Two remaining series stay too close to call. March 26 playoffs
It would be a brave man who predicted the winners of the two remaining Gagarin Cup second round series. The two on-going match-ups resumed after an unexpected delay and in both cases the team that was trailing grabbed a vital victory to remain in contention. Avangard prevented Lokomotiv from booking its place in the next round, winning 4-2 on home ice in game five to take the series back to Yaroslavl. Then Spartak edged out Metallurg 1-0 to tie that clash at 2-2.
Hawks hit back to stay in the series
Avangard Omsk 4 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 (0-1, 2-1, 2-0)
Lokomotiv leads the series 3-2
Avangard kept its season alive with victory at home to Lokomotiv in game five of this second round playoff series. The visitor paid the price for failing to make more of its dominant first period performance and was overhauled in the final frame. However, the Railwaymen are still on top overall, and can clinch their place in the semi-finals with victory on home ice on Thursday.
Neither team made changes to the rosters that played out Friday’s 3-1 win for Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl. And familiar faces largely cancelled each other out in the opening exchanges, with little goalmouth incident until Reid Boucher took a penalty in the seventh minute. The Loko power play needed little time to take advantage: nine seconds later, Maxim Beryozkin was on the spot to put away a rebound and open the scoring.
Subsequently, the visitor took control of the play, to the extent that Avangard managed just one shot on target in the opening frame. The home team had to wait until the 13th minute before testing Daniil Isayev in the Lokomotiv net, while opposite number Pavel Khomchenko was kept busier by the visiting forwards. In the circumstances, trailing by just one goal at the intermission was a boost for the Hawks.
That likely formed the cornerstone of interim head coach Sergei Zvyagin’s team talk. His players responded with a brighter start to the middle frame. Vladimir Tkachyov had a decent early chance before the home team got its first power play of the game. Avangard took a bit longer with the man advantage, but ultimately Tomas Jurco converted a Tkachyov feed to tie the game in the 25th minute. The deflection off the Slovak forward’s skate survived a video review, although the debate about the play is likely to continue for some time yet.
Lokomotiv still posed a threat: Khomchenko pulled off a great save to deny Martin Gernat before Maxim Shalunov got on the end of another slick passing combination to restore the visitor’s lead. However, the game’s next power play went to Avangard and with it came another tying goal. Daniil Tesanov fired the puck over the glass and Ryan Spooner scored on the subsequent PP. The latter half of the second period saw Loko on the front foot. Avangard held on, and came close to snatching the lead late in the frame only for Ivan Nikolishin to fan his shot when given all the time and space he could ask for on the slot.
In a game where every previous penalty led to a goal, Tkachyov’s early delay of game in the third period had the potential to be costly. However, for the first time, we saw a successful penalty kill. Once back at full strength, the home team created good chances for Spooner, then Tkachyov, but Isayev stopped both of them. However, the visiting goalie could do little when Spooner and Boucher sent Semyon Chistyakov into the danger zone. He got round Denis Alexeyev, moved into the center and went five-hole on Isayev to give Avangard the lead for the first time in the game.
In response, Lokomotiv stepped up the offense, but got caught on the counter. Spooner forced a defensive error and took the puck behind the net before setting up Boucher to make it 4-2. His points today moved the American forward past 250 in his KHL career: he currently has 251 (137+114) from 270 games.
Loko head coach Igor Nikitin called a time-out, and his team’s efforts to save the game got a boost within a minute when Damir Zhafyarov sat for holding. However, Avangard was in no mood to relinquish its advantage and closed out a win that sends this series back to Yaroslavl.
Galimov goal puts Spartak level
Spartak Moscow 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Series tied at 2-2
A solitary goal from Ansel Galimov was enough to tie up this series. Both teams have won their home games so far, while the four games have seen the visitor fire blanks on three occasions. Today, Dmitry Nikolayev’s 29 saves backstopped a 1-0 verdict for Spartak.
Spartak came into the game lifted by a 5-2 victory last week. That brought the series back to life after the Muscovites failed to score in their two games in Magnitogorsk. However, the Red-and-Whites had to wait for a chance to build on their game three success: due to security concerns and a national day of mourning in Russia, Saturday’s scheduled gameday was postponed until today.
The home side looked to carry on where it left off and pressed Metallurg hard in the early stages. In the first 10 minutes or so or play, the visitor barely got a look at Dmitry Nikolayev’s goal. Spartak had almost all the play, but Alexei Zhamnov’s men could not fashion a clear-cut opening.
Gradually, Magnitka came into the game more but neither side was able to generate a big scoring chance. It all added up to an even, but goalless, opening frame.
Late in that first period, Metallurg’s Yegor Korobkin took a double minor for high sticking, giving Spartak the first power play of the game. That advantage continued after the intermission, but still did not lead to a breakthrough. Once back at equal strength, Spartak had its best chance yet when Andrei Loktionov found himself all alone on the slot, only for Ilya Nabokov to make a fine save. A few minutes later, Maxim Tsyplakov sprinted into the zone and again tested the visiting netminder. Later, the Spartak forward took a penalty, and the home team found itself in the grinder for a couple of minutes. Daniil Vovchenko was particularly prominent, while Denis Zernov was denied by a Spartak stick deflecting his shot off target.
Although the teams created better second-period chances, the game remained goalless. And that pattern continued until midway through the third when Ansel Galimov finally broke the deadlock for Spartak. Nabokov was already committed to stopping a shot from Daniil Ivanov, but a deflection left the goalie out of position. The puck dropped kindly for Galimov, who kept his composure to stuff it into an open net.
Ahead at last, Spartak had 10 minutes to hold on and bring the series level. Almost immediately, though, the Red-and-Whites were in trouble after Nikolai Goldobin picked up an O-zone penalty. Although it took some time for the Magnitka’s PP to hit its stride, the home team was fortunate to see Yegor Yakovlev shot wide of the target when dangerously placed on the slot.
However, the next penalty effectively ended Metallurg’s hopes. Artyom Minulin’s high stick cut short the visitor’s final surge. Nabokov had to make a couple of big saves to deny Maltsev and keep the game alive, but by the time Minulin left the sin bin it was already too late for his team-mates to salvage a tying goal. The action returns to the Urals on Thursday with nothing between the teams.
