Tsvetkov finishes off Traktor, Dynamo wins the Opening Cup

04 Sep 2013 | Alan Ilijic

Traktor had a dream start into the match, but in the end Dynamo demonstrates power to win and defend the Opening Cup. Yury Babenko got the honours to lift it after the match.

At 7:40 into the game it was a dream start for Traktor. Konstantin Panov picked the puck behind the net of Alexander Yeryomenko and found Latvian Lauris Darzins free in the middle who one-timed the puck into the net to give the runner-ups the lead. But from that point everything went downhill.

They kept the lead until the end of the first period. Dynamo started strong from the very beginning, but conceded early and decided to organize themselves. The players from Chelyabinsk will have to thank their goalie for saving the net and humiliation in the first period. Denis Kokarev and Dmitry Vishnovsky couldn't break through him in the last five minutes, despite having great opportunities.

To show how dominant Dynamo were, they outshot Traktor in the first period 12-3.

At the start of the second period, at 20:43 Filip Novak missed his chance to get Dynamo back and at 27:52 Janne Jalasvaara got blocked just before he took the shot.

And then Dynamo fires twice to get the lead. At 30:50 Maxim Pestushko sends the puck behind Garnett on an assist from Leonid Komarov, and at 32:23 Yury Babenko strikes once again. Dynamo are up by a goal and eager to score more. The only dangerous situation from Traktor came about at 34:34 when Petri Kontiola shot hard at Yeryomenko, but he was ready.

At the start of the final period, only 16 seconds into it, Andrei Kostitsyn tries a shot from the right side, but gets deflected. And then Leonid Komarov scores at 42:59, while Soin adds another one at 44:08 to finally break their opponents. Babenko and Glazachev were on the assists in their tic-tac-toe display that lead them to glory.

By the end Dynamo had some more chances and finally put the final result on the board 10 seconds before the end. Denis Kokarev sent a fine pass through to Alexei Tsvetkov who beat Michael Garnett one-on-one in the upper left corner of the net.

Dynamo put a show and ensured the lifting of the Opening Cup as they warn the rest of the league that they're a serious title contender and want to go 3 for 3.

Tomorrow there are three games scheduled: Metallurg Novokuznetsk is welcoming Sibir, Spartak go to Mytischi and the Dinamo Riga will play at home against Dinamo Minsk.