The match between the leaders of the Western Conference ended with a score of 8:7 in favor of Spartak

The next day of the KHL regular season will go down in its history thanks to a crazy match between the two leaders of the Western Conference. “Spartak” and “Dynamo” scored one and a half dozen goals against each other. Spartak, who lost by three goals during the second period, snatched a victory in this meeting – 8:7 – in overtime and moved Dynamo from the top line of the conference table.

A match between two clubs that have unexpectedly made a strong start in the current championship and are not allowing themselves to be overtaken by the giants of the Western Conference – neither nearby SKA, nor still, despite a fresh win over the leader of the East – Metallurg Magnitogorsk – with a score of 3:0 on the road , a decently behind CSKA, immediately made it clear that he was ready to compete for the title of the hockey standard in terms of the twist of the plot.

At first it was tempting to think that Dynamo would definitely win.

Not so much because of their quick goal in the first minute, which was given to Ivan Muranov by a rebound from the far side, but because of the general feeling that the Spartak team got off on the wrong foot that day. There is too much falsehood around our goal – both in the episode with Muranov and after it. “Dynamo” also had situations when its players were allowed to dominate the backfield.

And suddenly Maxim Tsyplakov, playing on the finish, equalized the score – and everything changed dramatically. Now the Dynamo players seemed like hockey players who had problems with concentration, and somehow they could only be stopped with the help of the goalkeeper’s exceptional quality of play. But Konstantin Volkov, having stopped Pavel Poryadin’s one-on-one, soon failed to cope with his not the most deadly shot – the puck flew into the net, hitting the goalkeeper’s trap. And now Spartak took the lead, acquiring the characteristics of a team rushing at full speed towards inevitable success, since the enemy is so malleable.

The assumption that everything would turn upside down just once before the break seemed like great stupidity. But it turned upside down.

“Spartak” again forgot about how to protect its patch. Dynamo defender Daniil Pylenkov probably never dreamed that he would score such an easy goal when he came at him after a team-mate’s attack. The fact is that Muranov, who fought near the goal line, seemed to magnetize three Spartak field players along with goalkeeper Andrei Kareev. Well, a completely empty corner appeared in front of lucky Pylenkov.

And then Dynamo implemented the power play in a similar way, with which they are doing well this season. True, there was an opponent next to Eric O’Dell, but this opponent – Yegor Zaitsev – had already lost his stick and, strictly speaking, could not do anything to oppose the dangerous Dynamo forward.

And then everything was even more interesting.

Spartak, which replaced Kareev with Dmitry Nikolaev, quickly became convinced that the new goalkeeper was not a panacea for all ills. He got a great opportunity to score when Ivan Muranov received a four-minute penalty for playing with a high stick. But it was Dynamo who distinguished themselves while Muranov was serving him: Dmitry Vishnevsky’s awkwardness at the blue line resulted in Yegor Petukhov’s escape. And soon Dynamo player Yegor Rimashevsky scored his first goal in the KHL.

Spartak responded with a goal from Daniel Usmanov, but missed again when Eric O’Dell deftly robbed the unwary Daniil Orlov from behind, arranging for Dmitry Rashevsky to shoot Nikolaev. “Spartak” shocked that evening with an announcement made right during the game, perhaps the most amazing comeback in the entire history of the KHL, transparently hinting that in the near future they were going to announce their 40-year-old student Ilya Kovalchuk, who gained fame in the NHL and SKA and retired two years ago. But from this game it seemed that what he needed now was not a sniper, but someone capable of strengthening the rear.

Meanwhile, the limit of madness in this game had not yet been exhausted. Spartak, already seemingly hopelessly behind, after Rashevsky’s goal, split Dynamo’s defense with a series of passes and got closer to the guests. And then, after Maxim Tsyplakov fired accurately, he got very close, very close. No, any predictions in this match were absolutely meaningless.

Before the final period, Dynamo also released their reserve goalkeeper, Ilya Konovalov, onto the ice. And this step, of course, also, as in the case with Spartak, turned out to be useless, because Nikolai Goldobin, with a cunning throw from under the defender, screwed into the corner, restored the balance. And this shot was followed by Dynamo’s failure in defense, and Spartak, after Egor Filin hit the top nine, found himself ahead.

And of course, this terrible period did not break the Dynamo team. “Dynamo” again showed how dangerous it is to remain in the minority in matches against them, hitting the goal thanks to a fish jump for a loose puck by the tireless Eric O’Dell.

Such a match could not have happened without overtime.

And in overtime everything was decided when Dynamo, as if on purpose, abandoned Alexander Belyaev in their area. The Spartak player had a few seconds to deal with Konovalov, and he, practically standing still, put him down with feints on the ice, bringing his team a victory, which allowed it to overtake Dynamo in additional indicators and take the lead in the conference.

Alexey Dospehov