Akolzin sets up game seven decider. March 12 playoffs
Metallurg kept its season alive with a high-scoring win over Avtomobilist in Sunday’s Eastern Conference action.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 6 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (2-1, 0-1, 4-1)
(Series tied at 3-3)
Big games demand big performances. Today, Metallurg knew that only victory would extend its season as it battled to recover a 2-3 deficit in its first-round series with Avtomobilist. And Pavel Akolzin answered the call, potting a hat-trick to lead his team to a vital victory. A 6-3 home success sets up a game seven showdown in Yekaterinburg on Tuesday for the right to face Avangard in round two.
Avtomobilist arrived in Magnitogorsk without first-choice goalie Johan Mattsson. He picked up an injury in the first period of the previous game and stayed home to continue his recovery. Igor Bobkov, once a Junior Hockey League champion in Magnitogorsk, replaced the Swede; his task to ensure that Mattsson gets a chance to return to action in the next round.
Bobkov’s first start of post season could hardly have got off to a worse beginning. Just 16 seconds into the game, he was picking the puck out of his net after Akolzin opened the scoring. That was the 32-year-old’s first goal of this year’s playoffs, but he was just warming up for one of the biggest performances of his career.
Initially, though, the early lead did not give Magnitka the expected boost. Akolzin followed his goal with a penalty and when he was joined in the box by Kodie Curran, the Motormen used the 5-on-3 advantage to tie the game thanks to Nick Ebert’s point shot.
However, the home team regained the lead in the 14th minute. Avto fans may feel that Mattsson would have done better to close the gap between pad and post as Semyon Koshelev found the target, but Bobkov was unable to make the save. Thus, Metallurg took a 2-1 advantage to the intermission.
Avtomobilist’s special teams have been one of the features of this series. While Metallurg has struggled on the power play – in the second period it failed to convert its 20th and 21st attempts with an extra man – the Motormen have proved far more clinical. Midway through the session, with Arkhip Nekolenko sitting out a slashing minor, Sergei Shirokov made it 2-2. Despite the Steelmen’s dominance across the session, that was the only goal and the third period saw both teams with all to play for.
At the start of that final frame, Metallurg’s power play finally got it right. It was hardly a traditional PP effort. Goalie Eddie Pasquale collected an assist as Grigory Dronov powered into the Avto zone and fired in a shot that Bobkov could not stop. Simple, but effective on this occasion. However, almost immediately Akolzin took another penalty and Curtis Valk quickly made it 3-3. At this point, Akolzin was as much villain as hero: he had one goal, but his penalties twice led to tallies for the visitor.
However, in the closing minutes the former Barys man ensured his game would be unambiguously viewed as a triumph. In 350 previous KHL games, he had never scored a hat-trick. Today, though, he changed all that. In the 47th minute he scored what proved to be the game-winner. Metallurg almost managed to present Shirokov with a second goal but Pasquale got his pad in place to save the situation after a defensive error. Then Akolzin added a fifth to make the game safe when he converted a 3-on-1 break with 3:40 to play. Bobkov left the game with more than three minutes left, but there was no way back for the visitor. Denis Zernov found the empty net to wrap up the win for Magnitka and an enthralling series is heading back to Yekaterinburg for a decisive battle on Tuesday.
