Suchkov and Yefremov Outshine Khmelevsky and Todd: How 'SY' Finally Beat 'Ak Bars'
Salavat Yulaev defeated Ak Bars 4-3 in overtime in the last «Green Derby» of the regular season. A breakdown of the goals, the composure of the Ufa team, statistics and history — in the review by UFA1.RU.
Rempal opened the scoring on a counterattack
For the first time in the match, Ak Bars pressured Salavat in two consecutive offensive zone shifts, but Ufa turned it into a counterattack. Semyon Vyazovoy stopped a shot, the puck bounced right to Devin Brosseau, who sent Sheldon Rempal on a breakaway — Kazan lost the blue line.
Number 56 went on the attack from his less familiar left side, aimed and opened the scoring with a wrist shot over Maxim Arefyev«s blocker.
Vyazovoy earned a point for the assist. This is his second assist of the season: the first was on December 25 in a 4-2 home win over Amur.
This is not the first time a goalie has earned a point in this season«s »Green Derby«: former Kazan goaltender Mikhail Berdin was involved in the very first goal of the seasonal series.
Although two of the three Ufa goals at even strength came on counterattacks, they still demonstrate quality movement from Salavat. Until the 52nd minute, it was not noticeable that this was the team«s third away game. As in Minsk, Viktor Kozlov»s team played with a lot of focus and did not let up in speed. The white-and-green team moved through the neutral zone faster and more clearly, and carried the puck with more confidence.
Ak Bars added pressure and leveled the score on a third-chance opportunity: a takeaway from Rempal in the neutral zone, a shot from behind Tsulygin who did nothing
The goal logically followed from the events on the ice. About a minute before the goal, the «Barsy» seriously increased their pressure, prevented the «Yulaevtsy» from simply exiting the defensive zone and eventually caught them on a counterattack.
No one is entirely blameless here. Rempal chose a risky path in the first place, and when Ilya Safonov caught up to him — he didn«t chip the puck into the offensive zone with his backhand, he tried to complete the deke.
Tsulygin positioned himself strangely against Alexander Barabanov. Perhaps he was uncomfortable due to wanting to change lines, but he put himself in a bad position, it was awkward for him to turn and get his stick down.
The goal indeed came from behind Tsulygin, but in theory, Vyazovoy could have seen the stick movement and the puck coming off the blade and, accordingly, made the save.
It«s appropriate to say here that in attack, Ak Bars didn»t look like a team with so many skilled players at all. They have a forecheck, they can cycle and shoot, but they barely combine, often a single player was on the attack without support.
Later in the text there will be a point about the 3-3 goal — the way they kept the puck and passed it there is almost the only display of technique. Anvar Gatiyatulin«s team traditionally has no problems with pressure and defense, but there is almost zero creativity in attack.
So in a certain sense, it«s not surprising that in this very match, the »Yulaevtsy« set a personal season record for blocked shots (28) and as many as four players blocked four shots each — the opponent was sometimes predictable.
Semyonov refused to fight Brosseau: Ak Bars player pushed Rempal in the back with his stick, Devin stood up for his friend, both got penalties
What did Ak Bars« center forward achieve? He played dirty, didn»t want to answer. Did he want to trade with someone from the top line? But he himself is a quite skilled player, hardly did the team need to go to 4-on-4. As it turned out later, no one gained an advantage anyway.
At the start of the second period, Yan put Ufa ahead right off the faceoff — this is his second game back in the lineup, first goal in nine games
A faceoff win by Pyotr Khokhryakov, a pass up to the blue line from Vladimir Butuzov, a shot by Sergei Varlov through traffic, a deflection by Yan — simple and clean.
The next significant event in the match — a penalty to Alexander Zharovsky. Formally, he did trip a player. Nevertheless, the penalty killers played reliably.
Yefremov scored another important goal, executing a 2-on-1 with Maxim Kuznetsov — an interception against former «Yulaevets» Todd, a pass under the opponent«s stick and a one-timer
Recall, in the previous match, Vladislav scored the decisive goal in overtime against Dinamo Minsk.
Maxim Kuznetsov has earned points in four of the six «Green Derbies» this season.
Safonov cut Kazan«s deficit on the power play, scoring from the crease after a shot from the blue line. Gazimov fell battling an opponent
It took five seconds to convert the penalty to Khokhryakov for tripping.
Soon after this goal, the hosts began to outperform the guests in movement. For 14 minutes and 3 seconds between the third period and overtime, Ufa did not register a single shot on goal.
On the penultimate minute, Ak Bars tied the score 6-on-5: Safonov finally got his stick on a deflection
Before that, there were four passes, no one challenged the goal scorer. And it was precisely because of the quick puck movement that Yefremov didn«t manage to block the deflection attempt.
Suchkov showed composure and delivered the win in overtime: entered the zone, moved out, waited for support, wisely slowed the play, made a deke, shot accurately and on time when there was a crowd in front of the goalie
This even seems fair. Shortly before the goal, there was a play where Vyazovoy covered the puck, the referee blew the whistle, and Grigory Denisenko stopped in front of the goalie so that ice shavings showered his mask. Even though he could have avoided it. First, it«s unsightly, second, getting ice in the eyes is dangerous. This is literally a rule violation, but the referees seemed afraid to call a two-minute penalty in such a tense match.
If Salavat makes the playoffs (ideally, they should no longer fall out of the top 8), they will be approximately like they were against Dinamo Minsk and Ak Bars: maximally rational in terms of distributing effort, attentive to counterattacks, cool-headed in sustained offensive pressure, and when necessary — patient and maximally pushing the opponent away from their crease (this last part didn«t work out).
The victory over a key rival moved Ufa 15 points clear of ninth place. They are three points behind fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but Neftekhimik has a game in hand. There are 17 games and a little over two months left until the playoffs. If the Bashkir club remains sixth, they will most likely play either Ak Bars or Avangard in the first round.
Team statistics of the Green Derby in the 2025/2026 regular season
Wins: Salavat Yulaev 2 — Ak Bars 4;
Goals: 14-19;
Shots on goal: 182-175;
Blocked shots: 121-77;
Corsi for (all shot attempts at 5-on-5): 316-434;
Hits: 121-119;
Faceoffs: 44.48%;
Power play: 22.73%-17.65%;
Effective offensive zone shifts at 5-on-5: 45.43%-45.63%.
Top scorers and goalies of the Green Derby in the 2025/2026 regular season
The most productive player of the regular season series — Alexander Barabanov. Sheldon Rempal came second, even though he played only two games. This season, Yegor Suchkov earned his first points against Ak Bars.
Formally, Timur Bilyalov was the best goalie, but he participated in only one match, so it«s more correct to highlight Mikhail Berdin, who will now be guarding the net for Sibir.
List of all Green Derbies in KHL regular seasons
Salavat has won 35 out of 69 matches, earning 57.97% of possible points. Goals are 183-182 in favor of Ak Bars.
Only for the fourth time has the final regular season derby gone beyond regulation.
In total, «SY» has won 5 overtimes, Ak Bars — only 2.
The previous victory in Kazan — November 18, 2023: 1-0, Sasha Khmelevsky scored the only goal, Alexander Samonov stopped 21 shots.
The previous overtime victory in Kazan — January 5, 2017: 4-3 SO, Linus Omark scored the decisive shootout goal.
Yegor Suchkov scored a game-winning goal in a «Green Derby» for the first time in his career, doing so in his 200th KHL regular season game. And this is his very first career goal against Ak Bars.
Three stars of the match by UFA1.RU
Yegor Suchkov: game-winning goal, 1:19 of shorthanded ice time (second on the team alongside Nikita Zorkin).
Sergei Varlov: assist, four blocked shots.
Maxim Kuznetsov: an assist with a pass under the opponent«s stick on a counterattack.
Upcoming games
January 31, 16:30. Salavat Yulaev — Torpedo
February 2, 19:00. Salavat Yulaev — Neftekhimik
February 13, 19:00. Salavat Yulaev — Metallurg
February 16, 21:30. SKA — Salavat Yulaev
February 18, 19:00. Traktor — Salavat Yulaev
