Game seven awaits! Ak Bars ties it up. April 27 playoffs
We’re heading to game seven! For the second season running, the Gagarin Cup final has seen a team fightback from 1-3 to tie it up at 3-3. Last year, CSKA was the team playing catch-up; this time, the defending champion finds itself in the opposition position after Ak Bars dug deep to blank the Muscovites.
CSKA Moscow 0 Ak Bars Kazan 3 (0-1, 0-1, 0-1)
(Series tied at 3-3)
The first period could be divided into two parts: before and after the only goal. For the first seven minutes, Ak Bars was the livelier of the two teams. CSKA’s defense had to be alert to a flurry of attacks and, with the teams playing four-on-four, the visitor got in front. Nikita Yevseyev played the puck back to the blue line, where Artyom Galimov took over possession and advanced down the win. Artyom Lukoyanov screened Adam Reideborn in the home net and Galimov’s shot went past the Muscovites’ goalie.
After that, though, the defending champion took control of the play. The remainder of the first period saw the home team push the tempo, but the closest we came to another goal was a Prokhor Poltapov effort off the post.
At the start of the second period, CSKA continued to press. Maxim Mamin was a constant threat, while Mikhail Grigorenko also caused problems. However, a penalty on Vladislav Kamenev in the 27th minute offered Ak Bars an opportunity – and the visitor grabbed it eagerly. Dmitry Yudin’s point shot ended up on Vadim Shipachyov’s stick and he squeezed a tight-angled shot past Reideborn to double the lead. In four of the previous five games in this series, two goals was enough to win it, so a 2-0 lead midway through the encounter was a significant advantage for Ak Bars to defend.
That didn’t discourage CSKA, though. Sergei Fedorov’s team hit back and twice came close to reducing the deficit. First, efforts from Kamenev and Konstantin Okulov had the Ak Bars defense scrambling to clear the danger. Then, moments later, Mamin’s one timer at the back door forced a big save out of Timur Bilyalov.
In the closing moments of the middle frame, we saw more alarms around Bilyalov’s net. Kirill Adamchuk threw himself into the path of a Fredrik Claesson shot before the goalie dealt with another Okulov effort. Seconds later, Darren Dietz joined the attack but his wrist shot did not have enough to beat the Kazan goalie.
Over the first 40 minutes, CSKA had 52 goal attempts, but Ak Bars blocked 21 of them. Bilyalov weighed in with 20 saves to ensure his team preserved its lead. At the other end, CSKA’s players blocked just three attempts and Reideborn had nine saves from 11 shots.
That pattern of play did not change much in the third. CSKA continue to dominate, Ak Bars continued to throw everything into defending its net. The Kazan rearguard was so solid in the final frame that only seven efforts got through to Bilyalov, with 21 further attempts blocked or forced off target. At the other end, the visitor was almost invisible as an attacking force with just two shots on goal. However, the second of those, from Nikita Dynyak, was into an empty net to seal a 3-0 victory and take the season to a final, winner-takes all showdown in Tatarstan on Saturday.
