Kadakin Scores 4 As Baikal Tops Chita 6-2

Khimik Stadium, KEMEROVO, Russia -- Nikolai Kadakin's natural hat trick in the first 24 minutes were enough for Baikal-Energia Irkutsk to record their second victory in as many games in the first round of the Russian Cup, besting SKA Zabaikalets-Energia Chita, 6-2.

"Right now the goal for the team is move onto the next round," said Baikal-Energia head coach Alexander Shishkin, as reported on the team's website. "Therefore we have to find new line combinations that include our young players. All of that is essential for creating an effective team, able to confront serious tasks ahead in the regular season."

Mikhail Yefimov got Chita on the board in the 39th minute, but they would never cut the deficit to less than two. Kadakin scored again off a pass from Alexander Nasonov shortly after the break, but Alexander Trufanov answered again for Zabaikalets, making it 4-2.

Yevgeny Yakovlev, the captain and leading scorer for Chita last season, added an insurance goal in the 88th minute, followed by Denis Nokhrin a minute later to cap off the scoring.

Effective corners were again a key to this match, as Baikal scored three goals this way, two off of perfect passes from Konstantin Savchenko. More importantly, however, the team played much more disciplined than in their first match.

"In the first game, we told the team to play very calmly - the message was discipline. But it turned out that everyone played with a lot of nerves," Shishkin said. "There's always going to be nervousness in the first game. In the second game, everything changed, and the results were different."

A player who certainly shook off some nerves was teenage goalie Yevgeny Utin, who recorded his second win in his second start after a somewhat shaky debut. Baikal's next game will be on Sunday against SKA-Neftyanik Khabarovsk.

Other scores:

Friday, August 24

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