After two weeks since the start of the KHL regular season of the 2023/2024 season, there was only one team left in the league that had not yet suffered a single defeat. Igor Larionov’s unique “Torpedo”, after a successful performance last season, started this regular season immediately, immediately starting a five-match winning streak.
During their tour, the Nizhny Novgorod team also scored an important away victory over Lokomotiv (5-2), a beautiful home victory over SKA (4-3) and two brilliant comebacks. First, in the match against Dinamo Minsk, the Torpedo team lost 2:4, but a two-goal difference turned into a final victory (6:4), and then in the match against Kunlun Red Star, after two periods 0:2. it became 5:2 in just the last twenty minutes.
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To continue Saturday’s victorious march, Nizhny Novgorod residents had to pass the Ak Barsom exam. In general, the Kazan club had a rather mediocre pace at the beginning of the championship and is still far from optimal conditions, as demonstrated by the first “green derby” of this season.
In the match against Salavat Yulaev, the Kazan team took a two-goal lead, but then lost everything and in the end did not score a single point. Five minutes before the end of regulation time, Belarusian striker Ivan Drozdov scored a great goal against Timur Bilyalov, causing Ak Bars to suffer its second defeat of the season (2-3). Previously, the club from the capital of Tatarstan sensationally “burned” at home in the match against HC Sochi (1:3).
In the first half, the rivals did not put in an incredible performance. To count the moments of danger for both teams, the fingers of one hand would be enough. At the same time, Vasily Atanasov, as usual, excelled in Torpedo, but even his throws lacked the accuracy characteristic of him. Kazan created the most realistic scoring opportunity a minute before heading to the locker room: Dmitry Yudin found Alexander Radulov in a lethal position, but the star striker missed from an advantageous position.
Immediately after the break it became clear that the opening segment was just a continuation of the teams’ warm-up before the start of the main action. From the beginning of the second half the real concert began. Already in the second minute of the segment, the guests performed a spectacular three-play play with the participation of Nikita Artamonov, Nikolai Kovalenko and Maxim Letunov. Nikita and Nikolay acted as assistants, and Maxim sent the puck into the goal with a nickel, extending the scoring streak. In the previous match, Letunov scored a hat-trick.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
After scoring the goal, the Nizhny Novgorod team began to break the rules en masse, but at first this even played into their favor. In the first minority, Larionov’s team survived without problems, and in the next one they even carried out a counterattack and got a throw-in in the rival zone. And they didn’t stop there. Letunov won the throw-in, young defenseman Anton Silaev attacked from the blue line and Andrei Belevich successfully set up from the dime, sending another puck into Bilyalov’s goal. It is curious that the Belarusian striker managed to score in a minority for the second consecutive game.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
Having lost the majority, the Kazan team recovered with equal strength. Two minutes after the guests’ second goal, the hosts really got involved: Nikita Dynyak delivered the puck to the near corner, from where Dmitry Katelevsky sent it into the goal from a very short distance. And the Torpedo players continued to commit fouls. And the third move in the period proved fatal for the guests.
In principle, the Nizhny Novgorod team managed to survive in the minority, but when Letunov, who had served two minutes in the penalty area, already appeared on the ice, the Kazan attackers were able to turn the pressure into a surrender. puck – it was Dmitry Yashkin who managed to annoy Ivan Kulbakov with a nickel from a clumsy hand.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
This moment was truly a historic moment for the entire league. One of the assistants in the episode of the goal was Vadim Shipachev, for whom the point scored was the 757th of his career in the KHL regular championship. The 36-year-old forward clearly took first place in this indicator in the history of the league, surpassing the achievement of Sergei Mozyakin, who retired (756).
As of now, Vadim holds the regular season scoring record, while Sergei still holds the overall record, including playoffs (928 vs. 882). But it is quite obvious that Shipachev taking first place in this nomination is only a matter of time. Considering that Mozyakin said goodbye to hockey a long time ago, it is clearly too early for the Ak Bars forward to think about it.
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At the beginning of the third period, the Kazan team almost took advantage of the new rules. Towards the end of the previous segment, Torpedo defender Mikhail Orlov received a rare ejection. After taking the penalty, Mikhail left the box and played the puck without even stepping foot on the ice. According to the rules, this is a block. For the violation, the referees immediately returned Mikhail to the penalty area. Kazan did not take advantage of the majority and the defender’s elimination lasted until the third period. The hosts immediately won the throw-in and could have gone ahead, but Kulbakov made a series of saves and kept the score tied.
But after a few minutes, even the Torpedo goalkeeper seemed helpless. During the four-on-four game, Igor Larionov (not the head coach of the guests, but his son) made a mistake: Nikita Evseev, who made a successful selection, immediately threw Kirill Semyonov on a date with Kulbakov, and this duel He stayed with the forward Ak Bars.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
The eliminations continued like a kaleidoscope. Closer to the middle of the segment, the Kazan team was even left with only three of them on the ice: Torpedo had 30 seconds to play a five-on-three power play, and then another minute and a half for a power play standard. . However, the Kazan team fought back and survived the most difficult situation. Not without the help of the guests: Larionov’s expulsion for playing with the high suit turned the game into a four-on-four format.
But it was still a long way from the end. Soon, Torpedo had another chance to play for the majority and he succeeded: 17-year-old defenseman Silaev, who is spending his first season in the KHL, scored the first goal of his career at the adult level with a perfect throw and He became the youngest scorer in the history of Torpedo in the KHL: he scored the goal “Ak Barsa” at the age of 17 years and 158 days. The previous achievement belonged to Danil Veryaev, who scored at 18 years and 183 days.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
And yet, the last word in this incredible match belonged to Ak Bars. The Kazan team again forced the Torpedo players to break the rules, but it did not come to a power play. The hosts scored with a delayed penalty: Stanislav Galiev corrected the puck after a pass from Shipachev. The forward, who set the record for points in the KHL regular season, took another step towards Mozyakin’s overall scoring achievement, and the Nizhny Novgorod team could not recover in the future.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
In the first game of an intense KHL day today, Barys won, which until Saturday remained the only team in the league with zero games won. Now in the KHL there are no undefeated teams left. Torpedo played a very decent match, as always, leaving a very pleasant impression of their game, but Kazan turned out to be a little stronger.
