Severstal shocks defending champ, moves ahead in series. March 6 playoffs
Few gave Severstal a chance in its first-round meeting with CSKA. However, Andrei Razin’s team escaped Moscow with the series tied at 1-1 and moved ahead after game three in Cherepovets tonight. Elsewhere in the West, Dynamo Moscow defeated Torpedo 3-0 to lead in that pairing.
Konovalov denies Torpedo
Dynamo Moscow 3 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 0 (0-0, 2-0, 1-0)
(Dynamo leads the series 2-1)
In a series that shows every sign of going the distance, Dynamo moved back in front after game three thanks to a shut-out from Ilya Konovalov. The 24-year-old stopped 24 shots to record the second playoff shut-out of his career, while goals from Ivan Igumnov, Ivan Muranov and Eric O’Dell put the home team on the way to victory.
The first period produced no goals, but both teams posed questions of the opposing defenses, especially on their respective power plays. Torpedo got the first chance following Muranov’s foul and produced some neat combinations in front of Konovalov. However, the home defense was solid, blocking several shots to protect the net. Dynamo then had a couple of PPs of its own and took the opportunity to test out Ivan Kulbakov in the Torpedo net.
Dynamo broke the deadlock midway through the second period. Kirill Gotovets fired in a shot from the boards which Kulbakov stopped. However, the goalie was unable to freeze the puck and Igumnov reacted first to stuff home the rebound.
Immediately after that, Torpedo had to kill another penalty. The visitor successfully kept Dynamo to the outside and Kulbakov only had long-range efforts to contend with. However, a minute after Vladislav Firstov left the box, Dynamo extended its lead with the teams at equal strength. Muranov was the scorer, jumping on a loose puck between the hash marks and turning away from his defenseman to fire in a shot that gave the goalie no chance.
After that, Torpedo stepped up its attacking efforts. The visitor banged in plenty of shots, albeit not always on target. The closest of them came from defenseman Mikhail Orlov, whose effort squeezed through Konovalov’s defense but went the wrong side of the post. Then, right before the intermission, tempers frayed and two players from each side were sent to the box.
At the start of the third, Dynamo extended its lead. Dmitry Rashevsky was all on his own as he surged into Torpedo territory. However, he had time to wait for his colleagues to catch up before dishing off the puck to O’Dell for a shot that whistled under the crossbar. That effectively killed the contest. Torpedo enjoyed plenty of possession after the third goal but Dynamo could afford to sit back and wait for its opponent to try to force the issue. In the end, the visitor could not get enough efforts through to Konovalov’s net to seriously trouble the goalie and the Blue-and-Whites eased back in front in the series.
Vovchenko’s double stuns CSKA
Severstal Cherepovets 5 CSKA Moscow 3 (1-2, 2-1, 2-0)
(Severstal leads the series 2-1)
The sensations keep on coming! After Severstal ended CSKA’s 33-game streak in first-round playoff action, few suspected that the Steelmen would follow up by moving ahead in this series. However, despite trailing three times in Cherepovets, the home team recovered to post another memorable victory in a post season already filled with intrigue.
However, there was little sign of this outcome in the first period as CSKA dominated the game. The visitor outshot Severstal 22-3, and it took a courageous performance from Alexander Samonov in the home net to keep the game alive.
It took a five-on-three power play to beat Samonov at last. With 13 minutes gone, Konstantin Okulov set up Mikhail Grigorenko for his third goal in three games of this series. Almost immediately CSKA went close to doubling the lead as the power play continued, but Samonov pulled off a big stop to deny Maxim Sorkin. Finally, Severstal got back to full strength and, on a rare visit to the other end of the ice, Adam Liska fired in a backhand shot from the left-hand circle to tie the scores.
CSKA would not let it rest at 1-1. Darren Dietz was close to restoring the lead right away, and just before the intermission Anton Slepyshev finished off a breakaway to make it 2-1 at the intermission.
Getting a lead is one thing, but the Muscovites found that keeping it was quite another. Early in the middle frame, Vladimir Bryukvin and Vladislav Provolnev were both penalized in the same shift. Like CSKA before it, Severstal converted its five-on-three advantage with Yegor Morozov putting away the rebound from a Daniil Pylenkov shot.
At the other end, the visitor continued to threaten. Okulov had two great chances in the space of a few seconds but could not find the net. Then, in the 29th minute, Grigorenko went around the back and set up Maxim Mamin to make it 3-2. This time, though, the reply was quicker than ever. Just nine seconds elapsed before Daniil Vovchenko raced past Andrei Sergeyev and tied it up once more.
Vovchenko is something of a club legend at Severstal and it was fitting that the 26-year-old went on to grab the winner in a game that will surely go down in his team’s history. In the 45th minute, with the Steelmen again on the power play, Vovchenko put them ahead for the first time on the night. Once again, Pylenkov was the provider as incoming CSKA goalie Adam Reideborn found himself facing the same problems that dogged Alexander Sharychenkov.
Next came controversy. CSKA got the puck in the net, but a video review found an offside in the build-up to Slepyshev’s effort. Reprieved, Severstal’s job was still not done. The Muscovites created several more chances with Grigorenko prominent in the visitor’s brightest moments. However, Samonov kept coming up with the answers and finished with 40 saves. At the other end, Alexander Petunin found the empty net in the 59th minute to seal a memorable Severstal success. Suddenly, the defending champion’s grip on its title looks far from assured.
