WESTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
CSKA came from 0-2 down to defeat Slovan thanks to Antti Pihlstrom’s overtime winner. The Army Men now take a big advantage to Slovakia for game three of this series on Thursday.
It took just two-and-a-half minutes of added time to snap a 2-2 tie as Sergei Andronov’s shot slid across Barry Brust’s pads and dropped perfectly for Pihlstrom to sweep into an empty net and shatter Slovan’s hopes of levelling the series.
Slovan, who had never won a KHL play-off game, showed no signs of any hangover from Sunday’s 2-0 defeat and took the lead on the power play in the 14th minute. Vaclav Nederost got the goal, wrestling possession away from Mikhail Naumenkov on the slot after Cam Barker’s shot from the point caused panic in front of Ilya Sorokin.
Sorokin’s evening did not improve: with seconds left in the middle session he was beaten again, this time by Tomas Starosta’s shot from the point. The teams were playing 4-on-4, and although Slovan had just won possession from a face-off to the goalie’s right, there seemed to be little about the play that would make the shot unusually challenging.
In the third period, however, it was Slovan’s turn to question the goalie. Brust will wonder just how Kirill Petrov’s effort on the wraparound managed to creep between post and skate to halve the arrears in the 45th minute. Stephane da Costa went on to tie the game after Alexander Radulov battled hard from behind the net to pop the puck out on the crease. Ivan Telegin fired into Brust’s pads but da Costa made no mistake with the rebound to take the game into overtime and set up Pihlstrom’s big moment.
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.
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.