CSKA takes commanding 2-0 lead over Avangard! Preview for April 17th
As the venues switch, Avangard will hope that home-ice advantage brings some form of fresh air after having only scored two goals thus far in the series. Finding a way to solve Sorokin will be a heavy task in a very critical Game 3!
19:30 Avangard (4th in the East) vs. CSKA (1st in the West)
Series stand
2 – 0 for CSKA
Game 1: 5-2 win for CSKA
Game 2: 3-0 win for CSKA
Injured
Avangard: Karri Ramo
About the game
- The winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the Gagarin Cups in 2 of 10 cases. Both CSKA and Avangard won the third game of a Gagarin Cup final, but both ended up losing the series.
- Avangard last defeated CSKA at home on January 16th, 2013, by a score of 4-3. That means that Avangard has lost to CSKA six times in a row at home ice.
- Shumakov is hoping to collect his 200th career KHL point. He currently has 198. In addition, he’s hoping to score his 100th career KHL goal. He has 98. With two more goals, he could hit two birds with one stone.
- Petrov is looking to collect his 250th career KHL point. He currently has 248.
- Shirokov’s next goal will be his 150th career goal in the KHL.
- Beck has the opportunity to tie the Avangard record for points in the KHL playoffs in one season. He currently has 14 while record-holder Chris Lee once had 15.
- Surprisingly, a Gagarin Cup final has only once seen a 3-0 series stand. That was back in 2011 in the series featuring Salavat vs. Atlant.
- In all, CSKA has defeated Avangard in 7 straight contests. The Muscovites last lost to Avangard on October 9th, 2016, by a close 2-1 OT score.
- Okulov is hoping to collect his 50th career KHL assist.
- Blazhievsky is hoping to collect his 50th career KHL point.
- Slepyshev is looking to suit up for his 50th career KHL playoff game.
- Grigorenko is hoping to score his 50th career KHL goal. He currently has 48.
- Sorokin has played 65:04 straight minutes without allowing a goal against.
- Grigorenko has points in 3 straight games, going 5-1-6 over that span.
