Khabarovsk “Amur” outplayed “Salavat Yulaev” on shootouts with a score of 2:1

“Tigers” interrupted the six-game unbeaten streak of the Ufa team

“Salavat Yulaev” approached this game, as they say, at the peak. Six matches without defeat, the last two against Ak Bars and Barys, the Ufa team finished with a big score, conceding only two goals in two matches. Second place in the conference is no joke. “Amur”, on the contrary, came to the Republic of Bashkortostan, closing the standings in the “East” and after an offensive defeat in Chelyabinsk, without being able to win back one puck from Traktor. With the role of an outsider, the Khabarovsk team obviously did not intend to put up with it, which they showed in the first period.

The Tigers started at a very high pace, Salavat accepted the challenge and also actively joined the game, but the initiative still belonged to Amur for almost all twenty minutes. Young people were active, and Sergey Dubakin scored the first goal against Salavat Yulaev. It happened in the ninth minute, and all attempts by the hosts to play the puck did not lead to success. A discouraging start for a team accustomed to winning early periods. Despite the many martial arts, oddly enough, so far there have been no deletions.

Amur received the first penalty in the 37th minute. Victor Baldaev went to boxing for delaying an opponent. Controversial, but do not argue with the arbitrators. “Amur” defended itself very well, practically frustrating “Salavat Yulaev” all attempts to somehow place themselves in a foreign zone. But the mood to score has not gone away even after the release of the fifth player from Khabarovsk. At the 39th minute, Evgeny Biryukov powerfully shot on goal and, if not for Danil Alalykin’s correction, Evgeny Alikin, who took the last line of defense in this game, would have taken the puck without any problems. And so it was only to be annoyed.

And it all started with a lost face-off. In general, the score for the game – the second and eleventh teams in the “East” show equal hockey for all forty minutes. The main question is whether Amur has enough strength for the final segment. Still, the game goes almost without a middle zone and hockey turns out to be quite energy-intensive, which is usually not very good for guests. But despite the goal missed in the locker room for the break, Amur left full of hopes to win back the lost advantage in the third period.

Judging by the appearance of both head coaches, the conversation in both dressing rooms was serious. But apparently the Ufa residents received more valuable instructions from the mentor. With the beginning of the segment “Salavat Yulaev” seized the initiative. Continuously attacking in previous periods, “Cupid” got a little “hooked” and began to play on defense. Maybe it really is – the forces are over. Evgeny Alikin had to work in this twenty-minute period. There were several moments when the puck was on top, right on the net, there were powerful shots on the Khabarovsk goal, but the goalkeeper pulled it out. Regular time ended with the score 1:1 – the game went into overtime.

In extra time, both teams were cautious, although dangerous moments appeared at the end of the five-minute period. The Amur striker had a great chance to end the game, in the last seconds he ran away to meet the goalkeeper, but he didn’t throw himself – he passed, and his oncoming partner was “cut down” on a nickel with a powerful blow to the leg just at the time when the final siren. In the shootout, Evgeny Alikin played more reliably. Yaroslav Likhachev scored the only goal. The result of the match: 1:2. Guests take two points interrupting the winning streak of the Ufa team. By the way, “Amur” has not won in Ufa for five years.

– We are pleased with the first victory in shootouts this season. As for the game, I think the first and second periods were equal. The opponent attacked, the goalkeepers played well, we had good chances. In the third, they endured somewhere, Salavat owned the initiative more. Our goalkeeper played well. We endured until overtime, had a good moment in the last seconds, when we went “2 v 0”. We brought the match to shootouts, fortunately for us, we scored the only goal that led us to victory. How did we manage to uncover Likhachev? I know him for a long time, I watched him. This player showed himself from youth hockey. First of all, he is distinguished by diligence and the data that God has given him. The most important thing is to continue to work in the same spirit. They believed in him, he proved with his game that he was the best scorer in the team along with Nikolishin. Let’s play, somewhere wrong. It is clear that we are punishing, but, nevertheless, Yaroslav is not afraid to go to the stroke – he has creativity, – noted Vadim Yepanchintsev, head coach of HC Amur.

The mentor of the Ufa team is sure that they were just unlucky.

– It was a good match from our side. They created chances, controlled the puck and the course of the game, however, in the shootout the opponent turned out to be more successful. Lack of mood at the beginning of the meeting? No, there was no mismatch. We could play better and more collected at certain moments. Amur, as you can see, is a good team that has a good goalkeeping team, the opponent can play well in defense, plus they have good forwards who can score. Bocharov got under rotation? Stas is preparing for the next match against Kazan. He didn’t play because we have other guys who were supposed to play today,” he stressed. Viktor Kozlov, head coach of HC Salavat Yulaev.

Amur will play the next match on Thursday, November 3 in Yekaterinburg. The local Avtomobilist will become the rival of the Khabarovsk team. With him “tigers” already played and also on someone else’s ice. Then Yekaterinburg won with a score of 4:2. Let’s see what happens this time.

Read also: With whom and when will Amur Khabarovsk play in November 2022