“Guys are good, fought and fought”: “Spartak” won the hardest victory in Khabarovsk

The warm and refreshing air of the Black Sea coast of our country in October can have a beneficial effect not only during holidays for ordinary Russians, but also during the hardest working days for all ice teams of the Kontinental Hockey League at the beginning of the new season. A sip of fresh sea breeze this time turned out to be very effective and timely for the capital’s Spartak, who for five days came to warm lands for two paired matches with HC Sochi after a depressing, six-game series of defeats.

Victories in these two meetings 5: 2 and 2: 0, with and not surfaced this season, the “Black Sea”, helped the red and white to throw off the burden of defeats, recover, and in high spirits go to the most difficult for the clubs of the European part of the country Far Eastern departure. The first stop on the way of the team of Alexei Zhamnov was on Wednesday Khabarovsk, where the local “Amur”, despite the recent successes of Muscovites, almost for the first time in the history of the KHL was considered the favorites of face-to-face confrontation.

The new leaders of the Khabarovsk club and the coaching staff of the Tigers, headed by Alexander Andrievsky, managed this season to collect a very combat-ready team that won five victories in the last six matches, which allowed this Far Eastern team to climb to an unusually high for themselves, the third position in their conference, second only to Metallurg and Petrochemist. Nizhnekamsk club, by the way, “Amur” beat 1-0 at the beginning of its take-off to the top, thanks to the phenomenal game of Maxim Dorozhko.

Also, Khabarovsk residents were defeated: “Automobile”, “Lada” and twice “Tractor”. So this rival seemed to the Spartacists a very formidable rival, who really had to test the Muscovites for strength. And that check-up for the guests started right with the kick-off. "Tigers" immediately boosted the pace, began to act actively in a foreign zone and achieved success with the first throw at the goal of Ivan Fedotov. Goals in the second minute reached not difficult throw ex-army Vitaly Abramov, which his former teammate in CSKA frankly yawned.

1: 0 - led the hosts at the very beginning of the match, and the red and white had to make every effort and look for the keys to the gate of the Road to recoup. This helped them a little and the hosts themselves, who earned several unforced removals, relying excessively on their reliable game in the minority. Before the meeting with Spartak, the series, when the Tigers did not allow the opponent to distinguish themselves in the majority, reached 13 matches, but in the end of the starting twenty minutes, with the efforts of Dmitry Vishnevsky and Alexander Belyaev, it was still interrupted.

The red-and-white forward courageously climbed a spot in front of someone else's goal and from his head after a powerful throw of his defender ricocheted into the net. This is the 27-year-old’s eighth goal in the championship. He courageously accepted congratulations and with his face broken to blood here in the dressing room.

Despite double-edged hockey, two units on the scoreboard lasted almost to the final siren. A draw in the main time would have been a fair result of this match, but the hockey gods were on the side of the Moscow club this time. 5 minutes and 2 seconds before the end of the third period, the Slovak defender of Spartak Christian Jaros managed to use a small brand in the defense of Amur, whom the partners brought to a convenient position and he stitched the goalkeeper of the Tigers with a powerful shot for the second time.

The hosts rushed to the final assault, and in the final 180 seconds of the games locked the guests in their zone, but the Spartakov five with Fedotov survived. 2: 1 – a difficult victory of the “red and white” in Khabarovsk, which became the third consecutive victory for Zhamnov’s wards. The mentor of this team in a post-match flash interview emphasized the nature of his players in this game: “It was a difficult game. The guys were good, everyone fought, everyone fought. The outcome of the match was decided by the third period, in which we acted correctly and managed to survive in the very end.

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