(4) Salavat Yulaev 4
(1) Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0
Metallurg leads the series 2-1
Not many teams have managed to blunt the fearsome cutting edge carried by Metallurg’s offense this season, but Salavat Yulaev managed it in style to reawaken this series.
Trailing 0-2 after the games in Magnitogorsk, Salavat knew that there was little margin for error if it was to remain in contention in this series. That meant finding a way to stop Sergei Mozyakin’s line, and especially Mozyakin himself after the KHL’s all-time record scorer had grabbed the decisive goal in the previous two encounters.
And rock-solid defense proved enough to pile up the pressure on Magnitka’s entire roster: after shading a tight first session thanks to Antti Pihlstrom’s goal, Salavat restricted Mozyakin to a single shot on goal, while neither Jan Kovar nor Danis Zaripov tested Andrei Vasilevsky at all.
At the other end, some increasingly sloppy defense helped Salavat rattle up a confidence-boosting scoreline, renewing faith that the team could make a contest out of this Eastern Conference final.
Pihlstrom led the way with two goals: his opener came on the game’s first power play, putting away a one-timer off Igor Mirnov’s pass. The second, and Salavat’s third, also came on the power play, deflecting a Kirill Koltsov slap shot past Alexander Pechursky.
Pechursky joined the action after Anton Slepyshev put Salavat Yulaev 2-0 ahead early in the third. His close-range finish on a poorly-positioned Vasily Koshechkin proved the end for the goalie. But his replacement had little more joy, giving up the fourth goal through the five-hole as his defense parted all too easily in front of him.
At the other end Vasilevsky made 22 saves for his first career post-season shut-out, while Magnitka failed to score for the first time in this playoffs.
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КХЛ 2008—2021
KHL 2008—2021
All rights to materials posted on the website www.khl.ru (hereinafter referred to as the Website) and which are the objects of exclusive rights, including the registered trademarks and symbolics of the “КХЛ”/“KHL”, “МХЛ” / “JHL”, “ЖХЛ” / “WHL” (hereinafter referred to as the Trademarks), as well as on photo and video images, articles, etc., which are owned by CHL LLC, are protected in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The placement and / or use of Trademarks and other intellectual property of CHL LLC without the direct consent of CHL LLC are considered and prosecuted as intellectual property rights violations of CHL LLC in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. It is forbidden to automatically extract information from the Website by any services without the official permission of CHL LLC. Quoting from the Website and satellite projects of the official messages of the Kontinental Hockey League is allowed only with a direct link to the site www.khl.ru.