Favorites show their class with shut-out wins. March 5 playoffs
The teams shared the opening games in these two series, but today saw the favorites underline their status. In both encounters, the higher-seeded team won 4-0 on the road as Lokomotiv and SKA went in front in their series against Vityaz and Dinamo Minsk respectively.
Railwaymen move ahead
Vityaz Moscow Region 0 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (0-2, 0-1, 0-1)
(Lokomotiv leads the series 2-1)
Young Lokomotiv forward Daniil Tesanov made it three goals in two playoff games to lead his team to victory in Moscow Region. The 21-year-old helped the Railwaymen make short work of Vityaz to move ahead in the series despite dropping the opening game.
After two contrasting games in Yaroslavl, this series was poised at 1-1. Vityaz produced a defensive masterclass before winning the opener 1-0 in overtime, but Lokomotiv responded with a powerful attacking display in game two to grab a 6-2 victory and level the series.
In Balashikha, hosting a third club’s playoff campaign after previously seeing MVD and Avangard go all the way to the Gagarin Cup final here, the Railwaymen looked to continue where they left off at the end of Friday’s home win. The visitor dominated play throughout the first period, outshooting Vityaz 15-6 and enjoying more than five minutes of attacking possession compared with less then three minutes for the opposition.
More importantly, that pressure yielded two unanswered goals. The opener came midway through the session, with Lokomotiv on the first power play of the game. The visitor moved the puck smoothly around the Vityaz zone before inviting Rushan Rafikov to step forward from the blue line and fire his shot past Maxim Dorozhko in the home net.
After 16 minutes, Tesanov doubled the lead. The youngster pounced on a loose puck after Alexei Volgin failed to control a pass on the Loko blue line. There was still plenty for the 21-year-old forward to do, but he did it in some style, spinning away from Volgin’s attempts to recover before beating Dorozhko. That’s two goals in two playoff outings for Tesanov, while Volgin’s error added to his earlier penalty that led to the opener in this game.
In the second period, Vityaz was far more competitive. However, the home team fluffed a great chance to get back into the game when it failed to make the most of Rafikov’s minor penalty midway through the session. There was worse to come when the next Vityaz penalty brought a third Loko goal. Rafikov picked up his second point of the game when he set up Denis Alexeyev for another powerful shot through traffic that gave Dorozhko little chance.
That effectively put the game beyond Vityaz and the home team posed little threat in the third period as Igor Nikitin’s team limited its opponent to just eight shots on goal. That was hardly enough to discomfort the visiting defense and Daniil Isayev finished with 31 saves to record a shut-out. At the other end, Tesanov got his second in the 57th minute, firing in a one-timer from the left-hand circle with Rafikov again among the assists.
SKA too strong in Minsk
Dinamo Minsk 0 SKA St. Petersburg 4 (0-2, 0-1, 0-1)
(SKA leads the series 2-1)
It’s starting to feel like Dinamo’s sensational win in Petersburg at the start of this series is already a long time ago. SKA rallied to take game two with a comfortable 5-2 scoreline and followed that up with a solid victory in Belarus to get ahead in the series.
The opening stages were somewhat stop-start. SKA put pressure on the home team from the off, and Dinamo twice iced the puck early on. However, when Alexander Volkov took an interference penalty in the fifth minute, Minsk got some breathing space and managed to take play to the other end for a time.
That power play brought nothing more than a relief of the pressure on the Dinamo defense, though. Once SKA returned to full strength it wasn’t long before a home player – Mark Barberio – found himself in the box and the visitor took full advantage. Dmitrij Jaskin was credited with the final touch on an Igor Ozhiganov piledriver, and the Czech claimed his second goal of post season.
Another toothless Dinamo power play came and went before SKA extended its lead in the 17th minute. This time a defensive error on the boards enabled Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov to get the puck to the unattended Nikita Komarov for a close-range finish to make it 2-0. Then, late in the period Marat Khusnutdinov made light work of the penalty kill and came close to adding a third when he forced an interception and went clean through, only to lose control of the puck at the crucial moment.
The home team posed more of a threat at the start of the second period. Ryan Spooner had a great chance when he broke through on Dmitry Nikolayev’s net, but his attempt to outwit the SKA goalie did not come off. Shortly afterwards, Artyom Demkov stuffed the puck behind the visiting goalie from close range. However, after a bench challenge from Roman Rotenberg, the play was reviewed for a second time and whistled off for interference on the goalie.
There was more hurt to come for Dinamo’s frustrated players when SKA added a third a couple of minutes after that incident. The home team seized possession in its own zone and Nikita Gusev brought play down the ice before spreading the puck left to Alexander Nikishin. The young defenseman showed his class, advancing on Konstantin Shostak and finding a well-placed shot to make it 3-0. Minsk’s misfortune was backed up by the stats. The home team had substantially more attacking play and outshot SKA 15-5 in the frame, but could make no inroads on the visitor’s lead.
Despite the support of a capacity crowd in its home arena, Dinamo could find little to test SKA in the final frame. The visitor continued to control the game, and Nikolayev claimed his shut-out with 26 saves. Vasily Glotov skipped away from his marker to complete the scoring midway through the session and wrap up an ominously convincing win for the regular season champion.
