One step from the glory

Arlan gets two points more after another battling game, by beating the fierce Kurbads at overtime after suffering the tie goal with 20 seconds to the final siren, dominating the overtime for the naivety of Latvian team, allowing a double penalty for a wrong lines’ change. The game begins with Kurbads much more aggressive than in the debut, even if the first chance is for Arlan, a post hit by Borovikov after 4 minutes, Kurbads opens the score with a perfect combination that leaves Sherbatov in front of the goalie for an easy finishing. The advantage lasts 20 seconds, until the perfect shot by Evgeny GEvel landing under the left angle of Calpa. At minute 13 Potaichuk misses a great chance with an imprecise shot from a good position. Even controlling the game and having a couple of chances, unexpectedly Arlan suffered the second goal, scored by Edgars Brancis but well prepared by Juris Upitis, today in the fourth line, with Zembergs moved to the first. At minute 18 Calpa is outstanding in denying the goal to Anton Petrov with a spectacular dive.

In the central period Kurbads keeps a constant pressure on opponent, leading the game with several chances to score, incredibly suffering the tie goal at the end of period at 39:05 when Aleksandr Nesterov scoring shorthanded after a controversial move, with the Kazakh forward finishing in the net along with the puck and the goalie Calpa. The goal was a real punch for Latvian team, playing very bad a 5 vs 3 opportunity at the begin of third period, even continuing controlling the game, with two big chances within 20 seconds for Rancevs at minute 50, in both cases the forward fires on Poloshkov. AS in yesterday game, the turning point was the difficult for Kurbads to turn the chances created into goals and the penalties called for slashing. After surviving a power play, the Latvian team sufferes the third goal in the following inferiority: the shot by Malevich from the distance passes in the traffic landing in the net with Calpa’s vision covered by the traffic in front of the net. Kurbads plays the last minutes very aggressively, with Savenkov pays for it, hit by a violent charge by Marcis Zembergs, who received a major penalty- Potaichck misses a chance alone in front of the net. With a great effort and a bit of luck, Kurbads finds the third goal with 24 seconds to play: with an extra attacker, even with a man in the sin bin, in the last attack a confusing move in front of Poloshkov ends with a controversial goal scored by Martins Cipulis, allowed by goal judge, despite Arlan complains. Before the siren Kurbads receives a naïve penalty for too many men on the ice and must play most of overtime with two men down. The resistance is broken at 62:40 when Malevich finds again the net from the distance giving two more points for Kazakh team, now a step away from the qualification. Kurbads too has still a chance, beating Lyon and cheering for a defeat of Gomel in tonight game

After the game, Latvian coach Aleksandrs Macijevskis stresses about the failure to turning the chances created: “We played well, but we missed a lot of chances on power play and even with 5 vs 3. Today I’m happy for the guys, finally we played with our skills, yesterday we started very slow and under our potential and we were punished. We still have a bit chance to advance, we respect Lyon but we know we can beat them”

MVP: Uldis Calpa - Evgeny Gevel

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