Galiyev keeps the season alive. April 25 playoffs
Ak Bars denied CSKA the chance to lift the Gagarin Cup in game five with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over CSKA in Kazan. Stanislav Galiyev got the winner seven minutes from the end to take the series to a sixth game.
Ak Bars Kazan 2 CSKA Moscow 1 (0-1, 1-0, 1-0)
(CSKA leads the series 3-2)
The last time Ak Bars found itself in this position in a Gagarin Cup final was back in 2015. On that occasion, 1-3 down to SKA, promises of brave resistance in Kazan quickly evaporated as SKA notched four without reply in the first period.
Today, things were different. The chances did not exactly flow for the home team, but it created the more dangerous moments in front of goal in the opening frame. Dmitry Kagarlitsky went close midway through the session when he won a puck battle in the CSKA zone, advanced down the right-hand channel and let fly. However, his shot whistled past Adam Reideborn’s post.
Then, on the first power play of the game, Alexander Radulov fired the puck into the danger zone but Dmitry Voronkov was just unable to steer it towards goal under pressure from the visiting defense.
However, towards the end of the session, Ak Bars ran into penalty trouble and CSKA gained the upper hand. Ak Bars just about held on, but in the final play of the frame the Muscovites grabbed the lead. It started innocuously enough, with the visitor forcing a turnover in its own zone. However, once Prokhor Poltapov got on the loose puck, things escalated rapidly. The youngster, who has firmly embossed his star credentials in this final, engaged the turbos, got away from three defensemen and ripped a shot past a motionless Timur Bilyalov to give CSKA the intermission lead.
Lifted by that lead, CSKA threatened to put the game to bed early in the second. Poltapov was close to potting his second, then Abramov saw his shot hit the inside of both posts before Bilyalov could get the situation under control.
Gradually, though, Ak Bars regained the initiative. Midway through the session, a power play gave the home team a tying goal. After winning an attacking face-off, Vadim Shipachyov steered the puck into Radulov’s path, and his one-timer from between the hash marks beat Reideborn to make it 1-1.
Ak Bars continued to have the better of the play for the remainder of the second period. Then, early in the third the home team was close to taking the lead when Radulov set up Ilya Safonov for a power play chance that flashed narrowly over the bar. After that, Ak Bars had to kill Dmitry Yudin’s double minor to keep the scores level.
Then, in the 53rd minute, the home team got in front. Nikita Lyamkin’s pass from the blue line found Stanislav Galiyev in the center of the CSKA zone, and his wrister was too good for Reideborn.
There was still time for CSKA to retaliate. Konstantin Okulov tested Bilyalov, then Sergei Plotnikov almost tucked away the rebound from a Nikita Nesterov blast in the 57th minute. The home goalie kept finding the answers though, even after Reideborn made way for an extra skater, and Ak Bars secured the victory that takes this series back to Moscow on Thursday for game six.
