Wasted victory

On March 13, Admirals failed to win Barys in the final home game of the regular season, but earned one point.
Sulak, Rodewald, Shen and Gutik scored goals for the Sailors, but let’s get into details.

Closing a good season in front of the fans, Admirals faced Barys – the opponent which lost all three games of the teams before, so the prognosis was favorable.
There were minor changes in the lineup for the game: Stepanov returned to the fourth line, Petkov was moved up to the third line instead of Prince, and Grman was replaced by Metalnikov. The first period ended with the score 2:0, but the puck was inside Barys net three times – the referees canceled the first goal on the power play. After a shot by Sulak and a ricochet off the goalpost, the puck crawled into the net, but the defensemen didn't let it cross the line completely. The Czech corrected the offensive misunderstanding rather quickly. A minute later, after another long-range shot by Sulak, the referees finally counted a goal. In the ninth minute, Rodewald consolidated the success, finishing the attack after Shestakov's shot. This score remained until the break, although the opponents created a lot of dangerous chances in the last five minutes – Mishurov coped with everything.

In the second period, Admirals scored twice more, but Barys also scored between those goals. Shen opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, doing it beautifully – he made a roundhouse shot. In the 27th minute, Barys rushed at Mishurov's net: the goalie lost his stick in a struggle and then failed to deflect all of the finishing shots. The coaching staff of the Sailors challenged for goalie interference, but the referees did not meet their expectations, so Admirals was “awarded” two minutes of penalty. The Sailors play short-handed without much trouble, moreover, Zavgorodny noticed Gutik leaving the penalty box and assisted him across the rink. Admirals' top scorer easily outplayed Arkady Shestakov’s brother and scored his 23rd goal.

Everything changed in the third period, as Barys outshot Admirals and brought the game to overtime. Astana team scored their fourth goal in the final minute while playing six-on-four – Beketayev scored with a long and accurate shot. Admirals earned one point, increasing the gap from Neftekhimik to nine points.

In overtime, the Sailors got back on track and played those five minutes very actively, hitting 10 shots on goal, but Shestakov of the opposing team played even better. The outcome of the game was decided by shootout, only after the sixth couple of shots. Starchenko competed with Soshnikov and won this duel.