Sibir reaches conference semi. Eastern quarter-finals, Day 6

(7)Traktor 1  (2) Sibir 2  Sibir wins the series 4-2 Jarno Koskiranta’s fifth goal of the play-offs was enough to earn Sibir a slender victory over Traktor and secure its place in the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the second year running. The Finn got the game-winner midway through the third period to give the Siberians a 4-2 series success. Koskiranta, who now joins Sergei Mozyakin at the top of the post-season goal-scoring chart, stormed into Traktor’s zone with eight minutes to play and surprised Michael Garnett with an early wrist shot as the defense failed to close down the danger quickly enough. That proved sufficient to resolve a game in which Traktor had its chances but perhaps failed to really test the visitor as much as necessary. While the Chelyabinsk team spent much of the game on the front foot, it managed surprisingly few shots on Mikko Koskinen’s net. It was Sibir that struck first, taking advantage of its first power play to open ...