INEFFECTIVE DISPLAY AGAINST ADMIRAL

HC SLOVAN Bratislava - Admiral Vladivostok 1:6 (0:1, 1:1, 0:4)

Goals: 26. Bližňák (Bartovič, Mojžíš) - 9. Gynge (Pyett, Schütz), 39. Gynge (Osipov, Bergfors), 46. Bortnikov (Drugov), 57. Ugarov (Hodgman, I. Zubov), 57. Bergfors (Schütz, Gynge), 60. Bortnikov (Osipov, Barbashev)

Penalties: 2:4 (2 min.), Powerplay Goals: 0:2, Shorthanded: 0:0. Officials: Kadyrov, Kiselyov - Parfionov, Sysuyev (RUS). Attendance: 10,055.

Lineups:
HC SLOVAN: Janus - Škoula, Sigalet, Mojžíš, V. Mihálik, Štajnoch, J. Brejčák - Miklík, Bližňák, Vondrka - J. Mikúš, Ölvecký, Bartovič - Šatan, Radivojevič, L. Hudáček - M. Bakoš, A. Šťastný, T. Mikúš
Vladivostok: Ivannikov - Pyett, Vorobyov, Commodore, Osipov, Zemchyonok, Ternavsky - Hodgman, I. Zubov, Bortnikov - Gynge, Schütz, Bergfors - Grachyov, Nikitenko, Ugarov - K. Sokolov, Drugov, Barbashev

The Sky Blues certainly started positively. Inside three minutes, Miklík broke into the attacking zone. When he was fouled as he bore down on goal, the officials awarded a penalty shot, but Šatan failed to convert. Janus was in action at the other end, holding onto a shot from Zubov. First on the scoresheet was Gynge, who reacted quickly to Pyett’s blocked shot in the 9th minute – 0:1. Bergfors could have made it two, but this time the home goalie didn’t hesitate. Shortly before the siren, both Juraj Mikúš and Ölvecký  failed to convert efforts to equalize, while Sigalet hit the post during a powerplay.

The home side finally provided the fans with a goal in the 26th minute – the Mojžíš- Bartovič axis set up Bližňák – 1:1. Further chances fell to Slovan in the 32^nd, but efforts from Radivojevič, Libor Hudáček and Šatan were in vain. Janus then did well in tricky circumstances to handle shots from Schütz and Bergfors. But Admiral regained the lead 76 seconds from the siren – Osipov’s powerplay effort rebounded off the backboard and fell to Gynge, who had no trouble slotting the puck home – 1:2.

A solo effort from Bortnikov in the 46^th minute extended Admiral’s lead to 3:1, while Ölvecký’s shot at the other end was caught by Ivannikov. A fatal error behind the goal by Janus handed Bortnikov a certain goal, but he somehow missed the target. Šatan couldn’t make it count from between the circles, and nor could Mihálik or Hudáček. Ugarov’s goal for 4:1 in the 57^th marked the end for Slovan, as Bergfors added a fifth 31 seconds later, and Bortnikov made it six in a final-minute powerplay – 1:6.

Rostislav Čada: “The result looks dreadful, but we conceded three goals in the last three minutes. A key moment was Miklík’s intriguing dismissal near the end of the second period – our opponents scored in the powerplay to make it 2:1. I have to say that Vladivostok were impressive, and we struggled to deal with the man-to-man contests. I would add that the visitors were very effective.”