Late goal saves Amur in Far East derby. December 6 round-up

The fourth Far East derby was another close-fought battle.  Amur, defeated in two of the first three meetings between the teams, led twice. However, the visitor still needed a late tying goal before claiming a shoot-out verdict.

Admiral Vladivostok 3 Amur Khabarovsk 4 SO (1-2, 0-0, 2-1, 0-0, 0-1)

Amur made the relatively short trip to Vladivostok looking to close on a top-eight spot. The visitor made the brighter start to the game, creating the first big chance in the fourth minute. On that occasion, Sergei Ivanov denied Vladislav Barulin the opening goal. However, the home netminder was powerless when Sergei Lapin came in from the boards to roast a shot past him a couple of minutes later.

The visitor’s bright start was stymied by penalty trouble. Admiral got a five-on-three advantage for 1:28, and turned that into a tying goal from Anton Berlyov. And the home team had a decent chance to get in front when a turnover saw Alexander Gorshkov all alone on the slot. Igor Bobkov came up with a big stop to deny him.

Instead, it was Amur that led at the first intermission. Late in the frame, Kirill Panyukov stormed down the right and Dmitry Shevchenko banged home his feed at the back door.

Neither team could add to its tally in the second period. Barulin went close to extending Amur’s lead, but his redirect was thwarted by a stick save from Ivanov. At the other end, Gorshkov raced onto a pass through the center and fired in a low shot that Bobkov did well to turn away.

Early in the third, the home power play delivered once again. Cam Lee sat for holding and Dmitry Buchelnikov tied the game. Then Buchelnikov turned provider, assisting as Nikita Anokhovsky put Admiral in front for the first time in the game. Amur had 10 minutes to save the game, and the Tigers did just that. On 57:23, Andrei Martemyanov called a time-out and sent on a sixth skater. Ten seconds later, he was celebrating as Evgeny Grachyov made it 3-3.

Overtime began with Amur trying to call Bobkov back to the bench. However, the Tigers fluffed the change and took a too many men penalty. Admiral was unable to take advantage of the extra man, though, and overtime failed to separate the teams.

Defeat leaves Admiral marooned at the foot of the standings, a point behind Barys. The Far East series is tied at 2-2, with the next meeting set for tomorrow as part of the final gameday before the All-Star break.

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