Ak Bars win crazy eleven goal game

Eastern Conference finals, day 4

Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) - Ak Bars Kazan (1) 5-6 OT

In an absolutely strange match home side Traktor had a perfect start when Valery Nichushkin brought them in front already at 02:57 with a nice solo. First he went past two opponents after coming from the right circle and then he fired the puck into the right corner from  a central position. A relatively even first period developed with few dangerous shots on both sides. One of them - a blue line shot by Alexei Vasilchenko - was deflected by Maxim Yakutsenya just in front of guest goalie Konstantin Barulin to double the Traktor lead at 15:44. Before the first intermission Ak Bars gained new hope though when they scored with the first power play of the match. The goal itself though was rather a strange one. A Traktor defender tried to make a clearance but only hit the skates of Alexei Morozov from where the puck was deflected into the net past the completely surprised goalie Michael Garnett.

In the second period Ak Bars took over the initiative and were rewarded with two early goals. First Denis Kulyash scored with a precise shot from the left circle into the right bottom corner - it looked like Garnett was a bit out of position - and then Artyom Lukoyanov made it a double for the guests with a shot from an sharp angle that hit the back of Garnett at 26:19. The home sided needed a bit to recover after laying behind for the first time in this match but two power play goals by Jan Bulis late in the period brought Traktor the lead back.

When Petri Kontiola finished a fast attack of the hosts after a perfect pass by team colleague Maxim Yakutsenya for the 5-3 for Traktor at 49:36 it looked like the hosts would be through for today. Shortly afterwards they even had a four minute power play after a high-sticking double minor against Danis Zaripov but they failed to use it. With just five minutes left in regulation Alexei Morozov scored with a well-placed shot from the second row into the right top corner. Just half a minute later Lauris Darzins received a brilliant forward pass by Alexei Tereshchenko to stop the puck just in front of Garnett and fire a back hander itno the right corner for the 5-5 equalizer! The now very shaky Traktor defense had all reason to be happy not to lose already in regulation in the last minutes of play.

In the following overtime Traktor had multiple huge scoring opportunities, including hitting the goal post after a face off, but they failed to use them. On the other side Danis Zaripov scored the game winner for Ak Bars with the first dangerous attack of the guests in overtime when he received a cross-pass right to the Traktor net to fire the puck past the surprised Garnett for the 6-5 away win!

After this huge setback Traktor trail their opponents 1-3 in the series before the series continues in Kazan for game #5 where Ak Bars have best chances to already get their tickets to the Gagarin Cup finals.

Ak Bars lead 3-1 in the series

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