Gatiaytulin's anniversary match, Miller's record and a chance for the reserves: how Ak Bars defeated Admiral

Gatiaytulin's anniversary match

The second match against Admiral was Anvar Gatiaytulin's anniversary, his 500th match in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) as a coach. He is the 11th specialist to reach this milestone in the history of the tournament. The coach himself reacted to his achievement with restraint: «This is a serious figure, but there is still room for improvement».

For the game, Gatiaytulin put out almost the same lineup that had defeated Admiral the day before. The only exception was Maxim Arefyev, who replaced Timur Bilyalov in goal. The «shutout» in Khabarovsk significantly increased the chances of the Kazan team's second goalkeeper to strengthen his position in the team. Now he had to show the coaching staff that he could play at a high level consistently.

Dmitri Yashkin was again left out of the lineup. At the same time, last year's captain of Ak Bars put on a «show» on social media, unfollowing and then following the club's account again — and vice versa. After the game, Gatiaytulin said that Yashkin was missing the matches due to getting back into shape after a cold at the end of December.

Before the ответный поединок with the «Bars», a gap formed in the Admiral team. The club parted with three strong forwards — Egor Petukhov, Daniil Gutik and Igor Geraskin — in one day. Because of this, the coaching staff was forced to put defender Semyon Ruchkin in the fourth attacking trio. Also, Adam Huska replaced Arseniy Tsyba in goal from the first seconds.

Four points for Semenov

The first twenty minutes of the match were somewhat lacking in events. All the most interesting things happened in a couple of minutes in the middle of the period. In the 8th minute, Kirill Semenov fought near the goal and passed the puck to the slot, from where Aleksey Pustozerov put the puck into the net — 0:1. For the Kazan forward, this goal was his second in a row after returning to the lineup. At this rate, he might regain the coaching staff's trust before the deadline.

Nikita Dynyak could have scored in the passage, but his shot hit the post. In response, the hosts caught Ak Bars as they were leaving the zone. Libor Shulak threw the puck towards the goal, from where Stepan Starkov corrected the flight of the game puck into the net — 1:1. For a long time, the goal was attributed to the Admiral defender, but later the organizers made changes to the protocol.

In the fifth minute of the second period, Ak Bars took the lead again. Alexander Khmelevsky hesitated when entering the opponent's zone, but Mitchell Miller was the first to the rebound puck and sent it behind Huska — 1:2. For the Kazan player, this goal was his 14th of the current season. The American broke the club record for goals by Ak Bars defenders in the championship, which was previously held by Ilya Nikulin.

After that, until the end of the period, the «Bars» had three opportunities to score on the power play. But they scored only once, and even then when the teams were at equal strength. Semyon Terekhov finished off a puck that had bounced off the scramble in the slot — 1:3.

There were plenty of memorable moments in the third period. Admiral even had to change goalkeepers; due to Huska's injury, Tsyba appeared on the ice. The Kazan team played shorthanded. The hosts called a timeout before implementing the «extra» player, but the «sailors» failed to use the opportunity. But Semenov did not miss his chance — 1:4. The Kazan forward scored and brought his points for the game to four — a goal and three assists.

Results of the away series in the Far East

Ak Bars completed the Far Eastern away series with a 100% result. The Kazan team won all four matches — twice against Amur (5:3, 3:0) and Admiral (5:2, 4:1). The team has not had such convincing away series for a very long time.

In the final game, Semenov's trio performed best. In addition to Kirill himself, Khmelevsky had three assists, and Pustozerov had 1+1. For the latter, as well as for Semyon Terekhov, who scored three goals on this away series, it may have been a moment of truth. The KHL deadline will be on January 25 at 23:59 MSK. With their productive actions, the players have muddied the waters. It will no longer be possible to write them off.

Gatiaytulin reiterated that in the recent matches he had given the reserves a chance to prove themselves. Following the logic, Terekhov, Pustozerov and Arefyev took advantage of the coach's generosity, but Brandon Biero, Yashkin and, probably, Artemiy Knyazev will soon have to change clubs.

«It's too early to talk about the playoffs, we go from match to match, the team has big tasks. We are solving several tasks in parallel, including checking the depth of the roster to understand whether we can strengthen some positions. That's why we give the guys from our system the opportunity to prove themselves,» Gatiaytulin said.

Admiral — Ak Bars — 1:4 (1:1, 0:2, 0:1)
Goals:
0:1 — Pustozerov (Semenov, Marchenko, 07:19);
1:1 — Starkov (Shulak, 11:03);
1:2 — Miller (Khmelevsky, Semenov, 24:36);
1:3 — Terekhov (Semenov, Khmelevsky, 30:45);
1:4 — Semenov (Pustozerov, Khmelevsky, 59:45).

Ak Bars will play their next match on January 24 in Kazan against Sibir at 17:00 Moscow time. The match will be the last before the transfer window closes. For now, with their current roster, the Kazan team is second in the East and is three points ahead of Avangard (having played three more matches).