For Traktor, the second match against Metallurg promised to be decisive in many respects.
During its history, Chelyabinsk lost seven times in two starting meetings of the KHL playoff series and only twice managed to seize the initiative and advance to the next round.
True, these accomplishments were dated to the 2012/13 season - the most successful in the history of the club.
Then the "bears" made comebacks in confrontations with "Barys" and "Ak Bars" and reached the final of the Gagarin Cup for the first time.
However, they failed to win the trophy.
In a duel with Dynamo Moscow, Valery Belousov's wards also gave up the first two games, but they were not destined to turn the tide of the series.
As a result, they capitulated - 2:4.
One of the main questions before the reporting match was whether Anvar Gatiyatulin's team would dare to change their signature closed style and play the first number.
In the previous meeting, they waited for two gross mistakes of their opponents, but the rest of the time they looked rather dull, and they were able to create serious problems for Magnitogorsk only in the very end.
Then the head coach released the sixth field hockey player on the ice and thereby organized a bulk on the gates of Vasily Koshechkin.
And from the very beginning of the second match, it became clear that Traktor did not intend to open up and deviate from its philosophy right off the bat.
If Roman Vill made eight saves in the first ten minutes, then his colleague never had to enter the game.
Everything went to the fact that the starting period would turn out to be extremely one-sided, but Grigory Dronov came to the aid of the Chelyabinsk residents.
The assistant to the captain of Metallurg earned an optional penalty for tripping and let the opponent's special teams practice in converting the majority.
And although it was not possible to catch Koshechkin by surprise, certain problems were created for the owners.
The first period turned out to be not the richest in events and was not marked by a single goal, but the second game segment was a worthy compensation.
Josh Curry and Sergey Telegin staged a bloody fight on the ice, and the red light came on six times outside the teams' gates, and four times - behind the master's.
Traktor suddenly picked up the pace and began to find gaps in the defense of Metallurg over and over again - the weakest among the active participants in the Gagarin Cup.
At the same time, Albert Yarullin, who played the 500th match in the KHL, was especially zealous.
The defender helped Sergey Kalinin to distinguish himself and took part in Vladimir Tkachev's first goal in the current playoffs, and also scored himself.
The ex-hockey player of Ak Bars received a pass on the blue line and flashed the net with a powerful click.
As a result, without his participation in this period, only Kirill Kapustin scored, who arrived in time to finish.
If Yarullin, Kalinin and the ubiquitous Lawrence Pilut were the soloists at Traktor, Andrey Chibisov tried to answer at Metallurg.
Against the background of Brendan Leipsik, who was not the brightest meeting, the Russian forward looked impressive and twice took part in effective combinations.
First, he helped Anatoly Nikontsev convert the majority for the removal of Alexei Byvaltsev, and then brought Yegor Yakovlev to the shock position.
The captain on the left flank joined the attack and dealt with Will, who had lost the gate.
If after the second period "Metallurg" was in a difficult position, then at the beginning of the third it seemed that the intrigue had died completely.
Chibisov could not cope with his emotions and went to the bench for a knee strike, and the wards of Ilya Vorobyov once again confirmed the title of the most unreliable team when playing in the minority.
Hockey players "Tractor" mockingly easily left the defenders of the enemy out of work and helped Tkachev to get a double, provoking the replacement of the goalkeeper from "Magnitogorsk".
We can say that Vorobyov's decision justified itself.
Ivan Nalimov, who went on the ice, even if he had practically no work until the end of the match, played reliably in a couple of moments and left his goal intact, giving his partners hope for a comeback.
And he almost took place, and not without the help of the guests: in the middle of the period, Pilut received two minutes for the simulation, and then Will was punished for tightening the time by fixing the puck outside the goalkeeper's area.
And Metallurg took advantage of the chances.
The release of the sixth field hockey player twice proved to be justified and helped to reduce the gap to a minimum.
First, Leipsik scored a goal, and then Goldobin scored (although by that time the penalty time had already expired).
Moreover, the Canadian shot from the face-off circle turned out to be particularly impressive.
Will reacted and covered almost half of the target with himself, leaving only a small gap in the upper corner.
But that's where Alexander Ovechkin's former partner in Washington got to.
Chelyabinsk swam a little, their opponents went ahead with all their might and had more than one opportunity to transfer the meeting into overtime.
The most obvious of them was missed by the same Goldobin - the forward attacked from an advantageous position, but Will miraculously managed to move to the opposite corner.
Looking ahead: in total, the Czech goalkeeper made 35 saves and became one of the main heroes of this match.
Vorobyov had no choice but to turn to the services of the sixth field again, but this time the moment was not chosen in the best way.
Nalimov left the gate when the puck was still in the zone of Magnitogorsk, and Karpov extremely unsuccessfully played a pass to Linus Hultström.
Traktor's top scorer in the playoffs, Tomasz Ghica, took advantage of the gift and hit an empty target.
Cech interrupted a dry streak of three matches and with 12 (5 + 7) points climbed to second place in the race of scorers of the tournament.
Above him is only the SKA forward Andrei Kuzmenko (7 + 6).
Gatiyatulina's wards took over and equalized the score in the series.