Avangard forces decider, Metallurg edges in front. March 28 playoffs
On a day of two fightbacks, Avangard rallied from 0-2 to win in Yaroslavl and take its series with Lokomotiv to game seven. Earlier, Spartak made it a one-goal game after trailing 0-4 at Metallurg but could not finish the job. Magnitka returns to Moscow up 3-2 and hoping to finish the job at the weekend.
Steelmen survive Spartak rally
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5 Spartak Moscow 3 (3-0, 1-1, 1-2)
Metallurg leads the series 3-2
A thrilling fightback from Spartak fell just short in game five of this absorbing KHL second round playoff series. Metallurg’s fast start proved enough to claim the win and regain the lead. Now the teams head to Moscow on Saturday with the Red-and-Whites needing a victory to keep their season alive.
The visitor made some significant changes after edging a 1-0 verdict in game four. Forwards Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Burmistrov both missed out, replaced by Shane Prince and Alexander Belyayev. For Metallurg, Dmitry Silantyev returned after a three-game absence, taking the place of Maxim Mukhametov.
Metallurg made the brighter start, showing good speed in the opening shifts. The puck spent much of the time in Spartak’s zone until Artyom Minulin’s foul allowed the visitor to release that pressure. The power play did not bring a goal, though, and once back at equal strength Magnitka moved in front. The opening marker came from a well-worked counterattack finished by Danila Yurov.
In response, Spartak began firing in shots from anywhere and everywhere. Maxim Tsyplakov went close, Pavel Poryadin hit the post. At the other end, Metallurg was more clinical. Another counterattack saw Roman Kantserov set up Denis Zernov to make it 2-0, then Yurov got his second of the game late in the opening frame.
Down 0-3 at the first intermission, Alexei Zhamnov replaced goalie Dmitry Nikolayev with Andrei Kareyev. He also reshuffled his lines in search of a way back into the game. Initially, though, there was little change. Nikita Mikhailis was closing to adding a fourth, then Daniil Vovchenko’s one-timer converted a five-on-three power play to extend the home lead in the 35th minute. Spartak suffered another penalty, but on this occasion Mikhail Maltsev grabbed a short-handed goal to offer his team a glimmer of hope going into the third period.
In that final frame, Metallurg seemed to have it all under control until the 48th minute. Then a penalty on Kantserov brought a goal for German Rubtsov. A minute later, Alexander Petunin sat for tripping and Spartak grabbed another power play goal through Poryadin. That four-goal lead was gone, and the one-goal margin ensured a tense finale. Andrei Razin called a time-out, hoping to calm his players, but it might have been the visitor that needed a moment of reflection. Instead, Tsyplakov took a penalty for impeding goalie Ilya Nabokov and Magnitka managed to gain traction at last. Spartak killed the penalty, but five seconds later Yegor Korobkin potted the fifth goal and sealed the win.
Hawks hit back from 0-2, force game seven
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 Avangard Omsk 3 (1-0, 1-3, 0-0)
Series tied at 3-3
For the first time this season, we’re going to game seven! Avangard, down 1-3 in the series and playing under an interim head coach after firing Mikhail Kravets two games in, refuses to yield to Lokomotiv. Now the teams return to Omsk for Saturday’s winner-takes-all showdown and the Hawks arguably have the upper hand after back-to-back wins saved the series.
After 23 minutes of this game, Lokomotiv had a place in the semi-finals well within its grasp. The Railwaymen grabbed a goal late in a tense first period, and doubled that advantage with a second strike soon after the intermission. However, Avangard rallied to lead after 40 minutes and held on to secure the victory.
For long periods, the opening frame was a battle of wills. Both teams played cautious hockey, verging on the negative at times. When in possession, few players were willing to risk a play that might have even a theoretical downside and chances were predictably hard to find.
Towards the end of the session, Lokomotiv began to pose a greater threat. The home team put together a few promising shifts, Pavel Kraskovsky went close and, in the final second, Martin Gernat opened the scoring. The Slovak defenseman got on the end of a considered, inch-perfect feed from Maxim Beryozkin and fired a one-timer past Pavel Khomchenko.
Early in the second, Maxim Shalunov doubled the lead. The forward’s astute positional sense saw him peel away from Chmykhov and sneak around the back of the net before taking up an unguarded spot at the back door. Beryozkin’s feed from the goal line picked him out, and a laser-like finish was too good for Khomchenko.
Given what had come before, a two-goal lead felt like a commanding advantage. However, everything changed midway through the period. First, Avangard pulled one back when a defense-splitting pass set Nikolai Prokhorkin clear. The center seemed certain to shoot and wrong-footed everyone with a pass onto the stick of Igor Martynov. His team-mate did not let him down, and Avangard was back in the game.
Loko had a great chance to restore its two-goal cushion right away. Alexander Polunin surged clear, beat Khomchenko in a one-on-one but saw the puck slide narrowly wide of the target. The cost of that miss was dearer still when Omsk went down the ice, set up position in the Lokomotiv zone and tied the game when Semyon Chistyakov wound up for a powerful shot beyond Daniil Isayev.
Now Avangard had the momentum and the home team had to dig deep to stay in the game. The Yaroslavl crowd played its part, upping the volume in support of its team. However, just when the storm seemed to be abating, penalty trouble undid the host. A bench minor followed Artur Kayumov’s penalty in the final minute of the frame, and Prokhorkin took advantage to give the Hawks the lead going into the final frame. Slick interplay from the first line saw Ryan Spooner fire in a shot that took a deflection off Prokhorkin to beat Isayev and put Avangard up for the first time in the game.
The final stanza began with the visitor still on the power play. Lokomotiv survived without sustaining further damage, but then struggled to generate the kind of offense it needed to save the game. Indeed, the better chances tended to fall to the visitor: Isayev doing well to deny Ivan Igumnov on the rebound from Damir Zhafyarov’s shot, Tkachyov firing at the goalie after a dangerous feed from Reid Boucher behind the net.
A power play midway through third gave Lokomotiv a chance to build some pressure, but Avangard’s defense remained solid. Time began to tick down and the visitor’s counterattacks continued to produce greater danger. The home team’s final storm produced some nervous moments for Khomchenko, but at the other end only the post denied the Hawks an empty-net goal. That was the last meaningful action of the game, as Avangard celebrated a victory that sets up game seven in Omsk on Saturday.
