MOSCOW, January 26 (R-Sport) - Atlant Moscow Region grabbed a 5-3 road victory at Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod to increase its chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
Gagarin Cup finalist 2011 won the third consecutive game and is now 11th in the Western Conference, but two points behind Lev Prague, currently occupying the eighth and last playoff position, while Torpedo is ninth. Atlant has six games remaining in the regular season.
“Both teams had good spirit before the game,” Atlant coach Sergei Svetlov said after the game. “Our opponents pressed us from the very start and it’s good that we managed to withstand the pressure, net a goal and organize our play in the right way.”
Atlant wing Alexander Shevchenko opened the score less than a minute after the starting puck drop, off a pass from Swedish center Andreas Engqvist.
The visitors stormed into the second period with three goals from Engqvist, Igor Ignatushkin and Alexei Mikhnov.
However, Torpedo didn't give up the fight as Alexei Vasiliev, Jonas Andersson and Maxim Potapov made the score 4-3 by the middle of the third period.
Atlant secured the win with a power play goal by wing Oleg Yashin three minutes before the buzzer.
