When attack prevails

For the first time in the current season Vyacheslav Osnovin appeared on the lineup, taking the center position in the fourth line. This resulted in Popov being moved one line up. Kondratyev returned from a minor injury to appear in the fourth D pair. Second pair consisted of Ryabykin and the returning Mamashev, third one - of Katichev and Vasilchenko.
Before the match Governor Yurevich and Deputy Executive Director of KHL Aleksey Kireyev wished Traktor good luck and new success in this season.

First period
Traktor pretty much sealed the deal in the first twenty. The opening merry-go-round by Traktor fourth line resulted in Flyagin checking the metal of visitors' net on fracture resistance. After this little setback and an unsuccessful power play hosts opened the score at the hands of Maksim Kondratyev. Metallurg quickly came to their senses and organized a good offensive flurry with a 5-on-4 play; Garnett did not let anything in, much to the delight of Chelyabinsk faithful who has been yearning to see live KHL game for a while now. Traktor shrugged it off and darted to get another goal; Glinkin and Osnovin and Mokin each had a goal-scoring chance throughout one shift - Hovinen kept visitors in the game. The black and white team garnered another PP pretty quickly; Bulis and Guskov had scoring chances, but the goalie and the post thwarted the second goal of the game, at least for the time being. The time being was not long enough - dozens of seconds before the horn Darzins converted a rebound into 2:0 on the scoreboard.

Second period
Traktor solidified their already decent lead with two more scoring efforts. Rather quickly Petri Kontiola fired a wrist shot that went right underneath Hovinen's glove to increase the goal differential to three. Visitors' coaching staff changed the goaltender (suffice it to say, the newcomer Lozhkin did a much better job than his predecessor). The newcomer immediately had to save his team from further trouble that was coming at the hands of the awesome-looking fourth line. Later on Garnett turned away a one-on-one which was followed by Traktor's fourth goal - a tic-tac-toe Kontiola-Ryabykin-Darzins extended the goal margin to four. Metallurg was essentially done. To visitors' credit though, they did not completely gave up and came up with a handful of scoring chances that did not come through.

Third period
The final twenty was way calmer considering the result of the game was virtually set. Nonetheless, nothing stopped Traktor from scoring number five (Chistov). However, the fly in the ointment was Skutar's goal midway through the third that spoiled a possible clean sheet for Michael Garnett. The returning Mamashev was fired up after the words of the coaching staff and had at least two goal attempts throughout the period, but alas - no points for Renat in this game, even though he certainly gets a high mark for his efforts. All in all, a confident and beautiful victory for Traktor who awaits their next opponent on Friday.

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. METALLURG NOVOKUZNETSK – 5:1 (2:0, 2:0, 1:1)

Goals: Kondratyev (Mokin, Glinkin), 7 (1:0); Darzins (Kontiola, Katichev), 20 (2:0); Kontiola (Ryabykin), 22 (3:0); Darzins (Ryabykin, Kontiola), 29 (4:0 - PP goal); Chistov (Panov), 41 (5:0); Skutar (Zhafyarov), 53 (5:1).

TRAKTOR (CHELYABINSK)
Garnett;
Guskov – Bondarev, Chistov (A) – Bulis – Panov (C),
Ryabykin (A) – Mamashev, Darzins – Kontiola – Kostitsyn,
Vasilchenko – Katichev, Dugin – Kuryanov – Popov,
Kondratyev – Flyagin, Glinkin – Osnovin – Mokin.

METALLURG (NOVOKUZNETSK)
Hovinen;
Martynov – Giroux (A), Anttila – Mclean – Galimov,
Chernov (A) – Mantyla, Vyglazov – Lapenkov – Kosourov (C),
Korabeynikov – Kanarskiy, Gareyev – Yemelin – Zhafyarov,
Kapotov – Skutar, Zyuzyakin – Gimbatov – Nazarov.

PIM: 4 (2+2+0) - 10 (4+2+4).
Shots: 36 (15+11+10)- 19 (5+7+7).
Faceoffs won: 30 (9+9+12)- 23 (7+11+5).
TOI: Ryabykin (20:18), Bulis (17:45), Mamashev (17:32)- Martynov (19:23), Galimov (18:14), Giroux (18:05).
PP goals: 1-0.

September 18, 2013. Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance - 7450.