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Author: Evgeny Belousov

Date: 10/21/2009

10/19: Spartak beats Atlant 2-1

2010 Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)

In the October 19th�s match between Spartak Moscow and Atlant Mytischi the home team had the chance to interrupt their cold streak despite facing one of the Tarasov division�s favorites. Instead of the injured Dmitri Kochnev, the home team�s crease featured Evgeny Konobry, while for Atlant the former Ottawa Senator, Swiss Martin Gerber.

A tense match started as soon as the Russian hymn finished sounding in arena and the teams put on a fight for any meter of space, especially the guests. They started very well the match, but Konobry constantly tried to do everything not to make the red light turn on. After the second commercials pause Spartak tried to rebound back. The defenders tried more long passes towards the mobile forwards Lyuduchin and Knyazev, but the opponent blue liners managed to stop up all the opposition�s attempt.

Also the second period started without a really dominating team. Spartak though tried something more and Atlant�s defense looked not ready. The red-white team leaved no way out at home. Head coach Milos Riga�s lines rotation united once again the Slovak trio: Radivojevic exited from the zone, giving the puck to Cibak, who served Ruzicka towards the goal with an intelligent pass. The Slovak got the puck, made a pause, then he passed through two defensemen to put the puck past Gerber.

Atlant recovered pretty fast from the allowed goal. A couple of times Nikolai Zherdev (New York Rangers) tried making something happen but he had no luck. The only notable thing happened in the rest of the second period was the rough play by Mikko Luoma against Roman Lyuduchin, that converted into a match penalty for the Finn.

In the third period Atlant attacked head down since the first faceoff. Even while down by a man the guests had the initiative. And when midway through the third period Nikita Schitov has been called for a penalty, Atlant players spoiled the chance and tied it up. Landry quickly get into the zone, serving Kanareikin, who searched and found his partner Andrei Zubarev (Atlanta Thrashers), who put it in the back of the net with a powerful shot on the far post.

After the allowed goal Spartak restarted attacking the crease defended by Atlant�s Swiss goalie. Ilya Kablukov (Vancouver Canucks) read well the game from the boards, sharing the puck with Nikita Schitov. The defenseman moved the puck in the slot, where the team�s top scorer, Kirill Knyazev, tipped the puck into the net. The refs needed some reviews to validate the goal, but they pointed to the center ice nevertheless.

Atlant tried hard and did all the possible to send the game to the overtime, but the over usage of the first couple of lines and the pulling of the goalie weren�t helpful and Spartak gained three deserved points.

Prospects report:

Spartak Moscow:

Kirill Lyamin (Ottawa Senators): Was the better defensive defenseman of the team tonight. He constantly managed to contain the opposition mobile wingers. He had some good hits and won most of the battle along the boards.

Ilya Kablukov (Vancouver Canucks): he played pretty well starting from the moment Riga reorganized the lines. Even if he played him less than any other player, he managed to assist on the game winning goal.

Evgeny Bolyakin: he should get more trust and more minutes, he made no big errors and showed some good passes, but sometimes he got outskated by the opponent forwards.

Atlant Mytischi

Andrei Zubarev (Atlanta Thrashers): one of the best players for his team, he played tightly on defense, showed good skating and positional play and even scored a nice goal during a powerplay chance.

Denis Bodrov (Philadelphia Flyers): He played almost half of the match because of Lauma's game misconduct. He didn't play particularly well or badly, but during the game winning goal he hasn't checked well Knyazev, allowing the Spartak player putting the puck on the net.

Alexei Glukhov: he didn't play up to the level of the other three centers of his team. That being said, he has some good dribbles and won some battles along the boards.

Related Player Profiles: . D.Bodrov I.Kablukov K.Lyamin N.Zherdev A.Zubarev