Salavat Yulaev lifts the cup in Chelyabinsk
Salavat Yulaev won the Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup while Avangard enjoyed a second successive shut-out against Metallurg. It was shoot-outs, not shut-outs, as two KHL teams went head-to-head in the Czech Republic.
Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup
Salavat Yulaev 4 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 (1-2, 2-1, 1-0)
Two goals from Artyom Fyodorov and short-handed game-winner in the third period saw Salavat Yulaev win the gold-medal game against the tournament host in Chelyabinsk.
Fyodorov’s first of the night came in the fourth minute on the power play, cancelling out an early Nick Bailen goal for Traktor. But the host jumped to a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Paul Szczechura and Evgeny Ryasensky, with Richard Gynge picking up two assists in the game. Shortly after the midway point it seemed the Traktor was on course for victory, but that all changed late in the second period. Philip Larsen got a goal back in the 39th minute and Fyodorov tied it up again five seconds before the hooter.
That set the scene for Pyotr Khokhryakov to get the winner when he got on the end of Vladimir Zharkov’s break-out and beat Juha Metsola. Traktor had chances to tie it up again but could not find a way past Vasily Demchenko even with a 6-on-3 power play situation late in the frame. Alexander Bergstrom hit the piping but Salavat held on to take the trophy.
Avangard Omsk 5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0 (1-0, 2-0, 2-0)
After a 3-0 victory on Friday, Avangard produced an even more emphatic display in Saturday’s bronze medal game. However, the Omsk team’s success came at a price – goalie Karri Ramo left the game with an injury in the second period and was undergoing medical checks to confirm the extent of his problem.
Nikita Pivtsakin gave Avangard an early lead, but it was two second-period goals from Ansel Galimov that took the game away from Magnitka. Metallurg did get the puck in the net late in the middle frame, but Nikolai Kulemin’s effort was ruled out after he encroached on Igor Bobkov’s crease. The third frame brought two more goals with Kirill Petrov and Yegor Martynov wrapping up the win.
Zbynek Kusy Memorial Trophy
Slovan Bratislava 2 Admiral Vladivostok 3 SO (2-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
If pre-season is anything to go by, Admiral can look forward to plenty of success in shoot-out situations. Even before this tournament in Pardubice, the Sailors had enjoyed pre-season shoot-out successes against the Moscow clubs and here Admiral proved too strong for Slovan as two KHL rivals duelled in the Czech Republic.
Vladimir Butuzov got the decisive marker after a 2-2 tie, while in regulation tie Sergei Konkov also converted a penalty shot to level the scores for Admiral. Slovan twice led in the first period on goals from Matus Sukel and Mario Lunter, with the latter scoring for the fourth time this summer. But it was not enough to secure the Slovak team a second victory at this competition.
Admiral has one more game to play, against host club Dynamo Pardubice, while Eisbaren Berlin looks set to win the trophy if it can avoid defeat in regulation time against Dynamo.
