Finalists fall at first hurdle. March 8 playoffs
Both of 2023’s Gagarin Cup finalists crashed out of the 2024 playoffs today. Defending champion CSKA was unable to recover after successive home losses and fell 6-2 to Lokomotiv in game five. At the same time, beaten finalist Ak Bars went down 1-2 at home to Avtomobilist in a frustrating end to a frustrating season in Kazan. Spartak also secured its place in the second round with a comfortable win over Severstal to complete a 4-1 series success. Two series will continue: Traktor has the edge after a 2-1 win at Salavat Yulaev and could wrap it up on home ice in game six. The Minsk-Moscow clash ended with Dynamo taking an OT verdict on the road. The Muscovites can finish it off on home ice at the weekend.
Traktor edges ahead in Ufa
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 (0-0, 1-1, 0-1)
Traktor leads the series 3-2
The evenly-fought, entertaining series between Salavat Yulaev and Traktor returned to Ufa with the teams deadlocked. Once again, there was little to choose between the teams – for the fourth time in five games, they produced a one-goal verdict. However, the visitor's victory puts Traktor one game away from progress; Salavat Yulaev must win on the road in Chelyabinsk to keep its season alive.
Today’s visitor switched up its roster once again. Charles Robinson returned to the top line after suspension and this time he was joined by Jack Rodewald and Mikhail Kotlyarevsky. Unexpectedly, two prominent Traktor forwards were missing from the line-up, with both Semyon Der-Arguchintsev and captain Sergei Kalinin scratched as head coach Alexei Zavarukhin shuffled all his lines.
Salavat Yulaev had to do without Nikolai Kulemin’s experience, but Yegor Suchkov was fit enough to feature for the first time in this series.
The home team was lively enough at the start of the game, although Traktor was able to clear its lines at every available opportunity. Both teams took ‘too many men’ penalties, but neither could capitalize on its power play. The game remains goalless even after a breakdown in communication between goalie Alexander Samonov and his defense almost allowed Alexander Sharov to open the scoring. However, Samonov got back into position in time to deny the visiting forward.
Much of the first period was dominated by deep defense. In the middle frame, the shackles came off somewhat. Traktor got in front after 25 minutes, scoring its first power play goal of the series. Robinson, more noted for his pugilism than his production thus far, converted a feed from Anton Burdasov to open the scoring.
Salavat Yulaev responded quickly. With the home crowd roaring its heroes forward, the scores were level four minutes later. Leading scorer Josh Leivo found the net to ensure that the teams were tied going into the third period. It might have been even better for the home team, but Danil Bashkirov’s finishing let him down late in the frame when he had a great chance to make it 2-1.
At the start of the third, Traktor was nearly caught out as it changed on the fly. However, Zach Fucale kept his team level. However, as play went on Salavat Yulaev began to stumble into penalty trouble. After Yaroslav Tsulygin returned to the game, Mikhail Naumenkov quickly took his place in the box. Although he was followed by Traktor’s Anton Burdasov, the visitor’s pressure brought a goal during four-on-four play: Maxim Shabanov finished off a pacy counterattack to restore the visitor’s lead and register his first goal in post season. The home team pushed for a game-saving goal, but hopes of a fightback were fatally undermined when Nicolas Meloche took a late penalty. Traktor held on for a vital win; Ufa could be eliminated in the next game.
Motormen oust Ak Bars
Ak Bars Kazan 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (0-1, 1-0, 0-1)
Avtomobilist wins the series 4-1
A year after reaching the Gagarin Cup final, Ak Bars crashed out in the opening round of the playoffs. Friday’s loss at home to Avtomobilist – its third defeat in a row in Kazan – ended Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team’s hopes of another journey deep into post season.
This is only the second time the Motormen have won a KHL playoff series. Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team held its nerve after losing 0-5 in the previous game in Yekaterinburg to finish the job in a tight encounter here.
Ak Bars continued with the exact same roster that won so emphatically last time. Avtomobilist, meanwhile, did make changes: Evgeny Alikin continued in goal despite being replaced last time, although Stephane Da Costa returned to the sidelines after making his first appearance on Wednesday. More surprisingly, leading playoff scorer Anatoly Golyshev and American defenseman Nick Ebert also missed out.
Ak Bars tried to recreate it game four form at the start of the fifth match-up, but despite generating some pressure it could not really create any serious danger for Alikin. In addition, Alexander Radulov received a penalty. He was somewhat reprieved when Curtis Valk quickly evened up the numbers with a foul of his own.
The visitor’s attacking play tended to be simple, firing in shots from any position. Nonetheless, there were a couple of awkward moments for Timur Bilyalov. At the back, a high press gave Ak Bars all sorts of problems when it tried to create scoring chances – something we saw repeatedly in the first three games of the series.
The home team contributed to its own downfall late in the first period. An Ak Bars power play brought confusion at the other end when Bilyalov opted not to freeze the puck after stopping an Avtomobilist counterattack. His colleagues misread his intentions, and Alexei Byvaltsev took advantage to open the scoring.
However, the same PP saw the home team tie the scores right after the restart. Dmitrij Jaskin played a great pass across the face of goal, giving Radulov the simplest of tasks to push the puck over the line.
After that, the game picked up pace and neither team showed much interest in center ice. One shift summed it up: Ak Bars defenseman Mitchell Miller led a quick attack, only to find himself rushing back to break up Avtomobilist’s answering raid. Late in the frame, Byvaltsev gifted Ak Bars another power play and Radulov forced a big save out of Alikin.
The winning goal came early in the third. Ak Bars got caught changing on the fly and Semyon Kizimov took advantage. Stepan Khripunov was able to get around the back of the net and send the puck back to the slot, where Kizimov was given all the time he needed to pick a spot beyond Bilyalov. Not a bad time to score his first goal of the entire season.
Ak Bars still had 15 minutes to save the series, and immediately piled onto the attack. Shots rained in from all angles, but Avtomobilist defended patiently and reliably. There were chances, notably for Evgeny Svechnikov and Radulov. Perhaps the closest came when Alexei Marchenko’s shot bounced crazily around the slot with Alikin unable to grab it. However, the goalie managed to keep the opposing forwards at bay and preserve that lead. At the other end, Jesse Blacker had a chance to finish the job but failed to beat Bilyalov after stealing the puck from Dmitry Yudin. However, that miss proved irrelevant as Avto held on to take the win.
Rimashevsky gives Muscovites the edge
Dinamo Minsk 2 Dynamo Moscow 3 OT (0-0, 1-0, 1-2, 0-1)
Dynamo leads the series 3-1
The Belarusians had cause for optimism ahead of this game. After running the regular season champion close in both games on the road, Dinamo won the opening game in Minsk. During Friday’s action, Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team again led twice, but could not hold that advantage. An overtime goal from Yegor Rimashevsky gave the visitor the verdict, and a 3-1 lead in the series.
There was no scoring in the first period, despite plenty of fast-paced attacking play. Neither team was inclined to dither in center ice, and both produced several dangerous, rapid attacks.
Early in the second, Dynamo Moscow got its first power play of the game and generated some prolonged pressure. Even after Vadim Moroz returned from the box, the visitor pressed and Cedric Paquette redirected a shot onto the post in the 26th minute.
However, the next power play saw Minsk take the lead. Rashevsky’s foul invited the home team forward and Sam Anas surged into space down the left wing and headed for goal: his shot went through Ilya Konovalov’s pads as the goalie made his first start in this year’s playoffs.
That lead lasted into the third period. However, Moroz took another penalty early in the frame, and this time Paquette found the net. Once again, the former Minsk center did his job on the slot, getting a touch to take Nikita Gusev’s shot beyond Alexei Kolosov.
Dinamo replied at once. Anas won his battle on the boards and got the puck to the danger zone, where Rob Hamilton arrived to wire it past Konovalov. However, another power play quickly put the visitor back in the game, with Paquette again profiting from the man advantage. This time Jordan Weal was the architect as Cedric scored on his former club for the third time in two games.
The remaining 10 minutes of regulation could not separate the teams, but overtime soon brought a winner. After four minutes play, and one decent chance for each side, Artyom Ilyenko sped around the net before pinging the puck to the slot. Rimashevsky’s first shot was stopped by Kolosov, but the forward collected the rebound to score at the second attempt and move Dynamo to within one victory of progressing.
Red-and-Whites shoot down Severstal
Spartak Moscow 5 Severstal Cherepovets 1 (1-0, 3-1, 1-0)
Spartak wins the series 4-1
Not for the first time this season, Spartak’s forwards put on a show to set up a high-scoring victory. Friday’s 5-1 verdict wrapped up the first-round series against Severstal in five games and sent the Red-and-Whites forward for only the second time since 2010. For the Steelmen, it’s a fourth successive opening-round loss and you have to go back to 2013 for the last time Severstal progressed in the playoffs.
Firmly ensconced in the last-chance saloon, Severstal had to take risks from the start. The opening exchanges were full of energy for the visitor, with the hits flying in throughout the early stages.
However, when it came to putting the puck in the net, the home team found the opening. A delayed penalty midway through the session allowed Spartak to establish itself in the Severstal zone. A well-worked combination saw Alexander Belyayev fire home a great feed from German Rubtsov to make it 1-0. Early in the second, Rubtsov scored himself. Shane Prince also assisted on that play, collecting his 100th helper in the KHL.
The knock-out blow followed moments later. Michal Cajkovsky is not noted as one of the league’s speedsters. However, when Ivan Morozov’s pass from center ice put the Slovak defenseman beyond Severstal’s back line, he produced a fine finish to make it 3-0. Ansel Galimov added a fourth before the visitor replaced Alexander Samoilov with back-up goalie Grigory Volkov. Within seconds, Nikolai Burenov pulled one back for the Steelmen, but it was already too late to change the outcome.
Spartak was close to a fifth goal when Dmitry Vishnevsky struck on the power play in the final frame. That was ruled out after a bench challenge spotted an offside. Instead, the final word went to Yegor Filin, who forced a turnover before completing the scoring. 5-1 on the night, 4-1 in the series and Spartak marches on.
Defending champ dumped out
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 6 CSKA Moscow 3 (4-2, 2-0, 0-1)
Lokomotiv wins the series 4-1
It took more than two years, but Sergei Fedorov finally lost a playoff series as head coach. After stepping behind the bench at CSKA, Fedorov enjoyed two successive Gagarin Cup wins. Today, though, that run of success was ended by Lokomotiv.
For the Railwaymen, this series was third time lucky. Twice, Loko lost to a championship-bound CSKA. This year, though, Igor Nikitin’s team came out on top despite losing 0-4 on home ice in the opening game.
With the series within reach, Lokomotiv made a flying start. The home team jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period, and reached the intermission up 4-2. Early home pressure saw Alexander Polunin open the scoring in the sixth minute when he raced onto Andrei Sergeyev’s stretch pass and beat Ivan Fedotov with a backhand effort from close range.
At the time, Loko was up 12-1 in shots, and it was little surprise when the home team added a second goal. Alexander Yelesin intercepted an attempted clearance and returned it with interest: his wrist shot found the far corner with Fedotov well screened. Within a minute, Lokomotiv was on the power play and Sergeyev made it 3-0, converting a Martin Gernat pass to the right-hand circle.
At this stage, it looked like the track was clear for Lokomotiv to steam into the second round. However, CSKA showed a flash of its championship pedigree to haul itself back into the game. Two goals in 90 seconds saw Mikhail Grigorenko and Vladislav Kamenev get it back to 3-2 and set alarm bells ringing among the Yaroslavl fans. There was more danger to follow when Georgy Ivanov’s penalty put the visitor on the power play, but the home team held on and took some of the intensity out of the game after returning to full strength.
In the final seconds of the frame, Lokomotiv got an attacking face-off and had one last chance to score before the intermission. Ivanov won the draw and got the puck back to Alexei Bereglazov on the blue line; his shot beat Fedotov and the buzzer to make it 4-2 at the break. However, with a shot count of 22-5, CSKA could feel that things could have been far worse after 20 minutes.
The second period was far more evenly contested, and scoring chances were less frequent. However, to compensate Lokomotiv greatly improved its accuracy. Despite managing just seven shots on target, the home team added two more goals to effectively end the game and the series. The Railwaymen survived a powerful start from CSKA and began to apply the pressure at the other end. That led to Ivan Chekhovich making it 5-2 in the 25th minute, claiming a loose puck on the slot to score. Late in the frame, an odd-man rush saw Maxim Shalunov add a sixth, effectively removing the cup from CSKA’s grasp at last.
That wasn’t quite the end of the story. The Muscovites attacked hard in the third period, and gave Daniil Isayev plenty to do. However, with a big lead to defend, Lokomotiv could afford to play cautiously and it wasn’t until the last minute that Nikita Nesterov found a way through. By then, it was too late for anything more than a consolation effort as Lokomotiv knocked out the defending champion.
