Penza, 13 February 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza “Diesel” has lost to “Izhstal” in the first match of the home series in the Supreme Hockey League regular championship. The match in question took place on Saturday, February 13.

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The teams fought toe-to-toe during the first two periods, not letting one another transform lucky moments into successful strikes and threatening each other’s goalposts several times.

“Izhstal” managed to break the ice on the first minute of the third period, as Kirill Startsev scored a goal with the assist by Anton Kochurov while the team was in power play – Alexei Shubin was removed in the end of the second period for tripping.

The second goal, also by Kirill Startsev, came on the 11th minute of the final period.

The “Diesel” players were relentless in attempts to take the score back until the end of the match, and the game became a tense struggle: one of the players even lost his helmet during one of the attacks against the opposing team’s goalposts. However, no new goals were scored.

The match concluded with the final score of 0:2, giving the visiting team the win.

In a comment on the game, Ilnaz Zagitov, head coach of “Izhstal,” pointed out that his team was prepared to an uneasy struggle.

“First of all, we noted that we needed to reinforce our defense to have zero goals against us. We did have mistakes, but some of them were saved by the goalie. As for the third period, first we scored in a power play, and then successfully made another goal. Playing such games is tough, you need to show your character. We fought tooth and nail for the puck. I am glad with how my lads played; we congratulated them with the crucial win,” he said.

In turn, Dmitry Vershinin, acting head coach of the Penza “Diesel,” admitted that the team still fails to score a victory on the home ice.

“We created many opportunities in the first period. Sadly, we lacked what was needed to exploit them. You cannot win a match without any goals. We missed one in the power play. Will be preparing for the next home game,” he concluded.

After 46 games, “Diesel” has 51 points and takes the 20th place in the tournament roster.

The team will play their next match in Penza on Monday, February 15, in which “Diesel” will meet against the Neftekamsk “Toros.”