Playoff preview: Salavat Yulaev – Sibir
Before the start of the playoffs, KHL.ru presents a preview of the Gagarin Cup’s first-round pairings. Today the talk is about the clash between Salavat Yulaev and Sibir, the third and sixth seeds in the East.
Salavat Yulaev and Sibir have met only once in the KHL playoffs, and it was quite a long time ago. In 2011, just as in 2022, the teams finished third and sixth in the East, respectively, and then met in the first round of the playoffs. Salavat Yulaev, led then by the tandem of Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin, raced to the Gagarin Cup and on the way to their goal, they probably almost didn’t notice Sibir’s resistance with a 4:0 swept.
However, the teams met twice in the 2021-2022 season, and both times Sibir won, 3:1 and 3:2.
Nick Shore was Sibir’s main hero in these meetings, producing 4 (2+2) points. Alexander Kadeikin was the most productive player for Ufa, with 3 (0+3) points.
During the Olympic break, Ufa and Sibir were without several key players. Nevertheless, both teams played several exhibition games and had decent results, even without the players busy with national team callups.
Salavat Yulaev had a decent winning streak – the Ufa side shut out Neftekhimik (3:0), twice outplayed Avtomobilist (2:1, 3:2 OT) and had a high-scoring game against Dinamo Minsk (6:3). Sibir’s results during the break were more modest: two losses to CSKA (0:1, 2:5) and a hard-fought win over Ak Bars (3:2).
However, if paying attention to the teams’ stats in the regular season, several interesting aspects appear. Salavat Yulaev boasts the best defense among the playoffs teams. The Ufa team allowed just 96 goals during the regular season. Sibir’s figures are a little worse, with 108 allowed tallies. It was not easy for both Salavat Yulaev and Sibir’s opponents over the course of the season. Other KHL clubs had to patiently wait to score a goal against both Ufa and Novosibirsk – 37.87 and 36.68 minutes, respectively. It is quite possible that the series between the teams will not be very productive, and the difference will be made by goals scored with the special teams.
Here, Salavat Yulaev looks preferable. The team ranked among the top five teams in terms of powerplay realization’s percentage with 22.4%, the same rate as Metallurg. Sibir, on the other hand, had an alarming 14% and a penultimate place in the league. However, the Novosibirsk franchise is more reliable in the penalty kill than their first-round opponents, but the difference isn’t significative – 81.5% versus 79.3%.
Right now, the main heroes in both lineups are the freshly minted Olympic champions. Salavat Yulaev’s attack features a Finnish trio consisting of Markus Granlund (8+30 in 41 regular-season games), Sakari Manninen (19+13 in 38 games), and Teemu Hartikainen (13+11 in 41 games). As for Sibir, goalie Harri Sateri (38 games, 92.6%, GAA 2.02, 6 SO) became the undisputable starter.
Both Sateri and the Ufa trio had a great season this time around, and then contributed greatly to Finland’s win at the Beijing Games. So now they’re all on a serious psychological boost and ready to keep rocking.
If Sibir can shut down the Finns from Ufa – and Andrei Martemyanov’s coaching staff is certainly already working on that goal – Salavat could use their depth, particularly on offense. Tomi Lamsa, for example, has one of the best Russian center-forwards of the season, the already mentioned Alexander Kadeikin (11+20 in 43 games). Sergei Shmelyov (12+16 in 45 games), who played in tandem with the center back in their Atlant days, is also having a good season.
In addition, Salavat Yulaev has a good group of young players who can add energy to the team and it’ time for them to prove their worth in really important matches.
Sibir is more of a systemic team, but the Novosibirsk squad certainly has some standout players as well. Nick Shore is Novosibirsk’s leading scorer (10+16 in 49 games) this season. He’s a well-trained center with an excellent nose for the net and is very valuable on the dots (54.2%, the best figures on the team). Denis Golubev is another important player for Sibir. First of all, he has scored as many goals as Shore did – 10. That’s a sniper record for Golubev in his KHL career. Secondly, Golubev adds emotion to Sibir’s game, and he can get under the skin of his opponents, which is always important in playoff games.
Anton Shenfeld, a Gagarin Cup winner with Metallurg, is another Sibir player who knows his way around the playoffs. The forward came to Novosibirsk from Torpedo, where he served as the team’s captain. Such an experienced and authoritative player in the locker room is a useful bonus for the Novosibirsk franchise.
Both teams are capable of building an effective system of play, and there are plenty of players to keep an eye on in their lineups. The series promises to be exciting!
The series Salavat Yulaev - Sibir plays on Mar 2, 4, 6, 8 and, if necessary, 10, 12, and 14.
