“We need to reboot our heads”: Ak Bars has fallen into a february crisis again

Lineups without major changes

Ak Bars and Traktor approached the third head-to-head meeting of the season without major changes in their lineups. Anvar Gatiyatulin did not try to be clever and put on the ice the same combinations that lost the last match against Sibir (2:3B) in a shootout series. Yevgeny Koreshkov, on the other hand, did not have much room for variation due to player injuries. Thus, Vasily Glotov and Vladimir Zharkov have been out of the lineup for a long time, and newcomers Michal Čajkovský and Aleksandr Kisakov are not yet ready.

And both teams had serious motivation to win. After Amur’s afternoon defeat to Torpedo, Ak Bars could have secured a Gagarin Cup playoff spot early. For that, it was enough just to win in Chelyabinsk in regulation time. Only Traktor had a bone to pick with the “leopards.” The Chelyabinsk hockey players lost twice in Kazan and were counting on revenge on home ice.

There were also game-related intrigues. Thus, Dmitry Yashkin continues to look lackluster for Ak Bars. The Kazan team’s leader from last season is in a crisis — he hasn’t scored since mid-December, periodically doesn’t make the lineup, and doesn’t stand out on the ice. The match against Traktor could have greatly helped the forward regain his former confidence, had he managed to score.

He was opposed by Sergei Mylnikov. The Traktor goaltender got the best chance of his career to become the main goalie of a team fighting for the Gagarin Cup. For a long time, he was not taken seriously due to inconsistency. Now, however, Mylnikov is increasingly showing reliable play, helping Traktor earn points.

Ak Bars fell apart from the very first minutes

This season, Ak Bars has been starting matches more successfully than its Chelyabinsk counterpart. However, this time the statistics remained just numbers on paper. On the ice, the hosts were more productive in the first 20 minutes. Traktor scored twice and went to the break leading 2:0.

Moreover, the first goal was scored by the Chelyabinsk team in the opening attack. Bilyalov played poorly behind the goal, and Georgy Dronov found the net with a long-range shot — 1:0. The second goal was seen by the audience five minutes before the buzzer — Joshua Leivo made a cross, and Vitaly Kravtsov finished — 2:0.

In the second period, the hosts gave the initiative to the Kazan team. The play went without many chances; penalties didn’t help much either. The teams each failed to convert one power play opportunity. Ak Bars managed to create two dangerous episodes closer to the middle of the period, but Nathan Todd and Kirill Semyonov failed to beat the goalie. Toward the end, the “leopards” missed another chance to play with a man advantage. However, that was already with the score 3:0 in Traktor’s favor — Mikhail Goryunov-Rolgizer broke away from two opposing defenders at once and beat the Kazan goal.

At the start of the third period, Ak Bars faced the task of quickly “cracking” the Chelyabinsk goalie. But Sergei Mylnikov was in the zone and acted super-reliably in this game. Mitchell Miller was set up for a shot twice; Aleksandr Barabanov and Kirill Semyonov had chances — all in vain. The Traktor goalie ultimately recorded a shutout, handling all of the “leopards” attacks.

But Ak Bars failed to keep its own goal untouched at least in the third period. Goryunov-Rolgizer crashed into the Kazan zone, shook off a defender, and sent the puck past Bilyalov — 4:0.

Ak Bars is repeating last year’s scenario

The crushing defeat by Traktor summed up Ak Bars’ failed stretch after a successful Far East road trip. In the last five championship matches, the Kazan team has won only once — against Neftekhimik (6:1) at the end of January.

At the same time, the “leopards” only now ended an eight-game streak of earning points. Despite the failures, Gatiyatulin’s team had not lost in regulation time. And in the standings, Ak Bars has not slipped below third place in the conference.

However, there are slight doubts due to the fact that the current unsuccessful stretch coincides in time with last year’s. Back then, the “leopards” improved well in December–January, but then came a severe slump. And they failed to eliminate the causes of the sharp collapse right up until the playoffs.

Now the team faces a week-long break due to the KHL All-Star Game. Besides some players, coach Gatiyatulin will also go to the All-Star weekend. How this will affect Ak Bars is unknown. But Gatiyatulin himself already speaks about the need for a reboot.

— Not the most successful match, like this five-game stretch after the Far East trip. As for the play… Probably no point in saying that we don’t score from excellent positions in well-created chances. These are our problems. This break will be very timely — we need to reboot our heads. It’s too early to think about the playoffs yet. We have things to work on, we’re looking for combinations and links, we need to integrate the new player who joined before the deadline. We’re preparing for the next match; it’s the most important one now. The break will be timely, — said Gatiyatulin.

Traktor — Ak Bars — 4:0 (2:0, 1:0, 1:0)
Goals:
1:0 — Dronov (Kravtsov, Leivo, 00:42);
2:0 — Kravtsov (Leivo, Koromyslov, 14:14);
3:0 — Goryunov-Rolgizer (Koromyslov, 37:26);
4:0 — Goryunov-Rolgizer (Day, Dronov, 56:00).

Ak Bars’ next match will be on February 12 in Kazan against Nizhny Novgorod’s Torpedo at 19:00 Moscow time. On Wednesday, the “leopards” could not secure a playoff spot early, postponing that event for at least a week. If only now a losing streak doesn’t start and the playoff qualification isn’t delayed for a long time.