Eastern Conference semi-finals, Game 4
(3) Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3
(2) Avangard Omsk 5
Avangard leads the series 3-1
Avangard forward Roman Cervenka posted 2+2 as his team won 5-3 in Magnitogorsk to move to within one game of the Eastern Conference final. Cervenka now has 14 points for the play-offs after a stellar show to sink Metallurg and make the series score 3-1.
His first contribution was to set up Alexander Popov's opener, but after Tomas Rolinek leveled on 12:52 Cervenka really took control.
On 25:55 he squeezed home a shot from the tightest of angles, finding the gap between Ari Ahonen's pads and the near post. Then on 27:08 Cervenka's blue-liner fizzed past the unsighted Finn, with the hosts convinced their goalie was obstructed as the shot came in.
That anger didn't stop a Metallurg fightback - by 37:13 it was 3-3 thanks to Rolinek's second and a powerplay goal from Sergei Mozyakin - but Cervenka was on hand with the assist on Popov's game winner early in the third, before Igor Volkov's empty-netter wrapped things up 62 seconds before the hooter.
Kontiola gives Traktor the win
(4) Ak Bars Kazan 2
(1)Traktor Chelyabinsk 3
Traktor leads the series 3-1
Finnish forward Petri Kontiola struck late in the game to head off an Ak Bars revival and give Traktor Chelyabinsk a vital 3-2 win in Kazan. His goal came on 57:51, finishing off a wonderful attacking move involving Konstanin Panov and Anton Burdasov. More importantly, it give Traktor a 3-1 lead in the series, with the next match due in Chelyabinsk on Thursday.
Earlier Traktor had opened up a 2-0 lead thanks to a Evgeny Kuznetsov powerplay goal on 12:01 and a strike from Burdasov early in the third period. But Ak Bars recovered strongly, and when Evgeny Lapenkov tied the game on 51:48 it was a brave man who would have bet against the home side seeing the job through. But Kontiola had other ideas.
