Clutcher Miller and “Ak Bars” miracle comeback: “Green Derby” with a retro flavor

“Green Derby” with a retro sauce

The first “Green Derby” of the new KHL season took place this evening in Ufa. For more than a year now, there have been talks in hockey circles about reducing the number of matches in the regular championship between “Ak Bars” and “Salavat Yulaev.” Let us recall that this season the teams will play each other at least six times. And against the background of the abundance of games with the Ufa team, some players of the Kazan club admitted in informal conversations with a “Real Time” correspondent that because of this the taste of the most irreconcilable confrontation in KHL history is lost.

Nevertheless, the “Green Derby” each time gives fans truly unforgettable emotions. Matches between “Salavat Yulaev” and “Ak Bars” are always accompanied by passion and excitement, regardless of the score with which they end.

This year the debut meeting of the teams was accompanied by commemorative retro jersey sets. “Ak Bars” chose the jersey in which the players performed from 2005 to 2011, becoming champions in 2006. “Salavat Yulaev," in turn, recreated the jersey set from the 2007/08 season, at the end of which it became Russian champion for the first time in its history.

The Khmelyovsky — Hayes pairing still is not scoring points

Against the background of two previous defeats to “Metallurg” (2:3) and “Torpedo” (2:3), Anvar Gatiyatulin decided to change the forward combinations. Egor Sokolov went to the first line with Kirill Semyonov and Artyom Galimov. And Kevin Hayes came out on the left wing together with Alexander Khmelyovsky and Semyon Terekhov.

— We understood that this is a player with enormous potential, a master. At the same time we knew that a messiah would not come to us who would immediately score all the goals. We take everything into account: he has had practically no game practice for half a year. First of all, we need to help him improve his physical condition and adapt in the league. Such a change of environment requires time — approximately from 10 to 20 matches. But we hope that thanks to his experience the adaptation will go faster. Our task is to find effective combinations. This applies both to Kevin and to the other guys, commented the head coach of “Ak Bars," Anvar Gatiyatulin, on his decision to put Hayes on the left.

The Kazan team's coach continues to count on the effectiveness of the Khmelyovsky — Hayes pairing. But so far both players have disappointing numbers in the points column for “Ak Bars” — 0+0. And if in Kevin's situation one can still make allowances for adaptation, the American's adjustment to the realities of Russian hockey, then it is hard to find justification for Alexander's “modest” statistics.

One cannot say that Khmelyovsky has no potentially goal-scoring episodes from match to match. And in the game with “Salavat Yulaev” the forward had a good opportunity to score, hitting the post in one of the episodes. But so far, as they say, Khmelyovsky is “not getting lucky.” The hockey player himself understands this, feeling the pressure from talk about the highest salary at “Ak Bars” for the season (95 million rubles). And Anvar Gatiyatulin is trying with all his might to help his charge, trying him in different positions and combinations.

— We talk both with Sasha and with all the guys, we explain where one can improve. I understand why this question is being asked, but if he had hit the net today or if the post had played in our favor — in the goals scored column Sasha would already have not zero. For now the posts are playing not in our favor, Gatiyatulin stated at the press conference.

“Ak Bars” turned the outcome of the match around, coming back in the third period 1.5 minutes before the end of regulation time

Khmelyovsky's lackluster play could in a certain sense have become the apotheosis of the Kazan team's crushing defeat in Ufa. After all, after the second period “Ak Bars” was trailing “Salavat Yulaev” with a score of 0:3. A double by Devin Brosseau and a goal by Danil Alalykin had virtually sentenced Anvar Gatiyatulin's charges to a third defeat in a row.

The Kazan team's coach has more than once emphasized in conversations with journalists earlier that his main task is to build a team with character, a collective capable of pulling matches out of the most hopeless situations.

And so it turned out that the very character that Gatiyatulin talks so much about, “Ak Bars” managed to show today in the third period of the match with “Salavat Yulaev.” At 1:3, when Albert Yarullin first broke the ice with a magnificent low shot, the Kazan team later created a miracle comeback 1.5 minutes before the end of regulation time. First Mitchell Miller converted “Ak Bars”' power play in the 6-on-4 format. And then Egor Sokolov perfectly redirected the puck from the crease after a throw-in by defenseman Nikita Lyamkin.

It should be noted that the Kazan team's newcomer has now scored in his second game in a row, justifying the high expectations placed on him by the club's management and coaching staff.
By all the canons of dramaturgy, “Ak Bars” was supposed to win in overtime. That is how it turned out in the end. In the 3-on-3 format, Mitchell Miller put the final point on the result of the match. At the start of the regular championship there were questions about the American's play. After an outstanding playoff run last season, willy-nilly you always expect goal-scoring exploits from Miller. In the first four matches the defenseman could not score. But in Ufa Mitchell broke through. He again showed himself as an incredible clutcher, capable of turning match outcomes 180 degrees thanks to individual skill.

“Ak Bars” will play its next KHL game on September 18 against “Sochi” away. The start of the meeting is at 19:30 Moscow time.

“Salavat Yulaev” — “Ak Bars” — 3:4 OT (2:0, 1:0, 0:3, 0:1)

1:0 Brosseau (Rem pal, Rodwald, 07:11)

2:0 Brosseau (Rodwald, Rem pal, 13:37)

3:0 Alalykin (37:17)

3:1 Yarullin (Denisenko, Evseev, 48:00)

3:2 Miller (Sokolov, Galimov, 58:43, 6x5)

3:3 Sokolov (Lyamkin, Galimov, 59:25, 6x5)

3:4 Miller (Byvaltsev, Denisenko, 60:48)

USA “Ufa-Arena," Ufa. 8,522 spectators.