Six years after

Result of the day
Spartak - CSKA 3-2. Nikita Filatov did not score, and the Red-and-Blues were beaten. It is a huge risk for a coach to bet everything on one player. And surely one cannot place such high stakes on a young player who, for understandable reasons, is currently on an emotional roller coaster. Besides, KHL hockey is a man’s game, a tough game. Now every club will choose a tough guy to stick to Filatov, and we can assume the young star’s statistics will start to slide.

Spartak were stronger in this match because they played more as a team. The hockey was attractive, manly, and tough. Perhaps there could have been more goals, but we should instead give a big thank you to the goaltenders – Dimitrij Kotschnew, Nolan Schaefer and Konstantin Barulin. Ah yes, Barulin, who then committed a serious offense, shoving the linesman, and was banished from the rink. But the Red-and-Whites were more together, looking like a genuine team, and this is why they beat their fiercest rivals.

If you have the chance to see the match again, do not deny yourself the pleasure, but do turn the sound off. Both clubs have recently been fined for the behavior of their fans and once again, and for the duration of the match, the sound of swearing drifted from the stands. What is the point of such support? Who is helped to play by obscene chanting? No one. And in the stands there were children aplenty.

In the day’s other matches, Traktor Chelyabinsk were defeated by Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 1-2, and Severstal Cherepovets in overtime proved stronger than Vityaz Chekhov, 5-4.

A pause of six years
Albert Leshchev (pictured), having this season moved from SKA back to CSKA, struck his first goal for the Moscow Army Men in six years. His previous goal for the club was on March 12, 2003, playing away in Nizhnekamsk against the hosts, Neftekhimik.

First punishment for Barulin
For the first in his career, Konstantin Barulin received a major penalty and was unable to finish the match. He is a goaltender with an excellent disciplinary record, incurring his previous penalty (10 minutes) way back in season 2005-06, when he was playing for Spartak. The 25-minute penalty is Barulin’s record for an entire season.

The first goal means nothing
Traktor have opened the scoring in 14 matches this season, but have gone on to lose eight of them. Andrei Nazarov’s team on this score are second from bottom of the league, with only Vityaz having a worse record.

Best of the worst
Vityaz attacker Vadim Berdnikov has a striking return for a player whose team occupy bottom place in the table. The forward has taken points from the last six games. His account now stands at 4 goals and 14 assists, and his points total for last season was 27 (7+20). It is worth noting that in the two previous seasons playing for Traktor, Vadim could not manage more than seven points in a season.

First victory in overtime
Severstal have managed their first overtime win of the season. Until now, the Vologda region club had suffered three defeats in the extra five minutes, although when their games have reached the shoot-out, they have won five out of six. They were not too successful in overtime last year either, managing just one success out of twelve.

Figures of the day
34 shots at the Vityaz net from the players of Severstal.

8 strikes on goal by Severstal forward Ladislav Nagy.

26 minutes 41 seconds spent in play by CSKA defenseman Konstantin Korneyev.

85% of 20 face-offs won by Traktor attacker Andrei Nikolishin.

Key players
Dimitrij Kotschnew (Spartak). Made 23 saves, helping his team to victory in a tough derby.

Evgeny Varlamov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk). Spent more than 23 minutes on the ice, fired three shots at goal, and finished the match with a +1.

Andrei Kolesnikov (Vityaz). A goal and an assist, managing to take a point from an away match.

Branko Radivojevic (Spartak). Added to his account a goal from a penalty shot and an assist.

Josef Straka (Severstal). Struck a double, successfully converting a penalty and scoring the decisive goal in overtime.

Alexei Kaygorodov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk). Scored the winning goal in the big Chelyabinsk derby.

Quotes
“We knew that Vityaz had a difficult journey; today was their fourth away match in a row. Yesterday they had problems flying to Cherepovets, having to land several times”. - Severstal head coach Dmitry Kvartalnov.

“Games like these give us grey hairs.” - Vityaz head coach Mike Krushelnyski.

“I wish we had more matches like this.” - Spartak head coach Milos Riga.

“With Konstantin Barulin, his emotions got the better of him, such things happen.” - CSKA head coach Sergei Nemchinov.

Alexei Shevchenko, khl.ru

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