Babenko managed without Larionov: how Ak Bars led but still lost to SKA

Again without Galimov and Bilyalov

Initially, the match in St. Petersburg was supposed to take place on December 22. However, after the «Shanghai Dragons» moved to the northern capital, the championship organizers rescheduled 10 of the St. Petersburg team's games, including the match against Ak Bars, which was moved four days earlier. As a result, the Kazan team had a significant gap of six days without matches next week.

The rescheduling was quite inopportune for the «Bars». Several team leaders caught a cold during the break for the First Channel Cup and have not yet had time to recover. With «gaps» in the lineup, the Kazan team has already played against Salavat Yulaev (6:3), where the coaches could not count on Timur Bilyalov, Artem Galimov, Konstantin Luchevnikov, Nikita Dynyak and Vladimir Alistrov. The Kazan team coped with Ufa, but such a «trick» might not work against the strong SKA. The St. Petersburg team approached the confrontation with the «Bars» with four wins in their last five matches.

As a result, Dynyak was able to return to the Ak Bars roster. Bilyalov, Galimov and Pustozerov were again left out of the lineup, and Alistrov and Luchevnikov did not even fly to the away series. But 18-year-old forward Egor Potapov and 19-year-old defender Igor Bardin made it into the lineup. Maxim Arefyev came in goal from the first minutes, backed up by 19-year-old Mikhail Konovalov.

For SKA, head coach Igor Larionov missed the game due to illness. The St. Petersburg team's leader was previously unable to attend the coaching bench in the recent match against the «Dragons» (4:1). Once again, he was replaced by Yuri Babenko, who once worked in Kazan in the staff of Oleg Znarok and Zinetula Bilyaletdinov.

Lost the thread of the game from the middle of the second period

The first half of the game was key for Ak Bars. After a long warm-up at the start of the match, the Kazan team then gained an advantage. Starting from the 7th minute, the «Bars» methodically began to shake the opponent's defence. The guests' players found themselves free in front of the goal time after time and were close to opening the scoring. But it was not until the end of the period that they managed to beat the SKA goalkeeper. Nikita Lyamkin shot from a distance, and Alexander Khmelevsky adjusted the puck into the net — 0:1.

Anvar Gatiaytulin's team then had several dangerous chances near Sergei Ivanov's goal. The goalkeeper performed above all praise and dealt with all the threats from the Kazan team. Ak Bars also had a couple of power plays, but they failed to capitalize on the man advantage. The «Bars» were again toothless in this aspect of the game, and questions about the work of coach Konstantin Shafranov continue to pile up.

From the middle of the second period, Ak Bars suffered some kind of setback. Either the team became psychologically exhausted, or the consequences of the leaders' illnesses took their toll. The turning point was an episode with mutual penalties. The referees unexpectedly went to review a video replay of a mini-scuffle between Dmitry Yashkin and Mikhail Vorobyov. The judges spotted an attempted stab by the guest player and gave him a four-minute penalty. At the same time, Vorobyov was also sent to the penalty box, penalized with two minutes for pushing.

SKA made use of their chances. All three goals were related to power plays. Even before Yashkin's strange penalty, SKA equalized the score. Acting in the «5 on 4» format, the St. Petersburg team quickly got the puck to the free Marat Khayrullin, and the army team's number 61 beat Maxim Arefyev — 1:1. In the third period, the hosts missed two minutes of the power play, but immediately after that they scored the second goal. While stopping the opponent's breakaway, Mitchell Miller knocked Arefyev off his feet, and SKA forward Matvey Polyakov beat the empty net — 2:1. The Kazan team was penalized twice more, allowing the hosts to open up a lead. Sergei Plotnikov's accurate shot made the scoreboard read 3:1.

In the closing stages, Ak Bars got a chance to capitalize on the power play, and Miller reduced the deficit — 3:2. The Kazan team launched a final assault, during which SKA players could have scored twice into the empty net. In the end, the St. Petersburg team held on and secured a come-from-behind victory.

«It's hard to dominate the whole game»

If you look solely at the score, it seems that Ak Bars was close to equalizing and taking points from St. Petersburg. In reality, the «Bars» deservedly left with zero points. SKA only got better with each period and in the final twenty minutes surpassed the Kazan team in everything. It is worth admitting that Babenko, who replaced «Professor» Larionov, did an excellent job of match management. With his actions during the game, the coach deserves a chance to work as a head coach in the KHL.

Ak Bars head coach Anvar Gatiaytulin did not quickly look for the reasons for his team's declining performance in the second half of the game. The coach limited himself to a standard phrase in such situations — the conversion of chances let them down. In the fall, he said that he would use this «excuse» only ten times during the season. Now, apparently, was the perfect moment for this phrase.

«It's hard to dominate the whole game. Usually, matches go like this — one team has the advantage for part of the match, then the initiative shifts. It's important how we manage our actions in these segments. Kazan journalists will understand me, today we're using this attempt — the conversion let us down. It's a game, emotions are always there. But you need to control them, especially when there's a thirst for struggle, so that it doesn't lead to rule violations,» Gatiaytulin said.

The last phrase was directed at Dmitry Yashkin for his foolish penalty in the second period. In essence, he admitted what moment was the turning point for the team in St. Petersburg.

SKA — Ak Bars — 3:2 (0:1, 1:0, 2:1)
Goals:
0:1 — Khmelevsky (Lyamkin, Terekhov, 15:50);
1:1 — Khayrullin (Zykov, Goldobin, 23:39, 5x4);
2:1 — Polyakov (44:11);
3:1 — Plotnikov (Savikov, Khayrullin, 52:27, 5x4);
3:2 — Miller (Lyamkin, Semenov, 57:45, 6x4).

Ak Bars will play their next match on December 20 in Ufa against Salavat Yulaev at 14:30 Moscow time. Anvar Gatiaytulin's team remains in second place in the Eastern Conference with 50 points in 38 games.