Motormen shock SKA, assured win for Magnitka. March 17 playoffs
Fresh from dumping Ak Bars out of the playoffs, Avtomobilist continued to upset the formbook with victory in St. Petersburg at the start of round two. Metallurg eased to 4-0 success against Spartak, and became the only team to win its opening game on home ice this weekend.
Nabokov silences Spartak sharpshooters
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Spartak Moscow 0 (2-0, 1-0, 1-0)
Metallurg leads the series 1-0
The Steelmen enjoyed a statement win in the opening game of this second round series. Defeating Spartak was impressive enough, but securing a shut-out was even more encouraging against a prolific opponent.
In the regular season, Spartak failed to score on just two occasions – 0-3 losses to CSKA and Ak Bars. Today, though, the KHL’s leading scorer this season fired blanks in Magnitogorsk, where Ilya Nabokov’s 34 saves backstopped a statement win in the opening game of the second round series.
Metallurg, top dog in the Eastern Conference this term, had a tougher-than-expected time against the big cats of Amur in the opening round. Today, though, Andrei Razin’s team showed signs of approaching the peak of its playoff powers. Although the head coach had players available again after injury, he made no changes to the personnel who wrapped up game six in Khabarovsk. Spartak, similarly, was unchanged after seeing off Severstal.
The visitor began on the power play after an O-zone offense from Pavel Akolzin. However, the extra man did not bring much success, with only a couple of shots off target. Metallurg’s first PP of the game was more effective. As we often saw against Amur, Robin Press cause trouble with a point shot and Luke Johnson touched it into the net in the ninth minute.
A second goal soon followed. Spartak missed a chance at one end, and the next attack brought the puck down the ice for Dmitry Silantyev to beat Dmitry Nikolayev. The visitor was desperately close to getting a goal back in the first period, but Vladislav Yeryomenko got back to clear the puck off the goal-line and deny Shane Prince.
Having established a lead, Metallurg allowed the tempo to drop in the second period. Nonetheless, the home team still had the better of the game, helped by Nikolai Goldobin’s double minor after his stick caught Yeryomenko in the face. The four minute power play did not bring another goal, but Spartak struggled to clear its lines even when back at full strength. The waves of repeated attacks eventually wore down the Red-and-Whites and Yegor Yakovlev added a third. The Spartak bench claimed offside and challenged the play, but got nothing more than a delay of game penalty for its efforts.
At the start of the third, the Muscovites raised their game. Alexander Pashin and Maxim Tsyplakov produced dangerous efforts, and a penalty on Roman Kantserov invited the visitor to set up in Metallurg territory once more. However, Magnitka held firm, with Nabokov pulling off some big saves to preserve the 3-0 lead. Gradually, the storm subsided and the home team was able to play out the closing stages comfortably. Nikita Mikhailis had a goal whistled back for offside (a successful bench challenge on that occasion) but an empty net effort from Nikita Grebyonkin secured a 4-0 verdict to open the series.
Barantsev’s goal beats SKA
SKA St. Petersburg 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 (1-2, 0-0, 1-1)
Avtomobilist leads the series 1-0
A rare Denis Barantsev goal in the 48th minute separated the teams in this round two series opener. The Avtomobilist defenseman claimed only the fifth playoff goal of a career that dates back to 2011-2012 to give his team the early edge in this series. Sunday’s result means that three of the four opening games in this round have gone to the lower-ranked team, with Lokomotiv and Traktor winning at Avangard and Dynamo Moscow yesterday.
The Motormen arrived in Petersburg having already claimed one big scalp in this year’s playoffs. Seeded fifth in the Eastern Conference, Avtomobilist knocked out last season’s beaten finalist Ak Bars in five games. SKA recovered from an early wobble to sink Torpedo in five and will be hoping for a similar response to adversity here after dropping the opening game of another series.
Avtomobilist made the most of a strong start to the game. In the first period, the visitor had more of the puck and outshot SKA 9-4. That got its rewards when Semyon Kizimov followed up Yegor Alexeyev’s solo rush to beat Nikita Serebryakov in the 13th minute. Four minutes later, Anatoly Golyshev drove into SKA territory once again and fed Danil Romantsev for a shot that Alexei Makeyev redirected into the net.
However, SKA gave itself a platform for recovery late in the session when Marat Khairullin squeezed home a shot from a tight angle after Vasily Glotov’s shot rebounded off the boards.
The goal was possibly more than the home team deserved from a tepid start to proceedings, and there was a sense that Avtomobilist might regret its failure to secure a more commanding advantage. Subsequently, the home team began to dictate proceedings: in the middle frame, SKA spent more than eight minutes on the attack while Avtomobilist had barely two minutes of offensive possession. At times, it was backs-to-the-wall stuff for the visitor as it sought to preserve its lead. Aside from 16 saves from Evgeny Alikin in the second period, Avto also survived Zakhar Bardakov’s 37th minute goal. He put away the rebound after Arseny Gritsyuk charged to the net and collided with the goalie; following a bench challenge the officials quickly agreed that netminder was impeded and it remained 2-1.
SKA continued to press at the start of the third period and managed to tie the game in the 46th minute. Emil Galimov came down the right and fired in a shot from a tight angle. Alikin made the save, but Bardakov kept the play alive and got the puck back to the slot where defenseman Sergei Sapego was following up to make it 2-2.
Many in the home crowd felt that this was a crucial breakthrough and SKA’s momentum would carry it through to victory. Avtomobilist had other ideas, though, and regained the lead just 70 seconds later. SKA pressed, but Makeyev won possession on his own blue line and was off to the races. He led a two-on-one rush and threaded a superb pass pass a defenseman’s outstretched stick for Barantsev to bang home the winner at the back door.
In the closing stages, as expected, SKA had more of the puck. However, it was always struggling to unpick a diligent visiting defense. Even after Serebryakov left the game late on to allow for a sixth skater, the home team could not carve out that one big moment that might save the game. Avtomobilist takes the first verdict, but SKA will recall how it recovered from a similar start in the previous round.
