Boucher halts Metallurg revival. March 19 playoffs
Avangard survived a big fightback from Metallurg to take a 2-0 lead in this Eastern Conference semi-final series. The Hawks blew a 3-0 lead, but recovered in the closing stages. Reid Boucher restored Avangard’s lead in the 48th minute and that proved to be the winning goal.
Avangard Omsk 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (3-0, 0-2, 1-1)
(Avangard leads the series 2-0)
Game two in Omsk was a roller-coaster. Avangard raced to a commanding lead, but Metallurg hit back to tie the game early in the third period. Eventually, the home power play came up with a winning goal and Mikhail Kravets’ team could celebrate a second win in this series.
The first period was all about the home team’s clinical finishing. In terms of shots on goal (9 vs 7) and time on attack (3:26 vs 3:45) there was little to choose between the teams. However, Avangard made the most of its chances to open a 3-0 lead.
Avangard opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Fyodor Malykhin played a pass from behind the net to the slot, where Pavel Dedunov was waiting to beat Eddie Pasquale. Almost immediately, Metallurg had a chance to respond when Boucher was penalized. On the power play, Vasily Demchenko pulled off a big save to deny Semyon Koshelev and preserve Omsk’s advantage.
When the home team got its first PP of the afternoon, it extended its lead. Pasquale stopped Corban Knight’s shot, but could do nothing to deny Alex Broadhurst on the rebound. Then Boucher added a third late in the frame, forcing home the rebound after Semyon Chistyakov’s shot rebounded off the post.
Metallurg swapped goalies at the intermission and sent out Vasily Koshechkin for the second period. The visitor also discovered its shooting form during the break, and scored two goals in 5:16 to put the game firmly back in the balance. Pavel Akolzin got the first, collecting the loose puck after a clearance fell short. Then Grigory Dronov made it a one-goal game with a well-struck point shot. Avangard called a time out and got a further boost when Nikolai Goldobin fouled and the home team had a two-minute power play. However, Magnitka continued to dominate, outshooting the Hawks 21-6 in the middle frame.
All that pressure finally paid off at the start of the third when Nikita Korostelyov tied the scores. Metallurg had just killed a penalty and, 22 seconds later, Korostelyov got on the end of a counterattack to shoot home from mid-range.
At that point, the momentum seemed to be with the visitor. However, a penalty on Josh Currie 90 seconds after the 3-3 goal handed Avangard a huge chance. This time, the home power play delivered. Boucher exchanged cross-ice passes with Vladimir Tkachyov before firing home a wrister from the right-hand circle to make it 4-3.
In the closing stages, Metallurg tried to find another tying goal. However, a combination of gritty defense from Avangard and some ill-fortune in front of Demchenko’s net enabled the home team to edge out the win. Denis Zernov had a big chance that came to nothing when Brendan Leipsic’s pass got tied up in his skates, then in the final moments Leipsic himself spotted a shooting lane but could not beat Demchenko. The Hawks held on, and head to Magnitogorsk with a 2-0 lead in the series.
