We found the strength to play hockey: Vadim Yepanchintsev appreciated the victory of the Khabarovsk “Amur” in Novosibirsk

You can immediately see when the team wants to succeed, and when it’s just serving a number on the ice, counting the seconds until the final siren. The Khabarovsk “Amur” has recently (let’s knock on wood) everything is in order with this. First, having complicated the tournament situation to the limit, now the Khabarovsk team began, like the legendary Munchausen, to pull themselves out of the swamp. Twice beat “Admiral”tired by the end of the season, the “tigers” went to Novosibirsk to try their luck in the fight against the leader “East” – Siberia.

“Siberia” is such a mirror image of “Cupid” in the variant: “Look how it could have been if not for …”. The leaders of the Novosibirsk team once played in Khabarovsk, the head coach mentored here. The “Snowmen” confidently climbed to the top of the “East” conference, gained momentum and were ready to fight with anyone who would challenge them. Especially with the Amur, which, like in a storm, is either raised by waves or lowered to the bottom.

As for the “tigers”, then, the fences of Primorye, they managed to sit in the ninth place of the conference, then the competitors lowered them to the tenth. The exit to which the team went, very difficult: the insidious “Admiral”, the leading “Siberia”, the stubborn “Neftekhimik”, and for a snack CSKA – the second team in the “West”. Chances to score points – a minimum, however succeeded in Vladivostoknow it’s time to try in Novosibirsk.

From the very first minutes, Siberia showed the Khabarovsk team who was the boss in the house. Already by the eighth minute the score was 3:0 in favor of the local team. Even the replacement of the goalkeeper did not help, they scored and Alikin. Many turned off the broadcast at this moment – is it clear that Amur is over? But no, by this moment the Khabarovsk team had just woken up, but the Novosibirsk team, on the contrary, relaxed, lost concentration and began to make mistake after mistake, as it turned out later, fatal.

In the eighth minute, Vadim Yepanchintsev takes a time-out, and in the 16th minute, Amur wins back one goal, he could have won back the second one, but the video review revealed that the puck did not cross the goal line. The teams went to the break with a noticeable advantage of the hosts, although, it must be admitted, in the last minutes of the period, the Khabarovsk team noticeably improved.

Only 14 seconds have passed since the beginning of the second period, as the puck is again at the gate, now Evgeny Alikin. But, as it turned out, “Amur” was not going to give up, and the minutes in the power play, which Novosibirsk gave him, helped a lot. In the 23rd minute, Nikita Grebenkin scores in the majority, in the 39th minute, also playing with a numerical advantage, Cameron Lee makes the score 4:3.

And 28 seconds after the start of the third period, Pavel Makhanovsky equalizes the score. On 42 minutes, Sergei Dubakin sends his regards to Novosibirsk and finally puts Amur ahead – 4:5. And then Evgeny Alikin makes a mistake, after which a bullet is assigned to his goal. He did it himself – he corrected it himself, Valentin Pyanov did not manage to beat his former teammate. Nikita Grebenkin puts an end to the confrontation. The final score of the match is 4:6 in favor of Amur. The Khabarovsk team managed to accomplish the almost impossible – to win back from 0:3 and defeat the leader. Two points received like an elevator raise the “tigers” to the top eight.

– We showed the right hockey, unfortunately, exactly until the eighth minute. Then the team fell into an incomprehensible direction. Completely stopped fulfilling the game task, there were a lot of losses. There was an underestimation of the opponent. A lot of losses, a lot of unnecessary deletions. Not only the result, but the game and dedication of our players did not satisfy me at all. Sushko was put on a bench because there are complaints about the performance of the game task. A conversation has already taken place with those who were removed incorrectly, not according to the game. Klimovich sniffed the gunpowder, well done, played without mistakes. Most of me, to be honest, already worries. Not the first match we spend almost without moments. Lots of mistakes in transmissions, lots of them! It’s unacceptable, it’s just crazy. They threw it, they threw it, but they climbed ugly on the nickel. Easy goals scored – correct, but without much effort. There are no reserves, you need to look for reserves inside and return to the previous game, which brought results, – noted Andrey Martemyanov, head coach of HC Sibir.

The Amur mentor was, of course, pleased with the result, and who would be upset in his place?

– A lot, probably not worth talking about. The fans saw it all. We had a bad start, but to bounce back from 0:3 with the leader of the conference is worth a lot. We rebuilt, especially the second and third periods played correctly, not being afraid to attack, creatively. We scored good goals and won. There was the first shot and immediately the first goal against us. It’s hard to say for sure why. More importantly, we found the strength to play hockey. We wanted to please both our fans and those who came to watch the game in Novosibirsk. I am glad that Sergei Dubakin scored, I want to see him like this every game. He wanted to show himself in front of his parents and children’s coaches in the best possible way, and he succeeded. The Grebenkin link also “rang”, – emphasized Vadim Yepanchintsev, head coach of HC Amur.

Khabarovsk continue the away streak, which, apparently, the compilers of the calendar was based on the principle: “the farther, the worse.” This time “Amur” will play with “Neftekhimik”, which is also rushing to the top. So let’s see who needs a place in the playoffs. Traditionally, we assume that the Tigers will lose – after all, a lot of strength was given in the game with Siberia, but in our hearts we believe that they will take points here too. In a word – we are rooting for ours.

Read also: Evgeny Alikin, the goalkeeper of the Khabarovsk “Amur”, became the player of the day in the KHL

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