KHL 3x3 Round 17: A “no-shot” goal and another triumph for Ak Bars

A battle involving some of the tournament’s top teams saw Ak Bars come out on top once again – but going into the final day, this was anyone’s round.

Story of the Round – Ak Bars’ performance

It doesn’t often happen that after Saturday’s play, all four teams are in with a shout of making the Supergame. But this round turned out very even. It’s fair to say that this was mostly about three teams: a youthful Salavat Yulaev found it hard to compete with some of the strongest rosters in the league and suffered more when Ilya Krikunov had to skip half the event. But Ak Bars, Avangard and Traktor went toe-to-toe until the very end.

The Tatars ultimately emerged victorious – and did it in some style. On the final day of the tournament, Ak Bars beat Traktor to claim first place, then scored an impressive win over Avangard in the Supergame. But this was by no means another case of the “Kazan Brazilians” overpowering all-comers. Day one was a tough call for Ak Bars: after losing to Omsk, the players that they weren’t at their best. “I think we eased off. We refreshed the line-up, we won two rounds and our heads weren’t right. Everything starts with the mentality. We were still relaxing, still celebrating. We got complacent,” commented the team’s leading scorer Yury Muravyov.

Player of the Round – Rasim Shakirov (Ak Bars)

Shakirov made a strong impression on his 3x3 debut and has kept up the good work ever since. The 23-year-old forward already has 33 (21+12) points from just 18 games. He got 10 (7+3) of them in this round, showing some spectacular hockey along the way.

And Shakirov was at his absolute best in Sunday’s game against Traktor. He pundered a hat-trick, including one effort that called to mind Nikita Kucherov as he faked a shot and let the puck’s momentum take it past the goalie.

Game of the Round – Ak Bars 6 Traktor 5

This was the final game of Round 17 and it determined which team would make it to the Supergame. As it happened, a tie in regulation would send both teams through, but nobody was interested in any mutually beneficial agreement. Both teams went all out for victory from the off and the contest was a highlight not just of this round but of the entire season.

It was clear from the way the players reacted to each goal how much both teams were putting into this game. At one stage it seemed that we would see a repeat of the opening game, in which Traktor opened the scoring but Ak Bars won it 5-1.But this time, Chelyabinsk was able to come back, playing a full part in a real spectacle. The game had everything: a great narrative, some beautiful goals, hard-fought battles and even a little trash talk.