Traktor snatched victory in the Ural Derby in shootouts

Traktor completed the last Ural Derby of the regular season with a 2:1 shootout victory over Avtomobilist. The victory for the Chelyabinsk team was brought by a goal from Maxim Shabanov and a converted try from Vladimir Tkachev.

The sixth and final episode of the Ural Derby regular season was destined to become a bestseller. Geographic and tournament neighbors, mentors – cousins ​​with the same last name, and some of the best fans in Russia on both sides. The excitement was skillfully fueled by the theme of the cult film “Brother-2”. The special guest of the match was the pop legend and actress of that same film, Irina Saltykova.

The composition of the Chelyabinsk team turned out to be almost optimal. Sergei Telegin returned to the first pair of defense after a slight illness. The place on the edge of the first three of the attack was already habitually taken by Alexander Rykov, replacing the ill Danil Yurtaikin here. In the fourth line, Vladimir Zharkov was replaced by Egor Popov. Mikhail Kotlyarevsky came in as the 13th striker. Zach Fucale will start in goal.

The teams had a strong first period with some good chances and strong play. Avtomobilist hockey players started a hunt for Maxim Shabanov. The leader of the Chelyabinsk team got hit pretty hard a couple of times. But things didn’t work out with goals in the period. But the cheerfulness of the stands during the break was supported by Irina Saltykova, who proved that she was in excellent creative shape.

In the second period the game began to open up and the goals came. The visitors distinguished themselves first. Stefan Da Costa opened the scoring with a precise throw. The hosts responded with dignity: Vladimir Tkachev and Albert Yarullin drew up an excellent combination, which was completed by Maxim Shabanov.

The third period again did not bring any goals, although the hosts had enough chances to score. Probably, in such an equal game, overtime was a natural continuation of the evening. The additional five minutes passed with the advantage of the “black and whites”, and the guests responded with dangerous counterattacks, but a series of shootouts was required. The only realized attempt by Vladimir Tkachev turned out to be victorious for the hosts.

2:1 – Traktor takes the fourth of six Ural Derbies in the regular season and secures a place in the top four of the East. Maxim Shabanov celebrated his 23rd goal of the season and in this indicator equaled the club’s previous record holder in the KHL, Lukas Sedlak. Alexey Zavarukhin’s team will play the next match on February 3 at home against another competitor – Ak Bars.