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Playoffs start with a trio of surprises.February 29 playoffs
Day one of the 2024 playoffs proved as unpredictable as much of the regular season. Traktor, sixth in the East, won in Ufa against a Salavat Yulaev team that finished third. In the West it was a similar story as third seed Lokomotiv fell heavily at home to CSKA. Last year’s beaten finalist Ak Bars was the third home team to lose, going down 1-2 against Avtomobilist. Only Spartak bucked the trend, but even here the Red-and-Whites saw a comfortable 3-0 lead eroded to a minimum in Moscow.
Dronov’s late strike gives Traktor the early edge
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 (0-1, 2-1, 0-1)
Traktor leads the series 1-0
It didn’t take long for this year’s playoffs to start turning the seedings upside down. The first completed game of the 2024 post season saw Traktor, sixth in the East, go to third-placed Salavat Yulaev and win the opening game of the series. Moreover, it was Traktor’s first victory over Salavat this season: four regular season encounters went the way of Viktor Kozlov’s team.
That might explain why the visitor was determined to dictate the game from the off. Traktor was quick to get to business, knocking Ufa off its stride in the early stages. The home team lacked structure in its play, and that slapdash hockey led to the opening goal. A home power play went awry, a misplaced pass sent Traktor onto the counterattack, and Alexander Sharov beat Alexander Samonov in a face-to-face duel.
Salavat Yulaev’s next problem came when Danil Alalykin flew into a hit on Mikhail Kotlyarevsky and earned himself a major penalty for checking to the head. The bulk of the penalty was served at the start of the second period, and the home PK was at full stretch to prevent Traktor extending its lead. Later, though, during a passage of four-on-four hockey, the visitor did pot a second goal when Albert Yarullin fired a rocket of a shot straight into Samonov’s top corner.
Up by two, Traktor seemed to be cruising. But it all turned around late in the middle frame. First, Danil Bashkirov brought the puck off the boards to beat Zach Fucale from close range and give Ufa a much-needed goal in the 38th minute. On the Chelyabinsk bench, Alexei Zavarukhin thought he spotted interference on his goalie, but his challenge merely left his team on the wrong end of a delay of game call. The power play bore fruit, and Mikhail Naumenkov tied the game just before the second intermission.
In the third period, Salavat Yulaev continued to press. The home team had more of the play, preserving the momentum it began to build after allowing that second goal. However, in the final stages the home defense reverted to its earlier passivity and allowed Traktor too much time on the attack. That enabled Grigory Dronov to move forward from his defensive duties and fire his team in front in the 58th minute. There was still time for one more home power play, but Ufa could not capitalize and had to accept defeat in its first playoff appearance of the season.
Sluggish start costs Ak Bars
Ak Bars Kazan 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (0-2, 0-0, 1-0)
Avtomobilist leads the series 1-0
The other game in the east also went to the visitor. Avtomobilist got on top in the first period and, despite some intense pressure late in the game, the Motormen held on. Last year’s beaten finalist suffered a surprise loss here, but the contest looks set to be as tight as the regular season standings suggested it might.
It would be hard for Ak Bars to come up with a worse start to its playoff campaign. The home team never got going in the first period, and Avtomobilist took full advantage. The visitor controlled the play from the off, and was good value for its two-goal lead. Ak Bars was held to just five shots at Evgeny Alikin as the former Amur man got his first taste of KHL playoff action; Avto had almost three times as many at the other end.
Two of those efforts found the target. Midway through the session, Nikita Lyamkin took the first penalty of the game and Sergei Shirokov converted the power play with a shot from a seemingly impossible angle out on the left.
A couple of minutes later, another home penalty enabled Avtomobilist to build up more momentum. This time, Artyom Galimov got back into the game before his team could concede again, but the pressure continued. Eleven seconds after the teams were back at equal strength, Nick Ebert doubled the lead. Nikita Tryamkin’s shot flew wide of the net, but cannoned back off the boards for Ebert to smash home a one-timer from the right-hand circle.
Ak Bars improved after the intermission and began to create more chances. After the home team was outshot 14-5 in the first period, it had a 10-9 advantage in the second. However, there was no way past Alikin. The best chance came midway through the action when Daniil Zhuravlyov’s perfectly-weighted diagonal pass took Alikin out of the game. Ilya Safonov got on the end of it and seemed to have the goal at his mercy but inexplicably placed his shot wide. Avto made the most of its reprieve to close out the rest of the session.
The host continued to chase the game in the third period. Gradually, the pressure led to penalties. Ak Bars had six seconds playing five-on-three before finally getting on the board with a power play goal. Alexander Radulov’s shot went wide, but Vadim Shipachyov expertly corralled the loose puck and squeezed home a shot from an acute angle to bring the game back to life with 10 to play.
As expected, most of those 10 minutes were played in front of Alikin. However, the visitor stood up to the pressure well. Galiyev had the best chances to save the game for Ak Bars, but he lacked accuracy at the crucial moments and the Motormen held on to take the win.
Three points from Grigorenko paces CSKA win
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0 CSKA Moscow 4 (0-2, 0-2, 0-0)
CSKA leads the series 1-0
This was another game that overturned the formbook and, once again, sixth defeated third. However, in this instance sixth seed CSKA is also defending champion and back-to-back Gagarin Cup winner CSKA, a team that has never lost a playoff series under head coach Sergei Fedorov.
That impressive record looks like it might continue for at least one more round of post season play on the evidence of this opening encounter in Yaroslavl. Loko, meeting the Muscovites in the playoffs for a fourth successive season, has fallen to this opponent in each of its last three campaigns. The regular season offered hope for Igor Nikitin’s men, with four wins over CSKA in six encounters, but the visitor’s clinical finishing made the difference today.
In the opening frame much of the hockey was from the Lokomotiv playbook. Chances were hard to come by, CSKA found it hard to establish possession in Yaroslavl territory and neither goalie faced as many as 10 shots in the period. Nonetheless, CSKA managed to plunder two goals from its nine shots at Daniil Isayev. The first, in the sixth minute, came from pretty much the first extended visit to the Lokomotiv zone. Mikhail Grigorenko tried a shot from the right-hand circle, the puck came back to him and his second attempt found its way under the bar to give the Muscovites the lead.
The pattern of play did not change greatly after that, but late in the stanza the scoreline did. Daniil Tesanov received the first penalty of the game, and CSKA doubled its lead on the power play. Grigorenko again fired in the puck from that right-hand circle and this time Anton Slepyshev deflected it into the net.
At the start of the second, Lokomotiv visibly raised its game. The home team was helped by a couple of power plays and began to put pressure on Ivan Fedotov’s net. Only the crossbar saved the visiting goalie when Stepan Nikulin snapped off a shot following a face-off on the left. CSKA struggled to create until midway through the session, but then awoke from its slumbers to add a third goal. Grigorenko was involved again before Nikita Nesterov fired one in from the blue line.
Late in the second period, Vitaly Abramov added a fourth goal, taking the game away from the home team. CSKA had the game under complete control after scoring four goals off 20 shots.
There was no further scoring in the third period. For CSKA, the job was already long done; for Lokomotiv, keeping it tight in the final frame at least offers something to build from ahead of Saturday’s game two.
First-period flurry is just enough for Spartak
Spartak Moscow 3 Severstal Cherepovets 2 (3-1, 0-0, 0-1)
Spartak leads the series 1-0
In Moscow, the opening day went to form. Fourth seed Spartak got the better of Severstal, helped by a fast start. This series was expected to be high scoring after both teams managed 200+ goals in the regular season (including an eight-goal thriller in their most recent meeting last week).
Spartak was clearly happy to meet that expectation. There was little sign of playoff caution here as the home team jumped to a 2-0 lead inside 10 minutes. Not for the first time this season, the first line did the damage. Pavel Poryadin opened the scoring; released into the Severstal zone by Nikolai Goldobin, he got away from Grudinin before easily putting the puck beyond Alexander Samoilov. Two minutes later, the first power play of the night saw Goldobin set up Yegor Savikov for a point shot that whistled through traffic into the top corner.
The Red-and-Whites continued to press: Shane Prince turned and fired in a shot that Ansel Galimov redirected onto the post, and a minute later Poryadin set up Michal Cajkovsky. The Slovak’s powerful shot made it 3-0, and left Severstal looking ragged.
However, the visitor found an immediate response through leading scorer Kirill Pilipenko. His one-timer from the slot came just 33 seconds after Cajkovsky’s blast and at least offered some hope to Severstal.
The second period saw the Steelmen enjoy three power plays. That helped the visitor dominate the shot count. However, while Spartak was held to just two attempts at Samoilov, the best chance of the frame also fell to the home team. Midway through the session a defensive error allowed Alexander Pashin a run on goal; Samoilov did enough to keep him out.
Scoring chances continued in the third. Pilipenko set up Danil Aimurzin with a good early chance, then at the other end Samoilov made two big saves in the space of 10 seconds to keep the game alive. The importance of those stops was even more apparent a minute later when Aimurzin got the puck out on the boards and circled around to beat Dmitry Nikolayev to his short side. With 11 minutes to play, a dramatic finale was in prospect.
Severstal had a great chance to tie the game when Prince sat for high-sticking in the 56th minute. The power play saw Nikolayev produce a huge save to deny Aimurzin on the doorstep and preserve his team’s narrow lead. He followed that up with a diving effort to stop Yegor Stepanov before Spartak managed to close out the win.
