photo author: HC “Salavat Yulaev”
Metallurg beat the Ufa team for the fifth time in a row.
The match in Ufa between the locals “Salavat Yulaev” and “Metallurg” from Magnitogorsk began with a sad ceremony of raising the sweater number 27 (and the withdrawal of this number from circulation), which belonged to a young and talented student of the Ufa hockey school Rodion Amirov, who died of cancer.
On the ice of the arena the guests met: the leader of the eastern division “Metallurg” and the sixth place in the table “Salavat Yulaev”. Both teams celebrated victories in the last games, but Magnitka played one more game than his rival. Therefore, we can say that the performance of the clubs before the direct confrontation was almost the same.
WHERE DID THE UFIMSES DISAPPEAR?
After a small reconnaissance, the guests took the lead into their own hands and, showing leadership ambitions, Andrei Razin’s wards periodically intensified the situation at Alexander Samonov’s goal. However, there was no marked danger. At these moments, the Ufa team somehow strangely withdrew from active fighting, without making even the semblance of a counterattack. Perhaps it was the pre-match ceremony that had such a strong effect on the Ufa players. Roman Kantserov and American legionnaire Luke Johnson were especially active in Magnitogorsk.
About five minutes before the end of the period, the number of attacks from Metallurg turned into quality. The hero of the previous match against Dinamo Moscow, young Nikita Grebenkin, ran down the right flank of the attack and easily beat the Salavat goalkeeper, scoring his third goal in the last five games. A little over a minute passed, and the guests began to rejoice for the second time. Ufa’s defense once again reacted somewhat slowly to the activity of the guests in the visiting zone, which contributed to Luke Johnson’s first goal in the KHL.
photo author: HC “Salavat Yulaev”
THE RETURN OF “SALAVAT” TO THE GAME
The visitors’ huge first-half lead continued with an attempt to convert an extra goal early in the second half. The changes that seemed to be brewing in the game of Viktor Kozlov’s players did not take place. The Ufa team remained in a kind of half-asleep state, and “Metallurg”, on the contrary, taking advantage of the fact that the opponent was in a bad mood, carried out cavalry attacks on the “Salavat” gate. The puck even stopped reaching visiting goalkeeper Artyom Zagidulin.
The Ufa players cheered up midway through the second half. The hosts also had a timely advantage in numbers to help them out. However, Salavat’s players did not know how to take advantage of their opportunity. After all, people did not flock to the stands out of a desire to witness the dry defeat of their heroes. Like it or not, Khmelevsky, Sharov and company had to turn the game around. Kozlov’s team still limped to the first goal a couple of minutes before the end of the period. The 2 against 1 was masterfully performed by Sharov after a pass from Leshchenko. At this moment, the Ufa team could be said to have returned to the game. It can be said that the teams were even in terms of shots, but in the faceoff the hosts had a double advantage (28-12) even in the failed first segment, in the second nothing fundamentally changed.
photo author: Photo source: RIA Novosti
PEACE GUEST CHAMPIONSHIP
Metallurg felt very confident in the first half of the third half. Once again the game moved to Salavat Yulaev’s zone and the guests continued to show their weighty game. Razin’s team found it impossible to keep the score, because the locals attacked too quickly. Having taken away from Ufa the main trump card, Magnitogorsk, in fact, deprived them of their main trump cards.
The most powerful attack of Kozlov’s team in the last seconds, six against five guests, did not lead to anything. Matnitka’s defenders ran under the pucks, but because of this there were no accentuated goal-scoring actions by the Ufa team. As a result, for the fifth time in a row Metallurg defeats Salavat Yulaev in Ufa.
