THREE POINTS THANKS TO THRILLING THIRD!

HC SLOVAN Bratislava - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 5:3 (0:1, 2:2, 3:0)

Goals: 27. Šatan (Sersen), 32. Šatan (V. Mihálik, Sigalet), 48. M. Daňo (Bakoš, Škoula), 49. Bližňák (Vondrka, Miklík), 53. A. Šťastný (Sersen, Štajnoch) - 16. Korenev (Kapustin, Gorokhov), 22. Musatov (M. Redlihs, Khlopotov), 35. Plotnikov (Gorokhov, Konkov) 

Penalties: 6:3 (2 min.), Powerplay Goals: 1:1, Shorthanded: 0:0. Officials: Ravodin, Romasko - Zakharenkov, Sadovnikov. Attendance: 10,055

Lineups: 
HC SLOVAN: Janus - Škoula, Sersen, V. Mihálik, Sigalet, Štajnoch, Mojžíš - Miklík, Bližňák, Vondrka - Radivojevič, Ölvecký, Bartovič - Šatan, A. Šťastný, L. Hudáček - Daňo, Matoušek, M. Bakoš 
Yaroslavl: Sanford - Gorokhov, Lyubushkin, Holös, S. Kronwall, Zotov, V. Vishnevsky, Yakovlev - Plotnikov, Apalkov, Konkov - M. Redlihs, Khlopotov, Musatov - Averin, J. Petrov, Chernikov - Maltsev, Kapustin, Korenev

Both teams started the match in watchful defense. After a cautious opening, the initiative went with Yaroslavl, aided by three powerplays. Thanks to Janus, Slovan managed to hold out for an extended length of time. But in the 16^th minute, with Slovan already thinking about even-handed play, Kapustin found Korenev from behind the net and the latter opened the scoring - 0:1. A good chance then fell to Bartovič while shorthanded, but he found Sanford in the way. The hosts played eight minutes of the first period shorthanded, leaving little time to think about attacking.

The boys in purple upped their activity in the middle period, but Musatov cooled their optimism, easily getting past Ölvecký and Mihálik from the wing, and beating the helpless Janus – 0:2. In the 27^th minute, Sanford could only parry Sersen’s shot – the puck fell to Šatan, and he cleaned up – 1:2. Sanford was in action again soon after, this time successful in keeping out Škoula’s long-range effort. The hosts were coming to life, and in the 32^nd Šatan was again in the right place, Mihálik’s shot rebounding to him off the backboard, and the rest was simple – 2:2. In the 35^th Miklík hit the post, then Vondrka the crossbar, but it was Yaroslavl on the counter who shocked the home fans, Konkov brilliantly picking out Plotnikov in the right circle – 2:3.

Early in the third period, Slovan had two powerplays, but could make nothing from them. In the 48^th minute, Bakoš’s efforts saw the puck fall to Daňo in the goalmouth, and he scored his second of the season – 3:3. Just 88 seconds later the hosts were in front, Bližňák decisive in front of Sanford – 4:3. Slovan continued positively, and Andrej Šťastný provided a fifth goal a few minutes later – 5:3. Lokomotiv then pushed Slovan back into the defensive zone, but the home defense, with the alert Janus at the heart, kept everything out. A final powerplay for the visitors did nothing to change the scoreline. The Sky Blues, dressed in purple in support of children with cancer, take three points from a tough encounter. Let us hope that the struggles of these children, to whom this game was dedicated, will be equally successful.

Rostislav Čada: “We were behind for some time, undeservedly. The six-minute powerplay in the first period helped our opponents; we defended really well, but paradoxically gave away a goal at the end of it. We gradually came back. We could have gone 3:2 up, but instead the rule ‘If you don’t score, you concede’ came true and we conceded. But that didn’t stop us – we scored three in the final period, and I agree with the visitors’ coach – we deserved to win.”