EHT: Irgl beats Radulov in shootout

As they did Thursday night, the Czechs struck quickly. Roman Cervenka ran into the offensive zone and from the right faceoff circle opened the scoring at THE 31-second mark. Russian goalie Mikhail Biryukov, who was playing his first game in the Channel One Cup, conceded the goal on the first shot he faced. The Russian team tied the game on a power play chance with Ondrej Nemec in the penalty box for interference. Jakub Stepanek made a nice glove on the initial shot from Yevgeny Biryukov, but he couldn't stop Nikolai Zherdev's high slap shot at 7:25. Later in the first, the teams power-play chances: Tomas Rolinek's shot was stopped by the glove of  Biryukov, and then Vladimir Tarasenko hit the post.

At the beginning of the second period, Stepanek made a nice glove save, but the Russians scored on their next attack. The save came off a shot from Alexander Radulov at the tail end of a fast counter attack, but at 21:31 a tip-in goal was scored by Alexei Tereshchenko, being first on the rebound after Alexei Perezhogin's shot from the blue line. In the middle of the second, the Czechs got another chance on the power play and tied the game. They needed only 26 seconds to convert it; Roman Cervenka, who wasn't covered by any Russian penalty killer, scored from the left faceoff circle. Soon Nikolai Zherdev misfired from a promising position, lifting the puck slightly over the crossbar. At 33:30, Radulov's shot found Ilya Zubov's skate and Stepanek couldn't stop the puck.

"Our goals were a little bit lucky," Cervenka said afterward. "In the first minute I scored a goal, but then they had a power play."

The Czechs got some more luck at 47:09, when a shot from Ondrej Nemec hit Biryukov and Tomas Rolinek tied the game with a low shot. The game then went into overtime, where both teams have several chances. The shootout series was a duel of Zbynek Irgl and Alexander Radulov; in the first three rounds only Irgl and Radulov scored, as other shooters were stoned by the goalies. In the fourth round, Irgl and Radulov scored. In the fifth round, Irgl scored with a high slap shot, but Radulov couldn't do the same; his shot was stopped by Stepanek, who was one of the best Czech players in this game.

"Stepanek played well at this shootout; I needed to lift the puck. Maybe it's my shortage in a game level," Radulov said.

"Radulov is the best player not only at the EHT, but also in the KHL. I'm happy that the third time I was able to stop his shot," said Stepanek..

"The first penalty shot was more difficult; all three times I shot in other way. I don't remember scoring all three penalty shots in one game before," Irgl said.

"Radulov scored, that's why he did this three times," said Russian coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, explaining why Radulov was sent out for three shootout attempts.

 

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