"Ak Bars" defeated "Avangard" in Dubai
The exhibition match of the KHL championship was held in Dubai, the capital of the UAE. Kazan "Ak Bars" beat Omsk "Avangard" with a score of 3:1.
Compared to the previous game in Moscow with Dynamo, the coaching staff of Ak Bars made only one change – instead of Danis Zaripov, Mikhail Glukhov played in the attack. And Timur Bilyalov defended the gates of Kazan for the 14th time in a row. We should add that the symbolic throw-in in the match was made by the former forward of Ak Bars, and now the president of the KHL Alexey Morozov.
In the first period, the opponents managed to play both in equal squads and in the majority. But the nominal guests, the Kazan residents, were still more active. By the middle of the period, the score of shots on target was eloquent, 3-11, only 5-13. In a word, the best goalkeepers in the first period were Shimon Grubets from Dynamo and Bilyalov from Ak Bars. Therefore, at the end of the twenty-minute period, zeros remained on the scoreboard.
In the second period, the picture of the match did not change. Kazan attacked more often: Dmitry Voronkov could have scored, but he did not hit from a killing position. Artem Galimov pushed the puck into the net from a patch, 0:1. Then, in the minority, the guests miraculously defended their goal. It was due to the majority of the game (three consecutive removals in the ranks of Ak Bars) that the end of the period passed with a noticeable advantage of Avangard. Therefore, shots on target in favor of the Omsk team, 15-6.
The hosts started the third period in the majority, but Ak Bars quickly leveled the game in equal compositions. A shot on the spot, and Stephen Kaempfer instantly closed the far post, 0:2. The seventh goal of the American defender in the championship. The Kazan team is getting the game. Artem Lukoyanov's interception in someone else's zone, shot to the far post, and Mikhail Glukhov scored the first goal of the season, 0:3. However, from the sixth time, Omsk realized something superfluous, Nikita Soshnikov got into the far nine, 1:3. In the end, the Siberians replaced the goalkeeper with the sixth fielder, but the Kazan team persevered.
After 36 matches, the Kazan team scored 49 points, the third place. In the next round on December 6 in Kazan, Ak Bars will play with Kazakhstan's Barys.