Translated material
Fight on equal terms
Ak Bars equalized the series score for the Gagarin Cup
The fourth match of the final series of the Russian Open Championship - KHL Championship between Yaroslavl Lokomotiv and Kazan Ak Bars gave a real sensation. The hosts, who showed very confident hockey in this playoffs, were defeated by the team from Tatarstan - 5:2. In addition, hockey players’ nerves can no longer stand it. During the game, fights began to break out, and strangely, the referees did not want to send anyone off until the end of the match.A few minutes before the start of the match, Ak Bars head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov made an important decision. He himself went out for the pre-match interview, although throughout almost the entire playoffs he sent his assistant to talk to the television crew. “I told the guys to quickly forget yesterday’s defeat,” the coach noted. “And we don’t have any panic.” “Yesterday some journalists saw confusion on your face,” the correspondent continued. “What did you consider? - Bilyaletdinov was surprised. -Who said that? What are you saying?!”
There was really no talk of any timidity or shyness on the part of the Kazan club. There was a feeling that the team had just returned from a good holiday and missed hockey. The luck, of course, was that Lokomotiv goalkeeper Georgiy Gelashvili, having set several KHL records both in time without conceding a goal and in the number of matches in the championship, lost his luck. The first dangerous throw in the game by Alexei Morozov became fatal for the goalkeeper of the Yaroslavl team - he missed the puck behind the goal ribbon, and this annoying mistake hindered him in the future.
Six minutes later, he could well have helped the team out when Jukka Hentunen attacked the goal. The Kazan team led with a score of 2:0; by the way, for the first time in the final series they managed to open the scoring in the game.
Feeling that the opponent was succeeding, the Yaroslavl team began to be rude. In the 19th minute, a massive brawl took place, in which Konstantin Rudenko took the most active part, and Niko Kapanen on the Ak Bars side. If there had been a regular season, the referees, no doubt, would have issued heavy disciplinary fines to the fighters and the hockey players would have missed the next match. But in the finals, they did not risk punishing the athletes according to the rules and sent them to rest for only 14 minutes. By the way, the brawl happened when the score was 2:1 in favor of the Kazan team. Minutes before the fight, Yusi Åkerman reduced the gap, but Ak Bars not only didn’t stop, but it seems that they didn’t even notice that they only had a one-goal advantage left.
In the second period, they shot Gelashvili twice in 28 seconds in the 22nd minute. Particularly beautiful was Dmitry Obukhov's goal, scored after a cunning combination involving the nominal striker, playing in the position of defenseman Mikhail Zhukov. There was some rudeness in this part of the match. So, Josef Vasicek tried to beat up Alexei Morozov, and when he served a two-minute penalty, he scored the puck.
Lokomotiv head coach Kari Heikkilä decided to spare Gelashvili and released Sergei Zvyagin for the third period, who had been training exclusively for the last three months. However, the Kazan club did not want “blood” or a repeat of the match with Avangard, when they converted all the chances, defeating the opponent with a score of 11:1. With the score 5:2, the Kazan team focused on not conceding, without wasting energy on attacks. Lokomotiv also accepted defeat.
Now the series will continue in Kazan, but the sixth match of the series will take place in Yaroslavl. The Kazan team proved that it knows how to rebuild, surprising both the opponent and the fans in every meeting. But Finnish specialist Kari Heikkilä also knows how to bring his hockey players to their senses in the shortest possible time. So it is impossible to give a forecast for these meetings.
Meanwhile, the Russian national team is preparing for the World Cup in Switzerland, and there are conflicts between coaches and players. On Saturday, Vyacheslav Bykov, answering the question why there is only one representative of the capital Dynamo in the national team, said that he was not interested in the other candidates. “And Daniil Markov announced after the World Cup in Canada that this was his last match for the national team,” added the head coach.
The Blue and White defender was shocked by these words. “I deliberately didn’t go anywhere on vacation, I’m preparing in Moscow for the World Championships,” he said. — I have not made any statements that I am quitting my career in the national team. After the triumph in Canada, I jokingly told my partners that this was my last game, but it was all emotions. I recently called the coach, he didn’t tell me yes or no. But I want to play in a team."
The national team is leaving for Austria today, where it will play two friendly matches against the national team of this country. The players will then be dismissed for three days before being brought back together on the 13th to begin preparations for the World Cup.