Razin: penalties sank Metallurg in loss to Shanghai Dragons
Metallurg fell 1:4 to Shanghai Dragons as coach Andrei Razin blamed a wave of penalties, though the club stays atop the Eastern Conference with 17 points.
The scoring stayed level until the 34th minute, when David Chen put the hosts ahead. Riley Sutter doubled the lead a minute later, and Nikita Korotkov pulled one back before the break. Tahir Mingachev and Nathan Sucese settled it in the third period.
Metallurg head coach Andrei Razin pointed to penalties as the turning point.
"Half the game went not so badly, but I would have liked the side to move better. It was an even game up to a point, then everything went sideways. A large number of penalties broke us. A lot of lads spent too long on the bench. The third period was not our best."
"I'm shocked myself. Even an old hand can slip up. We haven't seen that since Avtomobilist, since Severstal, let alone at Metallurg. We were always among the top three for drawing penalties against the opposition. We were rarely the ones taking them."
He traced the dip in energy back to a demanding road trip.
"I agree, the last three games were Ufa, Kazan, Omsk. We spent a lot of energy there."
"Yes, after I made that remark about the smurf, everything went the wrong way. That's exactly why."
Despite the defeat, Metallurg stay top of the Eastern Conference on 17 points. Shanghai Dragons move up to fifth in the Western Conference with 12.
About this article
Prepared by the editorial team with the help of algorithms, based on the sources listed