2012/2013 Playoffs. 5:0 and a clean sheet for Garnett
The only change in Traktor’s line-up
was the absence of Aleksandr Shinin. Anton Glinkin took Shinin’s place on the line-up.
First period
Traktor was disciplined at the defensive end throughout the period and only
allowed Avangard to create two goal-scoring chances. Visitors quickly got a
power play opportunity and in the same quick fashion converted it; Belov slapped from the blue line, Yakutsenya pulled a couple of D-men
away from the crease, giving Kontiola a lot of space to open the score. Avangard could not reciprocate and allowed
their second goal momentarily. Nichushkin received Dugin’s pass, outmaneuvered
two of Avangard’s defensemen and found the net, making it a 2:0 game. The home team
shrugged off the slumber and started to show signs of life. During Avangard’s power
play Perezhogin and Popov could pull one back, but failed
to. Closer towards the buzzer Kuparinen tried to catch Garnett off guard
from close range; Michael neutralized the threat. Seconds later Andrey Popov had a carbon copy of this
chance; goaltender (this time Karri Ramo)
prevailed on this exchange as well.
Second period
As expected, Avangard rushed forward in chase of a goal right off the bat. The
game took a drastic change of pace; first Frolov and Kontiola exchanged jabs (not
literal, metaphorical jabs). Avangard took over the initiative for a period of
time; Kalinin and Pujacs had a chance to upset Garnett – close, but no cigar. Traktor showed
some reciprocity; Andrey Popov skated away for a one-on-one,
making Avangard’s defenseman commit a foul. Traktor’s power play performance was
brilliant, even though it brought no goal. Later on the jacked up pace of the
game died down a bit; Traktor kept a favorable goal margin and had all the leverage
in the world going into third period.
Third period
In what then turned out to be the last Avangard’s offensive flurry in this game,
the home team besieged Garnett’s net
for some four minutes and had three decent scoring chances, but no one of the Pivtsakin-Zherebtsov-Semin trio was
able to get through the brick wall that was Michael Garnett tonight.
This onslaught seemed to have drained Avangard, and the home team completely
lost their grip on the match. First Popov was the nimblest to add the puck into the net after Antipov’s solo effort; then Quint and Kuznetsov constructed a beauty
of a power play goal; Deron had a chance to charge it, but chose to pass to the
far post instead – Kuzya only had to
find an empty corner of the net which he did. That was not all for the night though; Kostitsyn, Yakutsenya and Kontiola engineered a classic tic-tac-toe goal; with this goal-scoring effort Petri
garnered his 11th point in the playoffs. Kontiola still sits atop the overall scorer leaderboard while
Traktor takes the lead in the series after a scintillating win.
Stats and details
Avangard vs. Traktor – 0:5 (0:2, 0:0, 0:3)
Goals: Kontiola (V. Belov), 5 (0:1 – PP); Nichushkin (Karpov, Dugin), 9 (0:2); A. Popov (Kostitsyn, Antipov), 50 (0:3); Kuznetsov (Quint), 51 (0:4 – PP); Kontiola (Kostitsyn, Yakutsenya), 59 (0:5 – PP).
Avangard (Omsk Region)
Ramo;
Pivtsakin – Lyamin, Volkov – Semin – Frolov (C),
Valentenko – A. Belov, Zaborsky – Aleksandr Popov – Perezhogin,
Salmela – Pujacs, Kalinin – Kuryanov – Ivanov,
Gusev, Taratukhin – Kuparinen – Pervushin,
Zherebtsov.
Traktor (Chelyabinsk)
Garnett;
Quint – Ryabykin (A), Chistov – Bulis – Kuznetsov,
V. Belov – Vasilchenko, Panov (A) – Kontiola – Yakutsenya,
Katichev – Razin, Antipov (C) – Andrey Popov – Kostitsyn,
Nichushkin – Dugin – Karpov.
Penalty Minutes: 10 (2+4+4) - 2 (2+0+0).
Shots: 33 (12+10+11) - 33 (10+10+13).
Faceoffs Won: 37 (16+11+10) - 21 (8+5+7).
Time on Ice: Salmela (19:17), A. Belov (19:04), Aleksandr Popov (18:11) - Quint (24:57), Ryabykin (23:29), Katichev (18:19).
Power Play Goals: 0-3.
Referees: Aleksey Belov (Yaroslavl), Sergey Kulakov (Tver).
Linesmen: Aleksandr Zakharenkov, Stanislav Pavlov (both – Moscow).
March 8, 2013. Omsk Arena, Omsk, Russia. Attendance – 8370.
