Three Home Wins on the Trot!

HC SLOVAN Bratislava - Barys Astana 5:3 (3:1, 0:2, 2:0) 

Goals: 9. A. Šťastný (Tičar, Jeglič), 14. L. Nagy (Surový), 19. V. Nedorost (L. Kašpar, Luža), 46. Surový, 60. Barker - 17. Dawes (Dallman, Lundin), 35. Bochenski (Lundin), 40. Boyd (Bochenski, Dallman) 

Penalties: 5:2 (2 min.), Powerplay goals: 0:2, Shorthanded: 0:0. Officials: Gamalei, Naumov - Raming, Shikhanov (all RUS). Attendance: 7,862.

Lineups: 
Slovan: Garnett - Sersen, Barker, Mihálik, Švarný, Starosta, J. Valach, Luža - L. Kašpar, V. Nedorost, Paré - L. Nagy, T. Surový, Bartovič - Jeglič, Tičar, A. Šťastný - Lušňák, Viedenský, Skalický 
Astana: J. Laco (21. Ivanov) - Dallman, Lundin, Savchenko, Semionov, Ellerby, Litvinenko, Triasunov - Bochenski, Boyd, Dawes - Krasnoslobodtsev, St. Pierre, Zhailauov - Pushkariov, Kaigorodov, Romanov - Yevdokimov, Polishchuk, Grents.

Early in the piece, the elite Astana first line made their way towards Garnett's net, but the Canadian netminder had little to deal with. First blood was drawn at the other end, when Tičar broke down the left and played in Šťastný, who duly converted - 1:0. An active Slovan side then added a second in the 14th minute - Laco Nagy shot from the right circle and beat Laco - 2:0. With Nedorost in the sin bin late in the period, Dawes managed to pull one back for the visitors - 2:1, but just before the break, Luža sent the puck criss-cross via Kašpar to Nedorost surging forward, and his first time effort found the far corner - 3:1.

In the second period, Astana's old-new coach Andrej Nazarov replaced Laco with Ivanov in the net. The coach reduced to three attacking lines, and Barys managed to pull back level. In the 35th minute, another penalty proved costly to Slovan, as Bochenski's deflected shot beat Garnett from back of the right cirlcle - 3:2. Just half a minute from the siren, Boyd made the most of Garnett's advanced position, turning outside him and tucking home the equaliser - 3:3.

The opening sallies of the final period belonged to the hosts. Surový restored the Sky Blues' lead in the 46th minute, pouncing on a careless defensive error - 4:3. The visitors struggled to get back in to the game, and when they pulled the goalie late in the day, Cam Barker added another for Slovan into the empty net, seconds before the end - 5:3. The victory marks four wins in succession for HC Slovan Bratislava.