The first game day at the Togliatti tournament turned out to be exciting: in both matches, everything was decided in the last seconds.
Teams with similar names were honored to open the LADA Cup. Earlier, Neftekhimik managed to play two control matches, and at the tournament in Tolyatti, Oleg Leontiev was preparing to test his playing combinations properly. Newcomers Nail Yakupov and Lukasz Klok got a place in the top five. Igor Grishin, who became the champion of the VHL with Khimik, also put up a very decent application by name.
The rivals started at frisky speeds, but at first they practically did not reach dangerous situations. Full-fledged scoring chances began to appear only during the first removal in the composition of Khimik. Having failed to implement it, a minute later Nizhnekamsk residents again received the majority, but they did not use the second attempt either. Then they themselves earned two penalties in a row, and the Sundays punished them: four seconds before the break, Demid Mansurov opened the scoring.
Managed to recoup already at the start of the second period. Danila Popov completed a quick counterattack with an accurate throw in touch. Nizhnekamsk continued to actively put pressure and soon scored again – Pavel Anokhin scored, who was assisted by the same Popov. It seemed that the nominal hosts completely seized the initiative, but the Khimik players broke into a quick counterattack, which was successfully completed by Alexei Lipanov.
In the third period, hockey became even more open. Immediately after the break, Khimik’s goalkeeper Zakhar Vinogradov parried the puck by a miracle when going “one to zero”. Soon Danil Sherstobitov again brought Neftekhimik forward from Yakupov’s pass, and only after a long review, the judges determined that the goal was scored according to the rules. Emotions gradually ran high: power moves and skirmishes became familiar. The real game broke out in the last minute of regular time: at first, the Sundays unexpectedly equalized and seemed to move the meeting into overtime, but Alexander Dergachev instantly answered this.
***
Togliatti started in the LADA Cup, having already played four pre-season matches. It is not surprising that Oleg Bratash released on the ice already played combinations. But for Kunlun, the game was the first this summer, and even under the guidance of a new head coach, Viktor Ignatiev.
The rivals decided to do without buildup at all: already at the 26th second, Devin Brosso opened the scoring. It took only a minute and Spencer Fu increased the lead. The hosts did not break the bad start. They rushed to attack, and on 12 minutes Andrey Altybarmakyan made a great shot from the edge of the face-off circle.
In the second period, hockey became more aggressive and forceful, but the sharpness at the gate became much less. On 26 minutes, Yegor Babenko completed a quick attack with a throw into the corner, which began with an interception in his zone. Hockey players of “Lada” as a whole had a slight advantage and noticeably turned over the opponents (9-5), who pressed too often against their goal.
At the start of the final period, the struggle moved to the middle zone, and the hockey players of both teams frankly did not go well in the majority game. The match slowly went to overtime, but two and a half minutes before the siren, a somewhat curious goal by Jake Chelios put Kunlun ahead. The hosts rushed to recoup, replaced the goalkeeper with an additional field, but did not achieve success.
Statistics
“Petrochemical” – “Chemical” 4:3 (0:1, 2:1, 2:1)
Goals: 0:1 Mansurov (Belyaev) 19:56, pain; 1:1 D. Popov (Zhukenov, Anokhin) 23:49; 2:1 Anokhin (D. Popov) 27:16; 2:2 Lypanov (Mansurov) 33:17, pain; 3:2 Sherstobytov (Yakupov) 42:41; 3:3 Varyushkin (Egorov) 59:05, man; 4:3 Dergachev (Zhukenov, Bryukvin) 59:20, pain.
Goalkeepers: Tikhomirov – Vinogradov
Lada – Kunlun 2:3 (1:2, 1:0, 0:1)
Goals: 0:1 Brosso (Somerby, Wood) 0:26; 0:2 S. Fu (Pu) 1:27; 1:2 Altybarmakyan (Anokhovsky) 11:43; 2:2 Babenko (Fisenko, Medvedev) 26:22; 2:3 Chelios 58:01
Goalkeepers: Trushkov – Dzhurusik
2023-08-11 17:03:45
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