Dinamo draws level with SKA, Lokomotiv gets third win. March 7 playoffs
Dinamo Minsk, the last team to qualify for this season’s playoffs, produced another spectacular to defeat regular season champion SKA and tie the series at 2-2. All the goals in the Bison’s 4-2 win came in the third period, with Dinamo recovering from 0-1 to take the verdict. In Balashikha, Vityaz and Lokomotiv needed a second period of overtime before Rushan Rafikov snapped a 2-2 tie to give Loko a 3-1 lead in the series.
Another sensation in Belarus
Dinamo Minsk 4 SKA St. Petersburg 2 (0-0, 0-0, 4-2)
(Series tied at 2-2)
Three goals in a little over four third-period minutes saw this series go from ‘almost done’ to ‘live and kicking’. Dinamo found itself under intense pressure in this game, but kept the scoreboard blank until the 44th minute. Then, after going behind, the home team rallied bravely to tie the scores before that swift triple salvo left SKA reeling.
That conclusion seemed unlikely at the start. SKA won 4-0 here on Sunday and seemed to have put its opening game loss behind it to take control of the series. The visitor had the better of the first period, but could not score despite outshooting Dinamo 10-4. The home defense did a good job of absorbing the pressure on its net, blocking a further seven attempts.
That pressure continued in the second stanza, and this time SKA got the puck past Alexei Kolosov. However, a video review found that Dmitrij Jaskin’s stick was higher than the crossbar when it touched Alexander Nikishin’s shot into the net. The Czech forward was trying to distract Kolosov on the crease but inadvertently cost his team the lead.
The opening goal did not arrive until the 44th minute. This time, there was no doubt about SKA’s score. Nikishin’s stretch pass released Nikita Gusev into the danger zone and as he approached Kolosov he switched to the backhand and beat the goalie.
Dinamo’s task was made even harder when first Nick Merkley, then Cedric Paquette, went to the box. However, the SKA power play was not firing. The visitor struggled to control the puck in the Minsk zone and, on the second PP, even gave up a shorthanded goal. After the home team won back possession in its own territory, Igor Martynov raced forward on the counterattack. Nikishin attempted to clear Martynov’s shot, but could only divert the puck into his own net.
Next came a Dinamo power play, the host’s first in the session. Now we got to see the versatility of Craig Woodcroft’s special teams as Dmitry Sokolov rifled home the go-ahead goal. A couple of minutes later, the home crowd was in dreamland as Roman Gorbunov made it 3-1. A series that many expected to be over in four games was on its way to a 2-2 tie.
SKA responded by withdrawing goalie Dmitry Nikolayev and sending out a sixth skater with more than six minutes on the clock. Roman Rotenberg’s bold move did not really work out, though. Merkley won possession and took the puck to the visitor’s net, where Nikishin scurried back as a stand-in goalie. That duel was not much of a contest and Dinamo led 4-1.
There was still time for Andrei Pedan to get one back for SKA, keeping the tension alive going into the final minute. However, that would prove little more than a consolation effort for the visitor. SKA knows it will have to return here on Saturday, regardless of the outcome of Thursday’s meeting in Petersburg.
Rafikov puts Loko one step away from progress
Vityaz Moscow Region 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 2OT (1-0, 0-0, 1-2, 0-0, 0-1)
(Lokomotiv leads the series 3-1)
Vityaz made history in the first game of this series, getting its first ever KHL playoff win. Since then, though, back-to-back 0-4 losses saw Lokomotiv take control. Goalie Maxim Dorozhko, the hero of that opening success, was the major casualty: today he was replaced by Dmitry Shikin in a game that Vityaz needed to win.
Lokomotiv, meanwhile, was looking to open a 3-1 lead and stay on track to wrap up this first-round encounter in five game. Igor Nikitin’s team seemed to put its opening night nerves behind it in those convincing victories, while young Daniil Tesanov emerged as a breakout star with three goals in two games.
The home team started the game in determined fashion and went on to produce a strong first period performance. That effort was crowned with an opening goal from Yaroslav Busygin in the 17th minute. However, the 20-year-old defenseman’s first playoff goal owed much to a helpful deflection of a Lokomotiv player as he fired the puck in from the point. Scott Wilson’s presence in front of goalie Daniil Isayev also played a big part in the opening marker.
At the other end, Shikin was doing a good job on his first post season start. If he had a relatively quiet first period, the second gave him rather more to do as Lokomotiv pushed in search of a tying goal.
However, the Railwaymen had to wait until the third before finding the answer to Shikin. Vityaz contributed to its own downfall, running into penalty trouble, and Loko scored two power play goals in less than 90 seconds to turn the game around. First, Pavel Kraskovsky fired the puck across the slot and Stepan Nikulin arrived at the back door to fire home the tying goal. Then, with Busygin in the box, Denis Alexeyev exchanged passes with Rushan Rafikov before shooting in from the top of the right-hand circle.
That double blow had Vityaz wobbling, but the home team still had 12 minutes to recover the situation. And, when it got a power play chance, Wilson grabbed the tying goal. It may not have been the prettiest of his career, forcing home a rebound after Vladislav Kara’s shot was halted in front of the net, but it might have been his most important in the KHL to date.
However, to make the most of Wilson’s effort, Vityaz needed to win the game in overtime and tie the series. The home team had a great chance to do just that when Sergei Andronov’s penalty seven minutes in gave a two-minute power play. However, although that handed Vityaz the momentum, it did not bring a goal and the first additional period could not separate the teams.
Instead, it took a 96th-minute winner from Rushan Rafikov. The defenseman had three points in the previous game and an assist earlier tonight. Now he made his biggest contribution to the series so far. After a spell of Lokomotiv pressure, Maxim Shalunov won a face-off and Rafikov got the puck and set off down the right-hand wall. When he got to the goal line he fired the puck to the crease from a zero angle and saw his effort deflect off Shikin and into the net to give Lokomotiv a 3-1 lead to take home to Yaroslavl.
