor completed another picture-perfect penalty killing. Michael Garnett saved Traktor from trouble one more time before the home team opened the score; Yakutsenya made a simple but effective decision to pass the puck to the crease, and Bulis pulled Traktor ahead. Before the buzzer Traktor’s Wonder Kid Valery Nichushkin could continue his scoring ways, but was not able to take a shot.

Second period
Second period did not begin well for the home team as they had to face a two-man disadvantage; during this shorthanded play Vasilchenko broke his stick, so basically Traktor was playing two on five. To team’s credit, they managed to fend off Metallurg and doubled their lead in full strength – Jan Bulis scored his second goal of the night. Traktor dominated the power game completely; Nichushkin proved this statement by executing a glass-rattling hit against Sergey Bernatsky. Garnett was in the zone as well, taking all comers and turning the threats away. Before the buzzer Andrey Kostitsyn got the spotlight again when he had a mini-brawl with the aforementioned Bernatsky; the latter was very aggressive and hit Traktor’s forward, getting a ten-minute disciplinary penalty, while Kostitsyn was given only two minutes for roughing.

Third period
Visitors pulled one back quickly as Mozyakin brought Magnitka back into the match. Metallurg began to dictate the pace shortly after the goal; Kazionov could complete a swift comeback for Metallurg, but hit the post. Traktor regrouped after the wake-up call and did not allow visitors to snatch points from this game; Kontiola who is molten hot after coming back from an injury reestablished the two-goal margin with a scintillating wrist shot. Metallurg was seemingly done with, but the referees must have been Hitchcock’s fans and gave the game a little suspense in the form of three consecutive penalties for the home team. Traktor did not faze, killed all three of them and set the final score of the match when Aleksandr Shinin found the goal. Traktor could score even more, but decided to stop at 4:1. The sound of the horn drowned in cheers and applause. Traktor scores four out of our home victories and heads to the last away series of the regular season.

Stats and details

Traktorvs. Metallurg Magnitogorsk – 4:1 (1:0, 1:0, 2:1)

Goals: Bulis (Chistov, Kuznetsov), 15 (1:0 – PP);Bulis (Chistov, Kuznetsov), 25 (2:0); Mozyakin (Lisin, Hodgman), 41 (2:1); Kontiola (Panov, Belov), 46 (3:1 – PP); Shinin (Quint), 54 (4:1 – PP).

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

Metallurg (Magnitogorsk)
Ahonen;
Antipin – Biryukov (A), Platonov – O’Reilly – Mozyakin (C),
Khabarov – Misharin, Zdunov – Hodgman – Kazionov,
Bernatsky – Bondarev (A), Potekhin – Schenfeld – Zuccarello,
Tverdovsky, Malinovsky – Yakubov – Lisin,
Kosov.

Penalty Minutes:16 (2+6+8) - 22 (2+16+4).
Shots: 23 (6+8+9) - 34 (12+12+10).
Faceoffs Won: 26 (7+10+9) - 35 (10+15+10).
Time on Ice: Vasilchenko (22:11), Quint (19:40), Nesterov (18:04) - Mozyakin (22:06), Antipin (21:37), Hodgman (20:52).
Power Play Goals: 3-0.

Referees: Sergey Karabanov, Aleksey Ravodin (both – Moscow).
Linesmen: Stanislav Raming (Yekaterinburg), Sergey Misyur (Nizhny Tagil).

January 23, 2013. Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 7500.