October 29, Minsk /Sergey Vishnevsky - BELTA/. Vitebsk hockey players, having lost to Liepaja's Metalurgs away on October 28, suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in the Extraliga of the 21st open championship of Belarus, BELTA correspondent reports. Metalurgs (Liepaja, Latvia) - Vitebsk - 4:3 (0:1, 3:1, 1:1). Goals: 0:1 - Busilko (14.31, power play), 0:2 - P.Stepanov (Busilko, 23.45, power play), 1:2 - Ya.Straupe (Zabis, Verenis, 26.50), 2:2 - Sixna (A.Kuzmenkov, Artur Mitskevich, 27.54, power play), 3:2 - Sixna (Artur Mitskevich, A.Kuzmenkov, 29.55, 5-on-3 power play), 4:2 - Skvortsov (Bayaruns, Rihards Birzins, 45.38), 4:3 - Yu.Bulgakov (P.V.Tolstik Jr., V.Zankovets, 56.53, power play). Shots: 51-26 (16-8, 22-10, 13-8). Penalties: 16-16. Goaltenders: Auzins (88.46% saves) - Lukyanov (58.54; 92.15% saves). It is noteworthy that in three out of four matches of their losing streak, the Vitebsk team led the score during the games. And if in Liepaja the guests' advantage reached two goals (2:0), then in the previous match in Novopolotsk against Khimik-SKA, it was even three (3:0), but ultimately that match was also lost - 3:4 (shootout). Even earlier, in the lost game against Mogilev (2:3), Vitebsk led with a score of 1:0. Metalurgs, which participated in the 2nd qualifying round of the Continental Cup, resumed its performance in the open championship of Belarus after a two-week break and increased its winning streak to 4 games in a row, which allowed it to rise to 4th place in the standings. And in terms of lost points, the Latvian team is even fourth. As previously reported, the hockey players of Zhlobin's Metallurg, having won away against the outsider Brest on October 28, returned to first place in the standings: Brest - Metallurg (Zhlobin) - 2:4 (0:1, 2:2, 0:1). Goals: 0:1 – Andryushchenko Remezov, 3.33), 1:1 – Bilishchuk (Muzhik, Kadlets, 20.17), 2:1 – Rylkov (Zhilinsky, Lameko, 24.25), 2:2 – Durnov (Remezov, 25.36), 2:3 – Kashtanov (Plotnikov, K.Brikun, 26.26), 2:4 – Andryushchenko (Durnov, Remezov, 48.42). Shots: 16-23 (3-11, 8-8, 5-4). Penalties: 10-10. Goaltenders: Anton Mitskevich (82.6% saves) - Grishukevich (87.5% saves). The opening segment of the second period proved to be goal-rich, with four goals scored within 6 minutes and 9 seconds. Metallurg lost defenseman Andrey Spiridonov for a month due to a recurrence of an old injury; he had only recently returned to the lineup from the team's infirmary.