Traktor closes on first-round sweep. March 5 playoffs
An overtime winner from Albert Yarullin saw Traktor move to 3-0 in this Eastern Conference first round series against Neftekhimik. For the third time, the teams produced a one-goal game; for the third time, Traktor shaded the verdict.
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 OT (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 0-1)
(Traktor leads the series 3-0)
Neftekhimik welcomed back Czech international Roland Knot for this game after the defenseman missed the previous encounter with a mild knock. In addition, the home team tweaked its lines a little as the action moved to Tatarstan, while Traktor’s Anvar Gatiyatulin was happy to leave his winning line-up unchanged.
In the first two games of this series, just one goal separated the teams. And, on both occasions, special teams made the difference. The stats strongly favored Traktor: four goals from 12 PP opportunities against just one from seven for Neftekhimik. However, when this game started with more penalties – three in the first three minutes – it was the home team that scored during a 4-on-3 power play. Traktor initially had the power play, but within a matter of seconds it found itself on the penalty kill and Eduard Gimatov punished the visitor with the opening goal on 4:23.
If the Neftekhimik power play was looking more potent, its penalty kill was also improving. Late in the opening frame it faced a 3-on-5 situation but survived that crisis. The penalty carried into the second period, but Traktor had to wait until the teams were back to equal strength before tying the scores when defenseman Nick Bailen surprised everyone by arriving on the crease to mark his 400th KHL appearance with a goal.
There was evidence that both teams were cleaning up their disciplinary problems. The second period saw just one penalty between the teams. More pertinently, after Bailen’s effort there was no further scoring either.
The third session saw the teams’ Czech imports come to the fore. First, Traktor’s Lukas Sedlak collected a pass from his compatriot Tomas Hyka in center ice. Sedlak found space to advance and shot early, surprising Alexander Sudnitsin with a shot from the point when defenseman Maxim Berezin unwittingly obscured his goaltender’s view.
Neftekhimik knew that dropping a third game in this series would be all-but-fatal to its hopes of progressing and battled hard to tie the scores. However, the home team’s careful probing was meat and drink for a Traktor defense that did a good job of ushering the opposition to the outside. With more than two minutes to play, Oleg Leontiyev’s team went for broke and summoned Sudnitsin to the bench. The gamble paid off when Czech defenseman Lukas Klok intercepted a clearance and fired pass Roman Will from the blue line.
Denied at the end of regulation, Traktor was determined not to make the same mistake in overtime. From the first moments, the visitor put pressure on Sudnitsin’s net and the breakthrough soon followed. In effect, it was a power play goal: Ansel Galimov was hurt in a collision with Sergei Kalinin and was unable to get off the ice. Play continued with Neftekhimik reduced to four active skaters and Traktor took advantage with a winning goal from Albert Yarullin.
