Shocks and surprises in the West. March 1 playoffs
Day one of the 2023 playoffs was full of surprises. In the Western Conference, Dinamo Minsk stunned regular season champion SKA with a 6-4 win in Petersburg, while Vityaz edged Lokomotiv in overtime to record its first ever victory in a KHL playoff game.
Sensation in St. Petersburg
SKA St. Petersburg 4 Dinamo Minsk 6 (1-1, 1-1, 2-4)
(Dinamo Minsk leads the series 1-0)
Few neutral observers gave Dinamo much of a chance in its playoff series against SKA. The Belarusians might have set a club record in reaching their third successive post season, but a battle with the runaway regular season champion looked like a step too far for Craig Woodcroft’s men.
However, the Bison travelled to St. Petersburg determined to spring a surprise, and did exactly that in an absorbing opening game. Despite trailing twice, the visitor kept to its gameplan and pulled off a sensational victory to change the complexion of the series.
The early stages went according to the expected script. SKA pressed from the start, got the first power play in the first minute and created problems for Dinamo all over the ice. The visitor saw three key players – Joe Duszak, Shawn Lalonde and Cedric Paquette – suffer injuries and barely managed to get a toehold in the game before Dmitrij Jaskin, the KHL’s leading scorer with 62 points in the regular season, finished off a well-worked play involving Marat Khusnutdinov and Nikita Gusev to open the scoring.
After that, though, Dinamo came into the game and managed to tie the scores before the first intermission. Valentin Demchenko’s advance into SKA territory was thwarted, but the puck bounced into the path of Nikita Pyshkailo and the 22-year-old duly slotted home his first playoff goal.
SKA regained the lead early in the middle frame through Evgeny Ketov, but immediately the home team found itself on the penalty kill. Paquette, now recovered from the cut he suffered in the early stages of the game, was first to the rebound after Mark Barberio’s shot cannoned back off the boards and the Canadian put the puck beyond Dmitry Nikolayev from a tight angle. SKA went on to dominate much of the subsequent play, but could not regain the lead in the second stanza.
At the start of the third, the home team suffered two penalties in quick succession. Dinamo could not turn either into a goal, although Barberio fired a shot against the post. However, the Belarusians picked up sufficient momentum to move in front shortly after the teams were back to equal strength. Sergei Sapego’s pass from the point found Roman Gorbunov in the left-hand circle and he used former Minsk defenseman Stepan Falkovsky as a screen for a shot past Nikolayev.
SKA was struggling to generate offense as it looked for a way back into the game, and the home crowd was stunned when Dinamo made it 4-2 in the 53rd minute. Vladimir Alistrov surged down the right wing, got away from Roman Rukavishnikov and beat Nikolayev with a backhand shot. SKA had a chance to get back into contention almost immediately when Vitaly Pinchuk was penalized, but the power play came to naught and Pinchuk himself was credited with the visitor’s fifth goal when he was fouled while bearing down on an empty net.
That ushered in a frantic finish, with Alexander Volkov and Nikita Gusev scoring two goals in a minute to give the home team 24 seconds in which to save itself. However, the net remained empty and SKA’s luck ran out: Alistrov scored at the other end to seal a memorable win for Dinamo.
Dorozhko blanks Loko, Galuzin grabs winner
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0 Vityaz Moscow Region 1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
(Vityaz leads the series 1-0)
This was a very different game from the thriller that played out in Petersburg, but the result was much the same. The outsider, a Vityaz team that has never won a playoff series in the KHL and failed to win a single game in its three previous appearances, snatched an OT verdict against Lokomotiv.
After 60 goalless minutes, it took just 28 seconds of overtime to settle the issue. Daniil Isayev in the home goal inexplicably lost track of Alexander Yaremchuk’s attempt to dump the puck into the corner. As a result, he failed to stop the rebound bouncing to the slot, and Vladimir Galuzin was on hand to score from close range. The 34-year-old Galuzin, club captain in his first season at Vityaz, has substantial playoff experience from his time at Torpedo. Today, though, will surely rank as one of his most memorable post season appearances.
It would be unfair to suggest that Vityaz did not deserve the win. Goalie Maxim Dorozhko impressed once again. In the regular season he posted five shut-outs, the first of which came against Lokomotiv back in September when his first start of the season saw him make 42 saves through 65 minutes in Yaroslavl. Today he had 34 to add to that collection as he backstopped Vityaz to a first ever victory in playoff action. When Dorozhko was caught out of position, meanwhile, he was reprieved by some poor finishing: Ivan Chekhovich was the most notable miscreant, shooting wide of an open net when well placed to open the scoring in the first period.
At the other end, there was plenty of offensive intent. A flurry of shots during a first period power play served notice to Lokomotiv that this was a serious contest. The home team struggled to get into the game in the early stages and only began to seriously threaten after the second commercial break.
For the most part the game was even, but as time went on both teams became more cautious. In the third period, there were few clear cut chances, although Lokomotiv might have won it if either of Alexander Polunin and Mikhail Belyayev showed greater accuracy in front of goal. It wasn’t until the extras that Galuzin showed the way to goal and gave Vityaz the verdict.
