Metallurg retained the battle of the KHL leaders

Metallurg’s home series began with a confrontation between the leaders of the East and West. Magnitogorsk hosted Lokomotiv Yaroslavl as a guest.

The coaching staff made some adjustments to the Metallurg playing lineup. Nikita Podskrebalin took his place in goal. Alexander Siryatsky from the Steel Foxes played his debut match in the KHL. Also in the application were Artyom Minulin, Danila Palivko, Arkhip Nekolenko.

From the first minutes, the guests rushed to put work on the Metallurg goalkeeper. However, the score was opened by the hosts: Yegor Korobkin upset the Yaroslavl goalkeeper. In the seventh minute, Magnitogorsk increased their lead to 2:0. Nikita Grebenkin scored the power play goal. However, before the end of the period, the score on the scoreboard changed twice more. First, 40 seconds before the siren, Sergei Andronov played one goal for Lokomotiv. But the hosts responded similarly to the locker room goal. Yegor Yakovlev restored the two-goal lead.

In the second period of the game, Ilya Nabokov unexpectedly stood in for Podskrebalin. As the coaching staff later explained, the goalkeeper was injured. And changes in the goalkeeper line only spurred the team. Igor Geraskin made the score 4:1. Note that the team’s recent newcomer scores for the second match in a row. In other matters, Nabokov had quite a lot of work to do. The Yaroslavl players actively pressed, and in the 27th minute they achieved what they wanted, scoring their second goal.

In the third period, Metallurg again regained its three-goal advantage. Igor Geraskin scored a brace in the match. With 45 seconds left, the visitors pulled one goal back, but they could not save the game.

Result – victory 5:3. Metallurg won the battle of conference leaders. The next game will take place on January 11 against Sochi.