Admiral edged into a play-off spot with a 3-1 home win over Metallurg Novokuznetsk. A pair of power play goals from Felix Schutz in the second period turned the game around after Kuznya had taken an early lead through Semyon Valuisky. Niclas Bergfors extended the advantage after a long pause for the video officials to confirm that goalie Ilya Sorokin wasn’t impeded as the shot came in.
The victory lifts Admiral to eighth place, one point ahead of Traktor. But the Chelyabinsk team has one game in hand in the race to prolong the season.
In Thursday’s other game Sibir picked up a shoot-out win at Amur. Vyacheslav Belov got the decider after Sergei Shumakov and Ilya Krikunov traded goals in a 1-1 tie.
