Yan’s the man for Torpedo. March 10 playoffs
Torpedo grabbed its second successive overtime victory to move up 3-2 in its series with Dynamo Moscow. Denis Yan scored twice to give Torpedo the win on home ice and put his team within one result of progressing to the second round. In Moscow, CSKA edged Severstal 4-3 to move ahead after five games of that series.
CSKA holds on to take 3-2 lead
CSKA Moscow 4 Severstal Cherepovets 3 (2-0, 2-2, 0-1)
(CSKA leads the series 3-2)
After piling up nine goals in Wednesday’s one-sided win on the road, CSKA found things much more difficult on home ice. Despite opening a 2-0 lead in the opening session, the Muscovites were never able to shake off Severstal completely. The game remained alive until the very end before CSKA edged a 4-3 win.
The first period was evenly-matched, but CSKA moved in front thanks to better finishing. Neither team created an enormous number of scoring chances, but while Severstal was unable to find the net, the Muscovites scored twice late in the session. The first goal went to Vitaly Abramov, who scored twice to help CSKA to a 5-2 win in the opening game of the series. Today he surged down the right wing and lifted a wrister over Alexander Samonov’s blocker in the 16th minute.
A couple of minutes later, the home team doubled its lead. Darren Dietz got his first goal of the playoffs when he fired in a shot from the blue line while Maxim Mamin blocked Samonov’s view of the action. That came moments after Mamin himself had hit the post.
Severstal responded well to losing those goals late in the first period, and David Dumbadze came close to pulling one back in the 23rd minute. However, his effort went just wide and shortly afterwards the visitor ran into penalty trouble. CSKA got 96 seconds of five-on-three power play and turned that into a third goal when Nikita Nesterov shot home.
Once back to full strength, the Steelmen got on the scoreboard at last when Nikita Makeyev joined the attack and produced a wrister from the right-hand channel. The visitor continued to press and earned a power play, but failed to make that advantage count. Instead, CSKA returned to full strength and potted a fourth goal through Anton Slepyshev.
Late in the second period, another power play chance saw Severstal pull one back. Daniil Vovchenko picked up Kirill Pilipenko’s pass down the left and notched his third of the playoffs. That kept the Steelmen within two goals at the second intermission and ensured that the game was very much alive.
Severstal underlined that point with a fast start to the third frame. Alexander Suvorov made it 3-4 when he got on the end of Alexander Petunin’s feed to fire home a one-timer at the back door in the 42nd minute. That goal came from a CSKA error in clearing its lines, and the home team was almost rocked again a minute later when Vovchenko’s close-range effort dinged off the crossbar to safety.
The visitor continued to press in search of a tying goal. Andrei Razin’s team enjoyed plenty of possession in the third period, but the CSKA defense held firm. Not even a penalty for Nikita Nesterov could break down the host. In the closing stages, just as Severstal might have planned to unleash a six-man storm on Adam Reideborn’s net, a penalty on Makeyev hampered the visitor’s progress. That power play helped CSKA to close out a narrow win and take a 3-2 lead in the series before Sunday’s trip to Cherepovets.
Yan’s double puts Torpedo in front
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 Dynamo Moscow 3 OT (1-0, 1-2, 1-1, 1-0)
(Torpedo leads the series 3-2)
A second successive overtime win put Torpedo in front in this series after five games. Denis Yan was the home hero, grabbing two power play goals including the OT decider. Dynamo led twice, but on both occasions was unable to hold the advantage for long; Torpedo twice replied within a minute as the teams shared six goals in regulation.
With the teams locked at 2-2, this game felt like it might be pivotal in an absorbing series. Torpedo, buoyed by home advantage, was hoping to build on its overtime success in Moscow during the week and made a fast start to the game.
The home team forced a penalty in the opening moments, and Yan converted that opportunity with a well-struck effort from out in the left-hand channel. Torpedo continued to press in the early stages, helped by a second PP, but could not add to its lead. Gradually, Dynamo grew into its task and managed to ask some questions of Ivan Kulbakov in the home net. However, the visitor could not tie the game in the opening frame.
Things changed around in the second stanza. Eric O’Dell scored twice for Dynamo to give the Blue-and-Whites the lead. First, the Canadian led a swift counterattack and, after taking responsibility himself, picked his spot in the far corner to tie the game after 25 minutes. Then, late in the frame, O’Dell was on hand to put away the rebound after a Brennan Menell shot came back off the crossbar. That power play goal gave Dynamo the lead, but only briefly: 37 seconds later Artyom Mikheyev put Torpedo back on level terms.
Midway through the third period, that pattern repeated itself. Dynamo again got in front, but only briefly. Jakob Lilja was the scorer on 50:02, slamming home the loose puck after Jordan Weal’s one-timer was saved by Kulbakov. Menell was among the assists once more. Within a minute, though, Torpedo was level. Maxim Fedotov seemed well placed to shoot, but opted instead for a powerful feed across the face of goal. Vladislav Firstov was waiting for it, and stretched out his stick to steer the puck past Ilya Konovalov in the visitor’s net.
That took the game into overtime, and Torpedo had by far the better of the extras. From the opening face-off, the home team took charge of the play and created a string of presentable chances. Dynamo was unable to generate any sustained pressure and head coach Alexei Kudashov was compelled to call a time-out in the 73rd minute to try to give his players some respite. However, the visitor ran into penalty trouble shortly after that and in the 79th minute Torpedo got the winner. Yan, once again, got the PP goal, finishing off after Nikolai Kovalenko’s rush turned defense into offense and exposed Konovalov once too often.
