Yunost Minsk came up with a 3-2 win on home ice over defending champions Frolunda Gothenburg in the first leg. Read more in Gamecentre. 

by Efraim Larsson

The guests from Gothenburg, Frolunda, started the game better, moving the puck offensively with quick pace and putting pressure on the defence of Yunost Minsk. Eventually, that would lead to an opening goal scored by youngster Kristian Vesalainen, who capitalized on his own rebound to put the puck in the net with 5:36 played of the game.

Just a minute and a half later, a somewhat haywire situation occurred around Frolunda’s net and it required quite a long video review for the referees to determine whether the puck crossed the line or not – as it seemed to just disappear. No goal was called that time, but it was clear that the situation gave the Belarusian team some extra energy as they worked their way into the game and also managed to take the command of the period’s second half via a tying goal.  Viktor Turkin scored his 2nd CHL goal when he sniped in the important 1-1 goal behind Johan Gustafsson.

Minsk started the second period on the power play, and even though they didn’t capitalize on that particular man advantage, they sure got off for a great beginning of the period. It only took Minsk 3:15 to take the lead and it was Pavel Razvadovski who scored on a one-timer, as he and Konstantin Zakharov broke loose on an odd-man rush.

Halfway into the second period, Frolunda started to raise the bar a bit by increasing the skating intensity and letting the puck do the work. It eventually turned out splendid as Minsk at a couple of shifts had huge problems getting along with the tempo and draw a penalty. On the upcoming power play, Frolunda played extremely good and were close to score a tying goal a several times. Instead, they incurred a penalty themselves and Minsk capitalized with the 3-1 goal, as Pavel Chernook buried a distinct snap shot from his d-man spot.

Frolunda made another stride in the third period to try getting back into the game and dominated for long stretches of time – thanks in part to Minsk settling into defensive mode to maintain the lead. Minsk’s defensive skills came up huge in this game, though, and didn’t let the guests create much danger. Frolunda managed to cut the deficit to one when top scorer Casey Wellman scored on the 5-on-4 advantage, but Minsk held on after that and won the first game 3-2.

Wellman said afterwards, "Yes, they played well, but we scored twice and have a chance to win at home. Yunost is a very good team, they have a good system. Everyone is strong in playoffs. I don’t think that’s a surprise.”

About the fast pace of the game, Yunost defenceman Pavel Chernook said, “We expected that they would play up-tempo hockey and skate fast. It was a little hard to play in the second and third periods at such a high speed. Well, we won the game. In Sweden, it will be a very tough game. I think that Frolunda will prepare more seriously. Maybe, they underestimated us a bit today.” 

“Yunost played very well and they deserved to win,” said Frolunda head coach Roger Ronnberg. “They were better than us. I'm glad that we have lost by only one goal. A week from now we'll play more aggressive. Today we had a young team, as we were without seven players from our usual roster, but that is no excuse.”

“Frolunda were a very tough opponent, and we prepared for the game. We had two good periods have but in the third period they were better. I am glad to beat such a strong team. We played decently. The 3-2 score leaves no margin for error. The fact that they scored the second goal – it's a different game. It is much more difficult now.”