Romazan Memorial Tournament. Barys proves to be the most inconvenient of rivals for Traktor

Traktor's coaching staff resorted to some changes on the lineup. Fokin became #1 goalie; Ryabykin was replaced by Guskov, thus the fourth D-pair consisted of Flyagin and Klimontov. Tsybin became a fourth-line forward, thus moving Osipenko to the bench.

First period
Traktor looked more charged in the opening moments; Darzins could not outplay Yeremeyev to start things off. Barys's attack was traditionally led by the North American line; in fact, Dawes and Bochensky bothered Fokin couple of times, but to no avail. Shortly after Traktor gained a one-man advantage but failed to extract any profit. Generally speaking, the period was not very rich with scoring chances, and even though Barys took twice as many shots on goal as Traktor, they did not really carry any threat with them.

Second period
Barys began the period on a high note with two decent shots stopped by Fokin. Traktor quickly responded with two shots of their own taken by Chistov and Kontiola - Yeremeyev was barely able to swat the puck away from his net. Barys then took over again, but somehow allowed the puck into their own net instead of the other way around - Andrey Popov put his name on the scoreboard. Traktor kicked it into another gear, gaining two straight power plays. Kokuyov hid his shot under the D-man, Bondarev tried to deflect the puck from the crease - on both instances Yeremeyev came out victorious. Then, the game suddenly took a 180-degree turn when, within the span of one minute, Barys capitalized on two power play attempts (goals scored by Dawes and Blokhin), heading to the locker room in the lead.

Third period
Five minutes into the period Darzins passed the puck from around the net to Kontiola; Petri took a great shot, but the puck went just wide. One team's missed shot is another team's goal - Blokhin's half zone slapshot made the score 3:1 for Barys. Traktor quickly pulled one back at the hands of Kontiola's power play goal. After two timeouts and goalie pull Traktor tried to salvage the game, but Barys held up and came away with a win. 2:3 as Traktor will meet the tournament hosts, Metallurg, tomorrow.

Game details

TRAKTOR VS. BARYS – 2:3 (0:0, 1:2, 1:1)

Goals: Popov (Klimontov), 27 (1:0); Dawes (Bochensky, Lundin), 35 (1:1 - PP); Blokhin (Lundin, Boyd), 36 (1:2 - PP); Blokhin (Bochensky, Boyd), 47 (1:3); Kontiola (Kondratyev), 50 (2:3 - PP).
Shootouts: Gavrilin (0:0 - denied by goaltender), Dugin (0:0 - denied by goaltender), Bochensky (0:1), Darzins (1:1), Panshin (1:2), Kuryanov (2:2).

Traktor (Chelyabinsk)
Fokin (0:00 – 59:33);
Mamashev – Bondarev, Chistov (A) – Kuryanov – Kokuyov,
Vasilchenko – Guskov, Panov (C) – Kontiola – Kostitsyn,
Kondratyev – Katichev, Darzins – Bulis (A) – Dugin,
Flyagin – Klimontov, Glinkin – Popov – Tsybin,
Osipenko.

Barys (Astana)
Yeremeyev;
Blokhin (A) – Lundin, Dawes – Boyd – Bochensky,
Kolesnikov – Semenov, Panshin – Gavrilin (C) – Spiridonov,
Lakiza – Savchenko, Zhailauov – Polishchuk (A) – Starchenko,
Fadeyev – Grebenshchikov, Rakhmanov – Antsyferov – Romanov,
Kairov.

PIM: 10 (4+4+2) - 8 (2+4+2).
PP goals: 1-2.
Shots: 40 (9+15+16)- 38 (18+11+9).
Faceoffs won: 30 (10+11+9)- 28 (7+9+12).

Referees: Aleksev Vasilyev (Saint-Petersburg), Sergey Kulakov (Tver).
Linesmen: Valery Khudaygulov, Dmitry Smorodin (both - Magnitogorsk).

August 27, 2013. Metallurg Arena, Magnitogorsk, Russia.

Photo courtesy of Metallurg's Press Office