Three-goal fightback not enough for Barys. March 5 playoffs
Two short-handed goals set Metallurg on the road to victory in Kazakhstan. The 5-3 verdict at Barys gives the Steelmen a 2-1 lead in the series.
Barys Nur-Sultan 3 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 (0-1, 0-3, 3-1)
(Metallurg leads the series 2-1)
There are signs that, in this year’s playoffs, getting on the power play is a high-risk strategy. After Avangard scored two short-handed goals on Ak Bars to win in Kazan yesterday, Metallurg matched that feat on the way to victory over Barys. The success in Kazakhstan gives the regular-season table-topper a 2-1 lead in the series after it dropped the opening game on Tuesday.
Magnitka started with a short-handed goal here. Denis Zernov took a boarding call after 74 seconds, but the home team’s attempts to exact maximum punishment went awry. Jacob Berglund lost possession in front of the Metallurg net and a quick breakaway released Semyon Koshelev, who skated clear to beat Joni Ortio. The visitor was so comfortable on the PK that it took a further minor almost immediately, but Barys was unable to find a way through even with a two-man advantage.
The Metallurg penalty kill was a key feature in the rest of the opening frame. Barys had several more chances on the power play and got 16 shots at Vasily Koshechkin, but could not find a way through. Nikita Mikhailis fired a shot against the crossbar and there were presentable opportunities for Jakob Lilja and Tomas Jurco but the scoreline remained at 0-1 until the intermission.
The second period began in similar fashion to the first. Josh Currie sat for tripping and Metallurg grabbed another short-handed goal. This time, Pavel Akolzin intercepted the puck in his own zone and evaded two increasingly desperate lunges from Barys defensemen to score on his former club. Now, though, things changed. Metallurg cut out that steady string of infringements and, playing the rest of the period with a full complement, stretched its lead to 4-0. A couple of minutes after Akolzin’s goal, Philippe Maillet added a third and chased Ortio from the net in the process. Incoming goalie Nikita Boyarkin lasted 10 minutes without conceding before he was beaten by Grigory Dronov. At the other end, the piping came to Koshechkin’s rescue once more when a Berglund shot was deflected against the post and later the Swede almost cashed in on a defensive blunder, only to be denied by the veteran Magnitka goalie.
Even at equal strength, Metallurg was happy to play on the counter attack and that produced a fifth goal early in the third period. Maxim Karpov was the scorer this time, skating onto a pass, surging to the net and putting a wrister on the top shelf.
Down by five, Barys had little hope of saving the game. But the home team at least managed to make a battle of things in the closing stages. With 10 to play, Lilja dished off a pass to Curtis Valk, who got Barys on the scoreboard at last. A couple of minutes later, Mikhailis scored on the power play to raise hopes of an improbably comeback. Those hopes never came to fruition, but in the dying seconds Cody Kunyk pulled back a third goal to make the final score more respectable. Respectability alone, though, won’t be enough to Barys as it falls behind in the series.
