Radulov puts Ak Bars up 3-1. March 22 playoffs
Admiral continues to ask questions of Ak Bars in this Eastern Conference semi-final series. Today, though, the top seed came up with the answers, albeit in overtime, to take a 3-1 lead. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s men can wrap it up on Friday when the action returns to Kazan.
Admiral Vladivostok 1 Ak Bars Kazan 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
(Ak Bars leads the series 3-1)
For three games, there has been little to choose between these teams. Each game has been settled by a single goal, and Monday’s game three in Vladivostok went deep into overtime before Admiral broke the deadlock and put itself back in contention.
Wednesday’s instalment was no different from what came before. Admiral kept up the incredible work rate that has brought it unprecedented post season success this term, while Ak Bars had a hard time unleashing its formidable offense and exploiting the gap in class that its roster enjoys on paper.
The first period summed up much of the series so far. Admiral limited Ak Bars to less than three minutes of attacking possession and the visitor managed just seven shots at Nikita Serebryakov’s net. Starved of the puck by the Sailors’ forecheck, the top seed nonetheless managed to convert one of its chances. In the sixth minute, Kirill Panyukov and Kirill Semyonov orchestrated a two-on-one breakaway. Semyonov finished it off, potting his first goal of this year’s playoffs to give Ak Bars the lead.
That was psychologically important for the visitor after its failure to find the net in more than 60 minutes’ play last time out. Once again, though, it hardly felt like a game-breaking moment. Admiral is not a team apt to crumble in the face of adversity and Leonids Tambijevs’ men continued to trust their systems. However, while there was plenty of movement in front of Timur Bilyalov’s net, clear cut chances were few and far between. Ak Bars did a good job of keeping the home offense to the outside and most of what the goalie had to deal with was arriving from some distance.
Gradually, though, the home team found some gaps in the Ak Bars defense. Danil Faizullin almost unlocked the path to goal when he went around the back and set up Evgeny Grachyov. Alexander Radulov, more noted for his work at the other end of the ice, got back to make a last-ditch block and preserve his team’s lead early in the second period.
Subsequently the teams traded power plays – the first of the game – without changing the scoreline. However, as the second period moved into its closing stages, Admiral got the tying goals its efforts merited. This one was made in the Czech Republic: Rudolf Cerveny got the puck out wide where Libor Sulak was waiting, and the defenseman moved in from the left-hand boards to wire home a wrister from the circle.
Sulak’s tally, his second of the series, was enough to send the game to overtime. The third period produced no further scoring as both teams adopted a cautious approach. However, in overtime Ak Bars raised the tempo. The visiting team created a couple of half chances before getting the winner in the 66th minute. Vasily Tokranov kept the puck alive on the blue line and sent a long pass around the boards to Dmitry Voronkov behind the net. A few moments earlier, a similar position had broken down when Panyukov was unable to get his pass off; this time Voronkov reacted quickly to drop the puck into the path of the on-rushing Radulov for the winning goal.
