Surprisingly, in the Gagarin Cup history, CSKA and Lokomotiv, two teams that have missed postseason qualification only once and are more than likely to advance beyond the first round than to be eliminated outright, have crossed paths in the playoffs only twice. In 2017, the Yaroslavl franchise, seeded fourth in the West, knocked out the regular-season winners, the Army men, in six games in the Conference Semifinals. Last spring, at the same point and with exactly the same seedings, CSKA celebrated their victory. That victory came in seven games and wasn’t an easy one to achieve: the Railwaymen weren’t inferior in any way and had equal chances against the favorite. Parity in the series was mainly due to the fact that the opponents, led by Igor Nikitin and Andrei Skabelka, played very similar hockey.
Over the past year, both teams changed their coaches in nontrivial scenarios. Nikitin left CSKA, with the main reason was said to be his insufficient attacking style. He moved to Yaroslavl, where Skabelka was fired for unsatisfactory results. Skabelka had only one game against Nikitin’s successor, Sergei Fedorov, and lost 1:3. Then, under Nikitin, the rivals traded home wins in overtime – 1:0 in Moscow, and 3:2 in Yaroslavl. The Moscow meeting was particularly memorable as the Army men scored the only goal of the night after Fedorov replaced the goalkeeper with a fourth skater.
CSKA blueliner Nikita Nesterov (1+2) scored a point in each of three games, while Lokomotiv’s top scorer was Reid Boucher (2+1), who, however, is no longer with the team.
CSKA finished eight points ahead of Lokomotiv in the current regular season, with the same number of games played. Yaroslavl has one more win in regulation, but their record in extra-time is not the best, with only four wins in thirteen games, including three victories and six losses in OT. The Muscovites have a diametrically opposite situation: 11 wins in 16 games, including eight in OT, with four losses. SO series have nothing to do with the playoffs, but to complete the picture, the teams once again show opposite indicators: three wins out of four for CSKA, and one win from four for the Railwaymen.
The overall team stats for CSKA and Lokomotiv are fairly similar. The Muscovites scored more goals, while Yaroslavl has conceded less, but the difference is not critical. There’s also little difference on offensive indicators, with just five seconds per shot separating the two franchises. On the defensive end, Lokomotiv’s advantage is more noticeable: to score against Yaroslavl, their opponents took more than two minutes longer, on average, than it did for CSKA.
Yaroslavl also has a solid powerplay record, but CSKA is simply excellent there. Both teams were not very convincing on the penalty kill. Of the teams who made the playoffs, CSKA is in second last place, with only Dinamo Minsk showing worse figures. The Railwaymen didn’t go far either, though, finishing only one spot higher.
Boucher was Lokomotiv’s most productive player, with a rather modest 27 (12+15) points in 46 games. With the termination of his contract, his status as the reigning leading scorer went to Denis Alexeyev, who had as many assists as the American forward, and one fewer goal. CSKA had three players reaching the 30-point mark: Mikhail Grigorenko (18+15), Konstantin Okulov (7+26), and Nikita Nesterov (5+28). Sergei Plotnikov (16) and Anton Slepyshev (10) scored at least ten goals for CSKA, while Yegor Korshkov (11), Artur Kayumov, and Alexander Polunin (both at 10) were among Lokomotiv’s best scorers.
During the Olympic break, Yaroslav played in the Kazan tournament, where the side lost to Ak Bars (2:3), and defeated Neftekhimik (2:1) and Severstal (5:2). Later, the team met twice more with Severstal – 0:4 in Cherepovets and 1:1 at home. Maxim Shalunov, who hasn’t played since late November, returned to the team in excellent shape and scored in each of the three Kazan games: a goal against Ak Bars and Severstal, and a double against Neftekhimik.
On its turn, CSKA defeated Sibir twice (1:0 and 5:2) but suffered a loss to Avangard (0:2). On Feb 25, they also lost to Spartak (0:5).
If the coaches at the helm of both teams were the same as they were 11 months ago, this game would have been a continuation of last year’s series. Most likely, it wouldn’t be entertaining, but it would be interesting from a tactical standpoint: It would be interesting to see what tactics very skilled coaches come up with to effectively oppose their own look-a-like. Even if that intrigue has elapsed, we there are other ones: Nikitin (and Shalunov) against their former team, and Fedorov’s playoffs debut.
The series CSKA – Lokomotiv plays on Mar 1, 3, 5, 7 and, if necessary, on Mar 9, 11, and 13.