Traktor hands Admiral yet another defeat. November 1 round-up

In Wednesday’s only KHL game, Traktor recorded a fourth straight victory. That run pushes the Chelyabinsk club up to fifth in the conference standings under interim head coach Alexei Zavarukhin. Today’s victim, Admiral, slipped to a ninth loss in 10 games and remains rooted to the foot of the Eastern Conference.

Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 2 OT (0-1, 2-0, 0-1, 1-0)

Zavarukhin likes to deploy a strong pressing game, but initially Admiral coped well with that challenge. The Sailors potted the only goal of the first period after just three minutes. Giovanni Fiore powered to Zach Fucale’s net, and defenseman Ruslan Ibatullin followed up to convert the rebound.

Admiral preserved that lead until the intermission, albeit in the face of serious pressure from the home team. However, at the start of the second period Colby Williams was ejected from the game after a bad foul on Mikhail Kotlyarevsky. He picked up an additional major for fighting with Sergei Kalinin after Traktor’s captain stepped in to defend his team-mate. The subsequent home power play saw Charles Robinson tie the scores. Then, late in the frame, another PP saw Sergei Telegin’s point shot give Traktor the lead.

In the third period the game was fairly even. Admiral played with greater urgency, but could not always find a way to unpick a home defense that was happy to sit back and wait for the opposition to run out of ideas. A late power play for the Sailors produced little, and it felt like the game might be done. However, just as visiting head coach Leonids Tambijevs prepared to replace his goalie with a sixth skater, Dmitry Buchelnikov snaffled a late leveller.

In the extras, both teams carved out one big opportunity to win the game. Then Maxim Shabanov produced a beautiful decisive goal, extending his productive streak to six games.

Photoalbum