Penza, 2 December 2015. PenzaNews. The Penza hockey club “Diesel” has earned its first long-awaited victory after a dark period of losses – 13 in a row – in a match against “SKA-Neva.”

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The struggle that took place in the evening of Tuesday, December 1, in St. Petersburg resolved with the end score of 2:3.

The home team began the first minutes of the match with a rush to their opponents’ goalposts; however, “Diesel” skillfully defended the attack and defused the danger in their goal zone, moving on to patterned offense by the 5th minute. Shortly afterwards, the tactic bore fruit: Dmitry Kolgotin received the puck from center-based Maxim Semichastnov while by the nearmost goalpost, and successfully transferred the puck to Vladislav Vorobyev, who finished the chain with a shoot and a score – 0:1.

The visiting team carried on with the attack, and Denis Tsyganov successfully increased the score advantage on the 13th minute – 0:2.

In the beginning of the second period, “SKA-Neva” again attempted to breach into “Diesel” goal zone, but met a strong defense. However, they eventually managed to score. Vladislav Vorobyev received a penalty on the 37th minute for holding, and Artur Chuvilyaev used the power-play moment to make a strong long-distance shot for the goal; after the puck was deflected by Oleg Nazarov’s breastplate, Konstantin Bogdanovsky scored an upper-corner goal with a mighty swing – 1:2.

The home team switched to the defensive in the third period, but missed yet another goal on the 47th minute, as Alexander Tarasov got a pass from Nikita Lukin from the center and scored a shot right through the gap in Alexander Skrynnik’s defense – 1:3.

On the 56th minute, “Diesel” defenseman Nikolai Bogomolov received a penalty for boarding. Following that, the home team won the face-off, quickly positioned themselves inside the zone, and David Suvanto made a pass to the center where Nikita Tochitsky scored an upper-corner goal with a strong shot through Oleg Nazarov’s defense – 2:3.

With only 30 minutes to go in the match, the coaches of “SKA-Neva” took a time-out and replaced Alexander Skrynning for a sixth attacker. However, this maneuver failed to elicit any results, and “Diesel” emerged with a victory.

After the match, the Penza team’s head coach Andrei Nikishov said he finally had an opportunity to congratulate the players with a successful play.

“We did well in the first period, failed the second, but I managed to get the guys into the groove in the break before the third. We all realize there’s nowhere to back up. We soldiered on, and got a deserved win. I also want to commend our young goalie Oleg Nazarov, who got an opportunity after Dmitry Shikin transferred to ‘Sochi,’ and he used it,” the coach said.

He also added that “Diesel” will fight tooth and nail to get into the playoffs.

“But we’ve got an entirely new team. This season serves for us as a time to make a crew of like-minded players. We began with one combination, now we are playing in a different one. That’s not easy, as all desired players are taken. We are not abandoning our goals, I hope the guys listen in and get to follow the objectives. Before, we’ve had a lot of mistrust, pressure and negative feelings, a lot of tense moments. We will be clutching on to any opportunity to get into the playoffs as early as this year,” the press service of “Diesel” quotes Andrei Nikishov.

After 27 games, the Penza team has 26 points and occupies the 24th position in the ranks.

Next time, “Diesel” will again compete in a visiting match against Tver “THK” on Thursday, December 3.