Dranki from Vanka: Drozdov from “Salavat Yulaev” shot the Kazan beast

If you want your friend to fall in love with hockey immediately and for a long time, then the first game you need to take him to should be the match between Salavat Yulaev and Ak Bars. Even if you don’t see a lot of beautiful pucks, there will be a desperate fight for victory. Defects, mistakes, cuts and strange replacements of the goalkeeper for the sixth fielder, when there is no chance of catching up, will not spoil the impression. Because there will be two troops on the field, ready to fight with all their might for the much-desired victory. During the rut, deer even fight with less tenacity.

It’s not customary to talk about this, but the current Salavat is stronger than Kazan thanks to goalkeeper Alexander Samonov. No matter how the defense helps this guard, at times it still turns out to be ping-pong between him and the throwing leopards. And there is almost no chance of breaking through. You can sweat, you can swear, you can play confidently and variedly in the majority after strange removals – still nothing. Nothing at all. A zero on the scoreboard is like a death sentence for some and praise for others.

Ak Bars goalkeeper Timur Bilyalov also wants this. And even at some point he copes, having dried out the first period. But then the evil Belarusian Vanyok comes and fries. Moreover, not just one potato pancake, but two. Apparently, he again practiced implementing chances a little. Maybe others will decide on a similar feat?

The first goal in the middle of the match – Ufa defender Nicolas Melosh saw the lonely Drozdov and passed it to him on someone else’s blue. The Ak Bars defensive player lost Ivan – and the latter threw under the crossbar, 1:0.

At the beginning of the third period, the same Melosh sent Gleb Kuzmin into a breakthrough. He flew along the flank and passed it from behind the goal onto the nickel. The falling Bilyalov could not prevent Drozdov from making a double.

Almost immediately, Salavat Yulaev defender Mikhail Naumenkov went forward and accurately shot into the top corner from under the defender. 3:0.

Timur Bilyalov is replaced by Artur Akhtyamov. Ufa only has to play until the final siren without failure.

The judges fine Grigory Panin twice for two minutes. He argues desperately, proves that not only did he influence his opponent with his hand, but his opponent also influenced him – so why not both?!

But is it possible to convince the referee? Here Kazan itself is burning. We will…then we’ll see if there was a foul. In the meantime, go and serve your two-year sentence.

The period drags on slowly, Samonov is shot, but he is not shot. The statisticians counted 29 shots by the Leopards, of which only 14 were on target, but they were suspiciously modest with the second number. Kazan people are not so slanted. They know how to throw.

At the end of the game, in a minute and a half, when the winner was already clear, the head coach of the White Leopards, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, changed the goalkeeper to the sixth field player.

The hosts failed to score into an empty goal. But the guests upset Samonov, leaving him without a clean sheet. “Yulaevets” Nikita Zorkin got confused on the spot – and “Leopard” Dmitry Yashkin shoots into the open corner from close range with 24 seconds left.

It is clear that Samonov does not admit that it was very unpleasant for him to miss at the very end of a great match. But it was clear from his reaction that he was upset.

The crowded stadium didn’t care – 3:0, 3:1 or, for example, a tortured 1:0 in shootouts. Any victory over the main irritant is valuable and very pleasant.

– For what purpose did they change the goalkeeper to the sixth field player at the end of the match? – I ask the legendary player and coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov.

– We wanted to score. By the way, several times previously we were unable to score with six of us at the end. It came out today. This is cool.

– Would you change the goalkeeper for a sixth field player, losing 0:3 at the end? – I am interested in the position of the head coach of “Salavat Yulaev” Viktor Kozlov.

– Yes, I would. Purely emotional. And try six by five.

– So there is a lot of training in the regular season?

– Yes. Practicing is about constantly improving your game. When playing six on five, the guys are looking for options to score goals. And, if we take Ak Bars as an example, there wasn’t much pressure on them when it was 3:0. They tried, they played out different combinations…

In this match, two sharks of capitalism, Sasha Khmelevsky and Joshua Livo, failed to score points. Both tried very hard, gave up, but remained in the shadows.

And even with the silence of two dangerous hockey players, the foreigners still gave the result. Canadian defender Nicolas Meloche had two assists, Belarusian Ivan Drozdov had two goals. Yes, the latter is not a limit player, but he will not be able to play for the Russian national team.

It turns out the following. We used to have wonderful Finns and a cheerful Dane. Then they ran away.

Now we have two Canadians, a Californian and a Belarusian. Well, at least now the main goalkeeper is Russian – that’s already a plus.

But where are the real Bashkorts? Where are the invincible warriors of the honey republic? Lost, dispersed, forgotten. Eh, sad about all this. Even the victory over Kazan does not seem so sweet.