Gagarin Cup Finals. Already familiar with 0:2 in the series

Both teams didn’t make any changes to their rosters.

First period
Traktor established their dominance early on as soon as they killed Dynamo’s penalty. Five minutes into the game Nichushkin passed from behind the net to Quint; Deron tried to hit the near corner only to be thwarted by Yeremenko. Bulis and Glinkin followed it up with two similar scoring chances once again neutralized by Dynamo’s goaltender. Dynamo answered with Konkov’s crease shot stopped in a brilliant fashion by Garnett. The clock didn’t tick long as in the next attack Petruzalek found the top corner of the net with a spectacular wrist shot. Traktor jacked up the pace gaining a power play chance. The home team was locked in their zone for the entire penalty time and almost was able to hold up, but dozen of seconds before the penalty could expire Jan Bulis deflected the puck right into the net after Ryabykin’s blue-liner.

Second period
Dynamo was more active at the top of the period; Kasyanchuk, Mosalyov and Vishnevskiy had their scoring chances neutralized by Michael Garnett who was on top of his game during these minutes. Mid-period the pendulum swung to Traktor’s side; visitors’ hustle paid off when Dynamo was left with two-man disadvantage. Traktor quickly capitalized on this huge chance – Kostitsyn occupied the right position in front of the net and hit the empty net to give Traktor the lead. Dynamo expectedly rushed forward, but Traktor was able to hang on until the horn, despite the sickening tempo of Dynamo’s attacks.

Third period
If the first two periods were not championship game material, the third one more than lived up to this moniker. Nonetheless, there were not many scoring chances, yet the nerves and the emotions were aplenty. Three minutes into the period yet another Nichushkin^TMrun-through ended on Yeremenko. And then the trouble came out of the blue; Kvapil fired from the blue line, Garnett was blocked by a mass of humanity and couldn’t see the puck. 2:2. The ice under players’ skates began to melt as the amount of hits and overall power game became as formidable as ever. All signs pointed to an overtime which ultimately did not happen. If you feel robbed of another period of exciting hockey, you can blame Janne Jalasvaara for this; Dynamo’s Finn slapped the taste out of the puck’s mouth (if a puck has one) and gave Dynamo the lead. Traktor traditionally pulled the goalie, but couldn’t save the matchup. 2-0, Dynamo leads the series as the opponents head to South Urals’ capital for two more matches.


Stats and details

Dynamo vs. Traktor – 3:2 (1:1, 0:1, 2:0)

Goals: Petruzalek (Tsvetkov, Kokarev), 11 (1:0); Bulis (Ryabykin, Kuznetsov), 18 (1:1 – PP); Kostitsyn (Ryabykin, Quint), 32 (1:2 – PP); Kvapil (Gorokhov, Yeremenko), 44 (2:2); Jalasvaara (Mosalyov, Kokarev), 58 (3:2).

Dynamo (Moscow)
Yeremenko;
Granak – Vishnevskiy, Babenko (C) – Soin – Konkov,
Jalasvaara – Solovyov, Kokarev – Tsvetkov – Mosalyov,
Mironov – Gorokhov, Kasyanchuk – Gorovikov – Sopin,
Kvapil – Pestunov – Petruzalek.

Traktor (Chelyabinsk)
Garnett (0:00 – 59:08);
Quint – Ryabykin (A), Chistov – Bulis – Kuznetsov,
Belov – Vasilchenko, Kostitsyn – Kontiola – Yakutsenya,
Katichev – Razin (A), Nichushkin – Popov – Antipov (C),
Glinkin – Nesterov – Karpov.

Penalty Minutes: 6 (2+4+0) - 6 (4+2+0).
Shots: 25 (12+6+7) - 27 (11+6+10).
Faceoffs Won: 23 (7+8+8) - 25 (9+7+9).
Time on Ice: Granak (23:36), Jalasvaara (22:55), Solovyov (21:48) - Ryabykin (25:04), Quint (24:08), Bulis (22:28).
Power Play Goals: 0-2.

Referees: Anatoly Zakharov (Moscow), Eduard Odins (Riga, Latvia).
Linesmen: Aleksey Medvedev, Viktor Birin (both – Moscow).

April 8, 2013. Luzhniki Sports Arena, Moscow, Russia. Attendance – 8341.