Spartak's heroics

Result of the day
Dynamo - Spartak 3-4 OT. There was a chance this game would stretch long into the night, and why shouldn’t it? Usually, on reaching overtime, teams start to play with extreme caution, but not these two. It seemed both had completely forgotten about the threat of sudden death, and as a result we were served up one of the tastiest overtime periods in KHL history. Attack followed attack, and then Dynamo began to celebrate victory, but the celebrations were premature: the video replay showed it was no goal.

In fact, the entire game turned out to be one of the most watchable and one of the most unpredictable. For the Red-and-Whites it was a day of glory, clawing their way back to victory from being 0-3 down, and moreover by offering Milos Riha a new contract (the whispers say it is an improved one) before the start of the play-off stage.

Ak Bars’s exploits repeated
Spartak became only the second club in the KHL to have managed to dig out a win after trailing by three goals in a play-off game. All the other 19 games that have featured a three-goal lead have resulted in victory for the team that opened the scoring.

First victory
Dinamo Riga’s fourth play-off game has resulted in their first ever victory. Last season Julius Supler’s side lost three straight matches against Dynamo Moscow.

Business as usual
Lokomotiv lived up to their reputation as the most battling side in the play-offs. Last year the men from Yaroslavl conceded the first goal in nine games, but fought back to win five of them, and now these figures stand at six victories out of ten. In contrast, it is the second time Atlant have lost a play-off match after scoring the opening goal.

Dubious leader
Dynamo Moscow’s Swedish forward Johan Harju quickly became the leader of the current play-offs for being sent off, earning a total of four trips to the penalty box.

Figures of the day
48 shots at the Spartak goal from the Dynamo Moscow players.

7 shots at goal by Spartak attacker Evgeny Lapenkov.

78.9% of 19 face-offs won by HC MVD attacker Vladimir Gorbunov.

27 minutes 39 seconds spent in play by Spartak defenseman Ivan Baranka.

Key players
Edgar Masalskis (Dinamo Riga, pictured). Achieved a clean sheet, saving all 27 shots.

Andrei Skopintsev (HC MVD). Made an assist and finished the match with an efficiency rating of +1.

Sergei Zhukov (Lokomotiv). Finished at a +1, fired two shots at goal, and spent more than 20 minutes out on the ice.

Mikelis Redlihs (Dinamo Riga). Struck the game-winner against SKA.

Matt Ellison (HC MVD). Earned himself two points in the game against CSKA.

Alexander Buturlin (Spartak). Scored one goal and then set up the decisive strike in overtime.

Alexei Shevchenko, khl.ru

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