Hungary battled hard in loss to Kazakhstan

2019.05.05. 18:10 |
Hungary closed out the last game of the tournament against Kazakhstan in a close and hard fought battle against the Division 1/A gold medal winners.

Head coach Gergely Majoross and his coaching staff made some changes to the lineup, János Hári sat out his suspension. Hári was back in the first line between Erdély and Galló with Andrew Sarauer centering the fourth line. Gergő Nagy and András Benk switched places with Benk on the third line with Nagy on the fourth. The defensive pairings remained the same, Bence Bálizs will start in net with Ádám Vay as the backup. Bálint Magosi is still out with an injury.

Hungary picked up a power play in the opening minute of play, but they were not able to score on it. The first real scoring chances that Hungary produced came from the fourth line as Terbócs had a backhanded shot from the slot with Gergö Nagy on the next shift from the right face-off circle. At the midway point of the period Kazakhstan was dangerous in front of the Hungarian net but they were unable to score. Late the period Kazakhstan had Hungary pinned in their own end for minutes at a time. This was followed up by the first Hungarian penalty of the game. Hungary managed to kill the penalty. Kazakhstan kept on pushing as the period went on. The two teams went into the first intermission tied at 0-0.

Kazakhstan came out strong early in the second period. Hungary also had scoring chances early as a Galló shot went over the cage. Hungry was also able to keep the puck in the Kazakh end for minutes at a time. Kazakhstan scored first as Mikhailis beat Bálizs low glove side from the left face-off dot. Kazakhstan were keeping Bálizs busy throughout the second period. Sarauer had a chance from just outside of the crease that the goalie blocked. The game picked up a back and forth pace later in the period. Late in the period Varga had a strong shot on net that ended up in the glove of the Kazakh goalie. In the closing minutes of the period Kazakhstan had their second power play of the game. During the two minutes it looked like Kazakhstan had scored but Bálizs made a great save to keep the puck out of the net.

The third period started off with a Hungarian penalty, Nekryach scored off of a back door pass for the power play goal and the 2-0 lead. Soon after Bartalis had a great shot on net. After the ensuing face-off Sofron skated through the Kazakhstan defence and put a shot on net that ended up behind the goalie to make it 2-1. The goal got Hungary back in the game and the team started to push. Later in the period Kazakhstan had a 2 on 1, but Bálizs was on the spot to make the save. In the closing minutes Hungary was peppering the Kazakh net. With 3:03 left in the game Hungary picked up a penalty. It did not take long for Kazakhstan to take advantage of this as they found the back of the net with a rocket from Rymarev. With 1:47 left to play Hungary called timeout and pulled their goalie. Bálizs was back in the net with 50 seconds left but came off again with 30 left. In the end Hungary was not able to score another goal.

Erdély, Hári, Galló
Nagy K., Bartalis, Sofron
Benk, Vas, Bodó
Nagy G., Sarauer, Terbócs

Stipsicz, Szabó
Wehrs, Szirányi
Pozsgai, Macaulay
Varga

Bálizs (Vay)
Injured: Magosi