Loko thrashes Avangard, Traktor beats Dynamo again. March 18 playoffs
The outsiders are in control of these two series. Lokomotiv picked up a second successive win in Omsk, this time with an emphatic 7-0 verdict that left Avangard reeling. Traktor also heads home with a 2-0 lead in its series against Dynamo, thanks to a 5-4 victory in overtime against the regular season champion.
Seventh heaven as Loko clips Hawks’ wings
Avangard Omsk 0 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 7 (0-1, 0-4, 0-2)
Lokomotiv leads the series 2-0
The Railwaymen took a firm grip on this series with an emphatic victory in Omsk. Lokomotiv is now up 2-0 and has a commanding position as the action moves to Yaroslavl later this week.
After Saturday’s overtime win, Igor Nikitin made just one change to his Loko line-up. Ivan Chekhovich replaced Yaroslav Likhachyov. Avangard continued without the injured Ryan Spooner, and Nikolai Prokhorkin went back to his usual role centering the second line as Valentin Pyanov moved to the first.
There was little sign of the rout to come in the early stages. The first shifts were hard-fought, evenly-matched and short on scoring chances. Avangard tried to force the tempo, but ran into a wall of visiting defense and struggled to get close to Daniil Isayev’s net and attacks tended to end with a tame shot from distance. It wasn’t until the 14th minute that Semyon Chistyakov produced a first shot on goal for the Hawks. A couple of minutes later, Lokomotiv took the lead. The visitor pinned Avangard into its own end and a series of errors by the home defense ended with the puck bouncing to Maxim Beryozkin who stuck it past Pavel Khomchenko.
The home team had a good chance to get back level at the start of the second period. Artur Kayumov took an improbable penalty after he handed his stick to a team-mate. However, the PK was unruffled and once back at equal strength the teams continued to play as we saw in the first period. Avangard simply could not get shots at goal – the home team managed just nine through 40 minutes – and eventually Lokomotiv took full advantage.
The latter half of the second period was decisive as Loko rattled up four unanswered goals. That made it 5-0 at the second intermission, with those goals coming from just 15 shots on target. Stepan Nikulin scored twice to take the game away from Avangard and end Khomchenko’s evening. Incoming goalie Ilya Proskuryakov lasted barely a minute before he was beaten by Daniil Tesanov and in the last minute of the period Andrei Sergeyev potted a power play goal. At the other end, Avangard was struggling. Neither Reid Boucher nor Prokhorkin could test Isayev despite getting into great shooting positions on the slot.
In the circumstances, the third period was a formality. Nikitin talked of ensuring that his team did not allow its momentum to drop, while Avangard was eager to find at least some consolation to serve as a foundation ahead of game three on Wednesday. Both teams could argue they achieved those aims: the Hawks had nine efforts on goal in the third period – matching its tally through the first two – and arguably had slightly the better of the play. However, the only goals went to Lokomotiv, with Martin Gernat scoring on the power play in the 53rd minute before Alexander Polunin put a shorty into an empty net with 28 seconds left.
Sharov puts Traktor up 2-0 over Dynamo
Dynamo Moscow 4 Traktor Chelyabinsk 5 OT (1-2, 1-2, 2-0, 0-1)
Traktor leads the series 2-0
Traktor was the lowest ranked team to reach this stage of the playoffs, but that has not prevented Alexei Zavarukhin’s men from taking a firm grip on this match-up. Seeded sixth in the East, the Chelyabinsk team survived a third-period wobble to post a second win over Western Conference top dog Dynamo in Moscow. As the series heads to the Urals on Wednesday, Traktor enjoys a 2-0 lead thanks to Alexander Sharov’s overtime winner.
Today was a big day for home captain Andrei Mironov as he made his 642nd appearance for the Blue-and-Whites. That matches a club record set by Sergei Vyshedkovich, another defenseman who helped Dynamo win the 1995 and 2005 Super League titles. There was only one change in the line-ups, with Andrei Nikonov replacing Yegor Petukhov as 13th forward; Traktor kept the team that won the opening game of the series.
With Dynamo down in the series, Alexei Kudashov sent his players out to seize the initiative at the start of Monday’s game. To some extent, that mission was accomplished. The home team began at a high tempo and by the end of an entertaining first period the shot count was 14-6 in its favor.
However, the more important stat favored Traktor, which made the most of its scoring chances to lead 2-1 at the intermission. After weathering some early pressure, the visitor broke the deadlock in the 11th minute. Dynamo struggled to clear its lines and Traktor won back possession in the O-zone. Maxim Shabanov found space on the left and Danil Yurtaikin spotted him to set up a powerful shot over Ilya Konovalov’s shoulder.
Almost immediately, Sharov’s penalty handed Dynamo a power play chance. It took some time for the home PP to click, but eventually the home team’s imports got it right. Eric O’Dell was the scorer, reacting first after Cedric Paquette’s effort came back off the post. However, late in the frame another power play saw Traktor regain the lead with a textbook play. Grigory Dronov combined with Shabanov and the slick passing handed Viktor Antipin a perfect shooting chance between the hash marks. Dynamo challenged the goal, claiming that Dronov failed to keep the puck inside the blue line, but the review ruled in Traktor’s favor.
That meant another penalty for the Muscovites, who began the middle frame on the PK. However, in a game often disrupted by offenses from both teams, it was Traktor that fell foul of the officials. Sharov followed Artyom Blazhiyevsky into the box, and the two-man advantage saw Nikita Gusev tie the scores at 2-2. Once again, the home team enjoyed more possession and had a noticeable lead in shots on goal. But once again, Traktor proved the more reliable when chances came its way.
Midway through the second stanza, Jack Rodewald’s first KHL playoff goal restored Traktor’s lead. He stuffed the puck home after Konovalov had stopped efforts from Mikhail Kotlyarevsky and Charles Robinson. Dynamo killed another penalty, but went further behind late in the session when Anton Burdasov added a fourth. For the second game in a row, Konovalov made way for Maxim Motorygin as Dynamo tried to shake things up.
The shake-up arrived at the start of the third. Gusev found space enough in the left-hand circle to unleash a devastating wrister past Zach Fucale and make it 3-4. Then, three minutes later, Rashevsky’s hard work paid off when he beat the Traktor goalie at the third attempt to tie the scores.
That took the game to overtime, and the extras almost brought a quick Dynamo goal. Inside two minutes, Fucale pulled off a terrific pad save to deny Maxim Dzhioshvili at the back door. Then the home team got on the power play, but Traktor survived some intense pressure during Nikita Soshnikov’s absence. At the other end, Rodewald was close to beating Motorygin in the 70th minute before Dynamo ran into penalty trouble.
The home team survived a spell of three-on-five, but the momentum moved firmly in Traktor’s favor. And that helped Sharov settle the outcome in the 74th minute, squeezing a shot through the tight gap between Motorygin and his post after Weal failed to clear a loose puck from slot.
