“Ak Bars” - “Metallurg” Mg - 2: 5. Account in the series: 0-1
Nikolay Kulemin
What is this guy doing! This time he made a clown out of the defender of the Russian national team Vitaly Proshkin, circling him like a chip in training. Probably Vyacheslav Bykov, who watched this meeting, closed his eyes and began to study the defenders from the NHL, who finish the championship on April 8. There is little hope for Proshkin, such attackers as Kulemin, the majority at the World Cup.
And Nikolai in the current form, on the contrary, will be useful to the national team. Two goals (unless, of course, the first one is written on it) is not the most important. Helping the defense players, he tied Kazan so that Travis Scott should thank him for missing just two goals.
Travis scott
Before the match, they thought who was stronger - Scott or Noronen. It is significant that Omsk Alexei Cherepanov preferred the goalkeeper of Metallurg, although he scored for him during the season. But Scott, skipping, makes a dozen salvations, and in such a performance that the attackers drop their hands.
Scott completely outplayed Noronen. Finn during the first two goals could play more successfully. But Scott caught almost all the strong wrist throws (the same as Gusmanov did in the first period). And most often did not allow the owners to play on finishing. Only once did he make a mistake during the second goal. But this did not affect the outcome of the meeting.
Sergey Zinoviev
Although he represents the losing side, without him, Ak Bars would have been very bad. It is no secret that this center forward is currently in conflict with link partner Alexei Morozov. No one can say exactly what is the cause of the disagreement. But it turns out Morozov is to blame. Sergey then leaves all grievances in the locker room and fights to death on ice. He scored a classic goal, rushing at Scott and Seluyanov. Unfortunately, Bilyaletdinov has only one such kamikaze.
What's next
Given that the first link of Kazan is not like itself, and the young ones are nervous and constantly retire, instead of trying to exhaustively exhaust the opponent’s defense, Bilyaletdinov faces an insoluble task. How to win with only two links? And you need to quickly decide what to do with this disaster. How to make Morozov play with the same interest as in the regular season in a day? How can I explain to Yunkov and Golovin that we need to calm down and do our work, not paying attention to the audience? If the Kazan coach finds the right words, he is a genius.
It seems that Ak Bars was mistaken with tactics. Kazan played as before, betting on the attack. But if no one risked playing open hockey with them in the first half of the season, now Metallurg responded with pleasure and pushed a full box into Noronen’s goal.
Probably the second game will be less open. True, it cannot be said that in this case Kazan will have more chances to win.
Alexey Shevchenko
Special opinion
Ak Bars is a visual aid to demonstrate the harm caused by lack of competition. Compared to the regular season, the Bilyaletdinov team has not lost anything so special. He runs the same way, combines in the same way and also ... flirts.
Kazan simply forgot what a rival is, who knows how to play no worse than they do, and even bites his teeth into the ice, fights to the death for every puck. Magnitogorsk was so angry in this match, even furious, as if it had been cornered. Although, after all, nothing of the kind is really. Ak Bars is a champion (yet), but not a favorite. Metallurg is a contender, but not doomed. It’s just that Magnitogorsk seemed to have a better idea of what awaits it in this finale. And because with the "Vanguard" had to "chopped off." And because a lot of anger has accumulated over three years of defeats from the same Omsk citizens. And now - a stone from the soul and wings behind.
This Ak Bars, already tailored and trained by Bilyaletdinov, simply did not have such a strength test. Neither last year nor this. A year ago, all the rivals “leopards” passed in the same breath, as if resisting without noticing. And this season they created all the problems for themselves. Let's not seriously talk about the "foreign" in relation to the series with CSKA. Bykov still had a raw team to really play “on the fly” with Kazan.
Actually, in understanding what to expect from the finals, the Ak Bars launch assault was expressed. More precisely, not the assault itself, but the way out of it. When nothing came of the attack, the Kazan team clearly took a break, so that later, obviously, with new strength to fall on the “Magnitogorsk”. And they quickly learned that there could be no pauses in this final, with this Magnitogorsk.
Magnitogorsk showed hockey close to the standard. They ran forward very quickly, returned to defenses even faster. Destroyed pure ice in the bud for Ak Bars. Attacks on the move from the Kazan did not work, because they were extinguished either in the middle zone or on the first centimeters of Magnitogorsk.
You can, of course, blame everything on Noronen. The first two goals on his conscience. Finn did lose his corners. Just what is it worse than partners? He sailed just like them. After all, the defenders constantly lost in speed and position. After all, the attackers did not have time to return to the defense, getting bogged down in the Magnitogorsk zone or on the approaches to it.
Bilyaletdinov has a day to find the same motivation with the team as that of Metallurg. Tactical tricks will not help. This is the ending of the characters. Magnitogorsk showed it. A word for Ak Bars.