Three goals of the Canadian Musketeers helped Metallurg break the losing streak

On December 19, Metallurg Magnitogorsk began the New Year’s Eve home series of matches. The first rival was the guests from Khabarovsk – Amur.

The meeting with the Khabarovsk team was the first after a week-long pause in the KHL. During this time, some hockey players from Magnitogorsk managed to take part in the All-Star Game, as well as in the Channel One Cup. The matches of the international tournament ended the day before, on December 18. Therefore, there have been some changes in Metallurg’s lineup for the regular season home game. Grigory Dronov, Valery Orekhov and Pavel Akolzin were not included in the application. All three played for the teams in the Cup. But Vladislav Eremenko, Yegor Yakovlev and Alexei Maklyukov, also participating in the tournament, still took to the ice.

Both teams were over-motivated to win: Metallurg needed to stop a series of defeats, and Amur needed to strengthen itself in the playoff zone.

In the first period, the opponents created dangerous chances many times, but it was not possible to bring them to a goal. The score in the match was opened only at the end of the game segment. The author of the goal was the player of Khabarovsk Artur Gizdatulli. Moreover, the co-author of the puck was the young Nikita Grebenkin, a graduate of the Magnitogorsk hockey school, who moved from Magnitogorsk to Amur during the season on loan.

The second period was completely goalless. Even despite the fact that the teams had the opportunity to play in unequal lineups.

Magnitogorsk were looking for an approach to the goalkeeper’s goal “Amur” for 50 minutes, and, finally, in the middle of the third period, the team of Ilya Vorobyov managed to print out the opponent’s goalkeeper.

First, the score 1:1 on the scoreboard was “drawn” by Philippe Maillet. Nikolai Goldobin became an assistant, who thus scored 100 points in the KHL.

Six minutes later, the owners of the ice took the lead. All the same, Philippe Maillet made a beautiful pass to the Khabarovsk zone, beating three players, and passed to Josh Curry. He without thinking twice sent it to the gate – 2:1.

In an attempt to save the game, the Amur coaching staff replaced the goalkeeper with a sixth field player. However, Magnitogorsk quickly took the chance to hit the empty net of the guests. The score was 3:1 after the throw of Brendan Lipsik.

The next match sponsored by Ilya Vorobyov will be held on December 21 against another Far Eastern team – “Admiral” from Vladivostok.