Hawks close to round 2; SKA, Magnikta get ahead. March 5 playoffs
A 3-1 win at Lada put Avangard up 3-0 in its first-round series. Mikhail Kravets’ team can finish the job on Thursday with another success in Togliatti. Tuesday’s other action also went according to the seedings. Metallurg took a 3-2 verdict at Amur to regain the lead in that series, while SKA moved in front of Torpedo for the first time with a 5-2 victory in Nizhny Novgorod.
Steelmen regain the lead
Amur Khabarovsk 2 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (1-1, 1-1, 0-1)
Metallurg leads the series 2-1
Metallurg’s head coach Andrei Razin responded to Sunday’s home loss against Amur by reshaping his nominal first line. Nikita Grebyonkin was elevated to join Denis Zernov and Maxim Karpov, with Pavel Akolzin moved to the fourth line. There were also changes on defense, where Danil Gololobov and Artyom Minulin replaced Vladislav Yeryomenko and Danila Palivko. Amur made just one change to its winning team, with Kirill Panyukov taking the place of Anatoly Nikontsev.
The visitor made a bright start to the game, creating chances early on. Almost every Magnitka attacked threatened danger for Igor Bobkov, who impressed in the home net. Akolzin came closest, hitting the post, as Amur struggled to secure its share of possession. However, the Tigers shrugged off that early pressure to take the lead. Viktor Baldayev’s shot was deflected into his own net by Robin Press. The next shift nearly brought a tying goal when Nikita Mikhailis raced clear of the defense. Evgeny Kulik could only stop him with a foul, but Bobkov saved the subsequent penalty shot.
However, the visitor would tie it up before the intermission and Zernov finally ended a goal drought dating back to Jan. 29. A rapid interplay of passes sliced through the Amur defense, putting Zernov through on Bobkov’s net to make it 1-1.
In the previous game, Metallurg’s power play was a big disappointment, failing to score on six attempts. Today, though, this improved. At the end of the second PP for Magnitka, Press made up for his earlier “own goal” with a wrister from the blue line that flew past Bobkov. However, it didn’t take Amur long to restore parity: Alexei Maklyukov’s error in his own zone helped Vladislav Barulin to score on Ilya Nabokov.
The third period saw the pattern of play continue largely unchanged. The Steelmen had more of the puck, but struggled to break down a disciplined Tigers defense. The deadlock lasted until the 47th minute, when a defensive lapse finally opened the door for Metallurg. Grebyonkin set up Roman Kantserov in a dangerous position and the visitor’s young forward potted his first playoff goal. Amur had time to salvage the game, and got a further boost when Minulin got a penalty in the closing moments. The Tigers threw everything forward, and there were testing attempts from Jan Drozg and Yegor Korshkov, but Nabokov kept them at bay to help Metallurg regain the lead in the series.
Boucher double sees Hawks close on second round
Lada Togliatti 1 Avangard Omsk 3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1)
Avangard leads the series 3-0
Avangard is one win away from booking its place in the second round of this year’s playoffs after two goals from Reid Boucher led a victory on the road in Togliatti. For Lada, in its first KHL playoff since 2009, there is no more margin for error if it is to continue its season beyond Thursday.
It did not take Boucher long to force the breakthrough. The regular season’s leading goalscorer profited from some good work by Vladimir Tkachyov. His pressing forced the home defense into an error, enabling the Canadian sniper to pick up the loose puck and fire it into the top corner of the net after 22 seconds.
After that fast start, the Hawks continued to look much the livelier team. Lada was forced to defend and seldom got a chance to test the visitor on the counterattack. That pressure led to Avangard getting a five-on-three power play midway through the session, albeit without creating any stonewall scoring chances. During the opening frame, there were good looks for Boucher, Tkachyov, Tomas Jurco and Nikolai Prokhorkin, but some inspired goaltending from Vladislav Podyapolsky kept his team in contention.
The second period began with another quick goal for Avangard. This one came on a power play that carried over from the end of the first and saw Boucher turn provider, touching a Damir Sharipzyanov point shot towards the slot for Valentin Pyanov to bang it in. After that, Lada began to find a foothold in the game. Midway through the second period, the home team halved the deficit when Donat Stalnov, recalled to the team after missing game two, collected the rebound from a Vladislav Syomin shot and beat Pavel Khomchenko.
That inspired the Motormen to step up a gear, and the remainder of the middle frame was dominated by the home team. However, Lada could not turn that pressure into a tying goal, even when Jurco managed two separate fouls in one shift and handed a full four-minute power play to the host.
However, Avangard’s PK survived that test. Then, after Andrei Altybarmakyan sat for interference, the visitor grabbed a second power play goal of the game. Boucher was the scorer after Tkachyov’s feed picked him out in space at the back door. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of the home team, which managed just two shots at Khomchenko’s net in the third period. In the end, Avangard comfortably closed out the game and is on the verge of claiming a first-round sweep.
SKA too strong in its first road game of the playoffs
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 SKA St. Petersburg 5 (0-1, 0-2, 2-2)
SKA leads the series 2-1
After two hard-fought battles in St. Petersburg, SKA enjoyed more control over this game as it took the lead in the series for the first time. Goals from Alexander Nikishin, Stepan Falkovsky and Vasily Glotov established a 3-0 lead in the first two periods, and that was enough to hold off Torpedo’s attempted fightback in the third.
The first sign of SKA’s success emerged in the second minute when the visitor got the first power play of the game. However, it didn’t make much of Dmitry Breus’s tripping call, allowing a dangerous counterattack from the shorthanded host and struggling to test Ivan Kulbakov in the home net. Back at full strength, Torpedo created the first big chance of the game when Nikolai Kovalenko set up Mikhail Orlov, advancing from the blue line, and the defenseman forced Nikita Serebryakov into a big save with a testing backhand effort.
After that, though, the visitor gained more control of the play and opened the scoring in the 13th minute. Denis Yan’s attempted clearance was cut out by Nikishin, whose long-range effort slithered through Kulbakov’s defenses and into the net. Torpedo had a good chance to tie the game when Igor Larionov looked to get round Serebryakov, but the goalie produced a fine poke check to deny the home forward and preserve SKA’s lead at the first intermission.
However, while Torpedo produced some good chances, they were few and far between. SKA had more of the game in the first period and the second continued in the same vein. That pressure saw Falkovsky double the lead with a point shot that deflected off a home stick and deceived Kulbakov. Then Glotov continued his record in scoring in each playoff game so far, reacting first after Marat Khairullin circled the net and saw his feed deflected into the danger zone off a Torpedo skate. A 3-0 lead in no way flattered the visitor: in the second period, Torpedo managed just five attempts on goal to SKA’s 31, and only 11 blocked shots helped to keep the home team at least somewhat in the game.
Down by three, Torpedo needed a fast start in the third period. Vasily Atanasov obliged, stuffing the puck over the line after Serebryakov lost sight of Kovalenko’s shot from a dead angle. However, there would be no late drama tonight. Another SKA power play saw Alexander Kadeikin make it 4-1.
Torpedo did not give up. Serebryakov rode his luck when he gloved Anton Silayev’s shot from wide right onto his post, and a delayed penalty brought a 56th minute goal from Vladislav Firstov. However, the final word went to SKA, with Sergei Goncharuk’s pass missing the mark in the closing moments and skipping down the ice into an empty net. Emil Galimov, the last SKA man to touch the puck, was credited with the goal as his team claimed a 5-2 verdict.
