SLOVAN BEATS OUT SHOOTOUT VICTORY!

HC SLOVAN Bratislava - Dinamo Minsk 4:3 (SO) - (1:1, 1:1, 1:1 - 0:0, 1:0)

Goals: 5. Radivojevič (Ölvecký, J. Brejčák), 23. Šatan (Radivojevič, Bližňák), 56. Ölvecký, deciding penalty shot: Štajnoch - 9. Irgl (Krajíček, Surový), 39. Surový, 43. Materukhin (Kalyuzhny, L. Krajíček)

Penalties: 3:3 (2 min.), Powerplay Goals: 1:1, Shorthanded: 0:1. Officials: Bondar, Buturlin - Lazarev, Palei (all RUS). Attendance: 10,055.

Zostavy:

HC SLOVAN: Janus - Štajnoch, Škoula, Sigalet, V. Mihálik, Mojžíš, J. Brejčák - Šatan, Ölvecký, Radivojevič - Miklík, J. Mikúš, Bartovič - L. Hudáček, Bližňák, Vondrka - Kudrna, A. Šťastný, T. Mikúš (21. M. Daňo)

Minsk: Milchakov - L. Krajíček, Goroshko, Lintner, Nogachyov, Usenko, Filichkin - Materukhin, Stas, Kalyuzhny - Irgl, Surový, Yefimenko - Gavrus, Kitarov, Zakharov - Pavlovich, Drozd, Protasenya

A good start from Slovan saw just their third shot beat Milchakov. Between the circles, Radivojevič collected Ölvecký’s pass from the corner, sold the dummy to the opposing goalie and slotted into the empty net – 1:0. The Dynamo riposte was not long in coming, however – in the 9^th minute, defenseman Krajíček found fellow Czech Irgl free in front of goal, and he duly equalized – 1:1. The provider soon had a chance of his own, but Janus managed to smother his shot from between the circles.

A Slovan powerplay early in the second period saw Radivojevič first strike the post, but soon after he was able to set up the wide-open Šatan, who restored a one-goal advantage for the Sky Blues – 2:1. Milchakov then stood firm in the face of chances from the busy Kudrna, Mojžíš and Miklík. At the other end it was thanks to Juraj Mikúš that a scrimmage in front of Janus came to nothing. But in the 39^th minute, despite playing shorthanded, Surový broke away from the Slovan defense and flicked over Janus’s right pad 2:2.

At the start of the third, Dynamo also found success from a powerplay – Materukhin’s effort found its way past Janus – 2:3. But with the home fans crying out for a third goal, Ölvecký duly obliged, beating an uncertain Milchakov from between the circles. The game spilled over into overtime, in which Janus saved superbly off Irgl to keep Slovan in the hunt. In the end, a shootout was required to separate the teams - defenseman Štajnoch was the sole scorer, giving Slovan the two points.

Rostislav Čada: “After the KHL break, it was clear that combination and movement had come together in our game. Our players fought hard throughout the game; they were motivated to win. We equalized late on, and thanks to Štajnoch’s penalty shot we’ve got the most important thing – two points.”