“We played really well. We skated well and I think we played more physically then them, that made the difference,” captain Marcin Kolusz said. “But in the next game we have to make sure we don’t concede stupid goals like today.”

For a long time the Poles had more chances but the game was scoreless. Eventually it worked out for the Poles midway through the game on a counter-attack while the Poles were playing shorthanded.

Grzegorz Pasiut attacked on the right side and fed Adam Baginski with a horizontal pass through the Ukrainian defence, who then opened the scoring at 13:13 of the second period. To make things worse for the visiting team, the Ukrainians lost veteran forward Sergi Varlamov due to an injury for the last period.

The Poles started the third period with a 5-on-3 that was converted with Mateusz Rompkowski’s 2-0 goal after 34 seconds. But at the moment the power play was over, the Ukrainians reacted immediately to cut the deficit to one goal.

On a counter-attack Vladyslav Gavrik outskated three Polish players to beat Przemyslaw Odrobny with a shot from a sharp angle between the pads.

And it was not over yet. After a face-off at 4:52 with Artem Bondaryev in the offensive zone the puck went through the opponent’s leg towards the goal and Vitali Lyalka reacted the fastest to tie the game at two.

The Poles used their chance to regain the lead on the next power play when Olexander Pobyedonostsev was sent to the penalty box for delaying the game.