Derek OBrien
Goals and assists:
46. Nikontsev (Bushuyev), 51. Berdnikov – 29. Sekac (Taticek)
Referees: Anisimov, Soin – Golyak, Dedyulya
Attendance:
Penalty missed:
Severstal Cherepovets:
Štěpánek (Kasutin) – Andersen, Laakso, Čáslava, Kalashnikov, Kiselevich, Svyazov, Yevseyenkov – Kuvayev, Berdnikov, Kazakovtsev, Bushuyev, Zemchenko, Videll, Antipov, Medvedev, Nikontsev, Stolyarov, Bumagin, Kovyrshin, Buchnevich.
Subs:
Coach:
Lev Praha: Vehanen (Lukáš) – Ševc, Nakládal, Jaakola, O'Byrne, Gragnani, Němec, Mäenpää, Humphries – Klepiš, Azevedo, Novotný – Řepík, Vrána, Birner – Thörnberg, Zackrisson, Sekáč – Cingel, Tatíček, Ridderwall.
Subs:
Coach:
Subs:
Coach:
Lev Praha: Vehanen (Lukáš) – Ševc, Nakládal, Jaakola, O'Byrne, Gragnani, Němec, Mäenpää, Humphries – Klepiš, Azevedo, Novotný – Řepík, Vrána, Birner – Thörnberg, Zackrisson, Sekáč – Cingel, Tatíček, Ridderwall.
Subs:
Coach:
Referees: Anisimov, Soin – Golyak, Dedyulya
Attendance:
A strange play where the initial shot hit Ondrej Nemec and the Lev defenceman fell ontop of the puck. Players dug away at it and just when it seemed the whistle might go, captain VADIM BERDNIKOV banged it in. Unassisted, power-play goal.
They've come out strong this period and on a rush into the Lev zone Bushuyev passes across to ANATOLI NIKONTSEV, whose shot through traffic beats Vehanen to the near side. Assist: Nikolai Bushuyev.
Shots on goal in the 2nd period (and game): Severstal 15 (23), Lev 16 (26).
Faceoffs: Severstal 18/42 (Kovyrshin 6/13), Lev 24/42 (Azevedo 9/13).
Icetime leaders: Severstal – Yevseyenkov 14:27, Lev – Gragnani 13:41.
3rd period begins at approximately 17:41 CET, 12:41 EDT.
Nice work in the attacking zone by Sekac and Taticek. Sekac wins a battle for the puck, Taticek feeds it back to JIRI SEKAC for a one-timer from the slot and it goes through a crowd and in for the first goal of the game. Assist: Petr Taticek.
Shots on goal in the 1st period: Severstal 8, Lev 10.
Faceoffs: Severstal 9/21 (Berdnikov 3/5), Lev 12/21 (Azevedo 5/7).
Icetime leaders: Severstal – Yevseyenkov 7:21, Lev – Jaakola 7:15.
2nd period begins at approximately 16:52 CET, 11:52 EDT.
Severstal Cherepovets is wearing their black home uniforms with orange and yellow trim, white numerals, black pants, yellow Boston Bruins-style socks and black helmets.
Lev Praha is wearing their road white uniforms with blue and red trim, red numerals, red NY Rangers-style pants and white helmets.
Severstal Cherepovets: Štěpánek (Kasutin) – Andersen, Laakso, Čáslava, Kalashnikov, Kiselevich, Svyazov, Yevseyenkov – Kuvayev, Berdnikov, Kazakovtsev, Bushuyev, Zemchenko, Videll, Antipov, Medvedev, Nikontsev, Stolyarov, Bumagin, Kovyrshin, Buchnevich.
Lev Praha: Vehanen (Lukáš) – Ševc, Nakládal, Jaakola, O'Byrne, Gragnani, Němec, Mäenpää, Humphries – Klepiš, Azevedo, Novotný – Řepík, Vrána, Birner – Thörnberg, Zackrisson, Sekáč – Cingel, Tatíček, Ridderwall.
Referees: Anisimov, Soin – Golyak, Dedyulya.
In goal for Lev that game was Jakub Štěpánek, who now wears Severstal colours. Lev has already faced him once this season -- the teams opened up their pre-season schedules against each other in Finland and the Czech goalie beat his former Czech team 3-2. During the season, Štěpánek has been Severstal´s go-to guy between the pipes, starting 19 of the first 21 games, including a 2-0 shutout of Slovan Bratislava in his last game, so he´ll likely get the nod against his former mates again.
"I must say that we did a great job. The guys in front gave me a lot of help, for which I thank them," the goalie said after recording his second shutout of the season.
It´s been rare that Štěpánek has been able to speak highly of the help he´s gotten from the team. Severstal has surrendered 65 goals through 21 games -- the second-worst total in the league. They remain in the playoff hunt, however, due to some timely offence -- their 51 goals for has them tied for 12th in that department. The scoring is led by Linus Videll and Nikolai Bushuyev with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Overall, they have six players with at least 8 points.
As for Lev, they are also coming off a 2-0 victory, in which Petri Vehanen also recorded his second shutout of the season and gave credit to the team in front of him for their stellar defensive play. On Saturday in Yaroslavl they scored twice on the power play and played a stellar team game that impressed all who saw it, including head coach Kari Jalonen.
"It was the best game since I took over," the Finnish coach said about his sixth game behind the bench.
The power-play goals on Saturday were scored by Marc-André Gragnani and Patrik Zackrisson, while assists by Martin Ševc and Jakub Klepiš make them the first two Lions to hit double digits in points this year. They and the rest of the team -- including defenceman Mikko Mäenpää, playing his first game of the regular season after injuring his knee during the pre-season -- will look to add to those totals in Cherepovets on Monday.