Spartak with clear victory in Bratislava

Michael Garnett played a fantastic game on Thursday against the defending champions from St. Petersburg, but this time he did not get the start he was hoping for. Just 59 seconds were played when the Canadian net minder misplayed the puck, giving Andrei Ermarkov the wide open net and the 0-1 lead for the Russians.

Bratislava tried to find the immediate response with Marek Viedensky, but just as in the 7^th minute on a scoring chance by Andrej Stastny, Atte Engren was ready for his first tests.

Also Garnett got his chances to redeem himself and he did especially when his team was short two men, denying Grigory Shafigulin’s one timer. In the final seconds of the first period, Slovan also had the luck on its side when Vyacheslav Leshenko’s wrist shot hit the crossbar.

Whereas the 10,000 fans in Slovnaft Arena witnessed a rather defensive style of hockey initial 20 minutes of play, the game opened up at the beginning of the middle frame. In the 25^th minute Vaclav Nedorost had a good chance for a short hander, but the Finn between Moscow’s pipes remained unbeaten.

Maxim Potapov had two opportunities on the other side, though Garnett was unwilling to give up a second goal. Lukas Kaspar seemed finally have Engren beaten on the 1-on-0, but even sprawling on the ice he was able to put his body between him and the net.

Slovan wanted to tie the game early in the third and probably risked much, giving Spartak a 2-on-1 situation in the 45^th minute, which Igor Levitsky capatilzed on Vyacheslav Ipatov’s pass. Just 1 minute and 43 seconds later the situation got even worse for the Eagles when Charles Genoway defeated Garnett for the third time. The gorgeous assist from behind the net by Evgeny Bodrov was probably worth more than the goal itself.

The amazing Slovak crowd would though keep pushing their team and also got rewarded for it only 49 seconds later, when Tomas Surovy was finally able to score on the Finnish goalkeeper.

The never aging Slovak hockey legend Ladislav Nagy, centerpiece of Slovan’s offence, kept leading attack after attack, but once again a defensive letdown would lead to another goal for Spartak. Defeceman Vladimir Mihalik lost his balance, giving xx the open ice for the Russian’s fourth goal.

A hockey game though is not over until the last whistle has been blown and so Nagy’s deflection made it a two-goal hockey game again. It would again not last very long though, as Lukas Radil put the puck right under the crossbar, giving Spartak Moscow a 5-2 victory.

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