Sorkin strikes in fourth period of OT. March 5 playoffs
The longest game of this year’s playoffs to date ended with Maxim Sorkin grabbing his second overtime goal of the series – in the 127th minute. The result puts CSKA in control of the series with a 3-0 lead.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 CSKA Moscow 3 4OT (1-1, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
(CSKA leads the series 3-0)
It was long after midnight when CSKA finally secured an epic victory over Lokomotiv in the fourth period of overtime. The decisive goal came following a penalty on Loko’s Alexei Marchenko. CSKA pressed the home team into its zone and when Klas Dahlbeck fired the puck to the slot, young Maxim Sorkin got the crucial touch to settle the game.
It was the second time in three games that these teams went into the extras, and the second time that Sorkin proved to be the winner. In Tuesday’s series opener, he snapped a 3-3 tie in the first period of overtime to set the Muscovites on their way in this Western Conference first round match-up.
More than five hours earlier, Lokomotiv started this game with Daniil Isayev in goal. Eddie Pasquale, who had played in the first two games in the series, was not on the team sheet today as 17-year-old Sergei Murashov, yet to get on the ice in the KHL, was named as the back-up.
However, it was CSKA’s Fedotov who was the first goalie to face a serious test when Loko got an early power play. He was unable to prevent a big rebound from Alexander Polunin’s shot and Pavel Kraskovsky was on hand to fire home from between the hash marks.
However, the lead lasted just a couple of minutes before Konstantin Okulov potted his first of the game. Lokomotiv iced the puck, Vladislav Kamenev won the face-off for CSKA and sent the puck back to Okulov, who instantly ripped a one-timer past Isayev to tie the scores. Subsequently, both teams traded scoring chances but the game remained at 1-1 until the first intermission.
After the break, Lokomotiv looked to step up the pace. The home team had far more shots at Fedotov’s net and twice rang the iron, with Artur Kayumov going close to a short-handed goal and Brandon Gormley hitting the post midway through the session. However, CSKA had its chances too, and late in the frame Okulov got his second of the night. Sergei Plotnikov collected the puck on the point and steered a pass into the center of the zone for Okulov to skate on to the right-hand circle and surprise Isayev with an early shot past Alexei Marchenko.
That goal was starting to look like the decider. In the third period Lokomotiv had several chances on the power play but could not find a way past the CSKA defense. However, in the final minutes John Gilmour sat for delaying the game and the Railwaymen converted their last chance. Artyom Anisimov turned off the boards into space and set up Shalunov in the circle. The forward had played a quiet game, but when the big moment came he did not fluff his line, firing a wrister through the five-hole to extend the game.
Then the former CSKA man had a great chance to win it for his new club early in the extras, but when the opportunity presented itself at the far post, Ivan Fedotov made a fantastic save to keep the Muscovites in the game. That set the scene for the second longest game in KHL history, with Sorkin’s game-winner finally arriving on 126:37. The longest game remains the encounter before CSKA and Jokerit on March 22, 2018, which finished on 142:08 when Mika Niemi gave the Finns the verdict.
