Two different teams in black-and-white jerseys

On this night former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ian White finally made his long-awaited debut. White constituted the fourth D pair along with Nikita Khlystov. Also recent U20 World Cup bronze medalist Vyacheslav Osnovin returned to the lineup. Lastly, the coaching staff exchanged first and second defensive pairs.

First period
It seemed as though Traktor's desire and will to win spilt over from the previous matchup against CSKA. Hosts were quicker, stronger and more dominating than the visitors. It all began with Dinamo's attack though; a four-on-two attack wound up stopped by Garnett. Glinkin responded with a fine shot that just missed the mark. Soon Traktor garnered a power play chance, but despite good puck movement, no decisive shot was taken by the black-and-white. Shortly after the opponents exchanged penalties, but were unable to construct anything substantial on the attacking end. As the period was coming to a close, one of Traktor's most prolific pairings, Glinkin-Popov, pulled hosts ahead (Anton passed, Andrey scored). Traktor was in a giving mood and extended the goal margin right before the horn when Bulis upset Tellqvist by sending the rubber in between his pads. Two zip after the first twenty; one could argue that pizza slices in the concession stands tasted especially good after a performance like that by the home team.

Second period
Those pizza slices - or the U-turn the game took after the break (pick one) - might have made many fans in attendance sick to their stomach. Rather quickly Dinamo pulled one back in a counter at the hands of Pavlovs. Something went wrong after that; two minutes later Dinamo tied it up when Hossa outplayed Garnett with a close range shot; for some reason no D-man was willing to stop the Slovak. Shortly thereafter Traktor was left shorthanded at the most inopportune of times; nonetheless, hosts killed it off and could pull ahead momentarily, but Tellqvist saved Dinamo after a heavy blue-liner by Ian White. After this flurry Dinamo completed a comeback; Redlihs spearheaded the attack that resulted in visitors taking the lead for the first time in this matchup. Traktor had a great chance to tie it up before the buzzer; Bulis seemingly sent the puck past Tellqvist, but somehow someway the Swede turned the shot aside.

Third period
Midway through the period Aleksey Vasilchenko offered a present to Marcel Hascak in the form of the puck given right on the stick; Marcel must have appreciated this invaluable gift as he extended the goal margin to two. Later on Traktor earned a shot at power play; Kokuyov had a great chance during these two minutes, but Tellqvist did not budge, just like in two subsequent episode when he denied two shots by Kostitsyn and White. That was the final flurry for the hosts, but Dinamo had something to say before it was all said and done; two minutes prior to the horn Paul Szczechura set the final score of this contest. 

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. DINAMO Riga – 2:5 (2:0, 0:3, 0:2)

Goals: Popov (Kondratyev, Glinkin), 17 (1:0); Bulis (Kontiola), 20 (2:0); Pavlovs (Robinson, Begovs), 27 (2:1); Hossa (Indrasis, Wilson), 29 (2:2); Redlihs (Indrasis, Szczechura), 37 (2:3); Hascak, 49 (2:4); Szczechura (Sotnieks, Hascak), 59 (2:5).

TRAKTOR
Garnett;
Kondratyev – Vasilchenko, Bulis (A) – Kontiola (A) – Kostitsyn,
Ryabykin (C) – Bondarev, Glinkin – Popov – Kokuyov,
Katichev – Borodkin, Chistov – Zavarukhin – Panov,
Khlystov – White, Osnovin – Valeyev – Mokin.

DINAMO (Riga, Latvia)
Tellqvist;
Rekis (A) – Ozolins (C), Hossa – Wilson – Pavlovs;
Lavins – Robinson, Johnson – Szczechura (A) – Indrasis;
Redlihs – Sotnieks, Bukarts – Dzerins – Hascak,
Bicevskis – Begovs – Skvorcovs.

PIM: 4 (2+2+0) - 10 (4+4+2).
Shots: 24 (6+6+12) - 22 (3+9+10).
Faceoffs won: 37 (7+14+16) - 18 (5+7+6).
TOI: Kontiola (23:33), Bulis (22:05), Kostitsyn (21:00) - Robinson (22:19), Ozolins (21:02), Rekis (19:59).
PP goals: 0-0.

January 9, 2014. Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance - 7200.