Da Costa on form as Avto ties it up. April 5 playoffs
Stephane Da Costa lit a fire under Avtomobilist’s power play on Friday, colliding 3 (2+1) points to lead his team to a 4-2 win in Magnitogorsk. That leaves the 2024 Gagarin Cup semi-final series tied at 1-1 as the teams head north to Yekaterinburg for Sunday’s instalment.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (0-1, 1-2, 1-1)
Series tied at 1-1
The home team was unchanged after winning the opening game of the series. However, Avtomobilist was without center Curtis Valk. His place on the second line was taken by Maxim Denezhkin, who made his first appearance in this year’s playoffs.
In Valk’s absence, it was another center who produced a game-winning display for the Motormen. Stephane Da Costa was somewhat late to the playoff party this year: in the first round, he played just one game and found himself on the wrong end of a 0-5 loss. However, since March 19 he’s held down a regular spot alongside Anatoly Golyshev and Alexei Makeyev, chipping in two goals in the series against SKA.
Today, the Frenchman was at his best. A three-point game saw him boss the visitor’s power play as Avto built a winning lead. Da Costa opened the scoring after seven minutes, converting his team’s first power play of the game and the series. It was a four-on-three advantage and the extra space enabled Da Costa to skate in from the right-hand boards and unleash a slap shot from a central position. Although Ilya Nabokov had a decent view, the effort was perfectly placed inside the post and the goalie couldn’t reach it.
Metallurg responded well to that setback and had the better of the rest of the opening frame. However, Evgeny Alikin’s 11 saves preserved his team’s lead at the first intermission.
The advantage lasted until midway through the second period, when Magnitka’s pressure paid off. Robin Press prevented the visiting defense from clearing the zone and when the puck got to Denis Zernov his instantaneous shot was deflected past Alikin.
However, the home team’s progress was halted when Maxim Mukhametov took a major penalty for checking to the head. That brought Da Costa back to the fore as Avtomobilist converted the extended advantage into two goals. First, the Frenchman played the puck out from behind the net. It found its way to Golyshev, who beat Nabokov on his short side. Barely a minute later, the same pair combined once again to make it 3-1. This time Golyshev was the provider, going around the back before picking out his strike partner on the slot.
That was a bitter blow for Metallurg, which had started the middle frame strongly and seemed to be getting back into the game. But there was still hope. The home team started the third on the power play after Nikita Tryamkin’s foul just before the buzzer. There was plenty of pressure on Alikin’s net, albeit without many clear-cut scoring chances, and Avto had to survive another penalty midway through the session. Back at equal strength, though, the Steelmen got the goal they so desperately needed. Dmitry Silantyev led a quick attack, dropping the puck off at the blue line for Makar Khabarov. The defenseman played a return pass and Silantyev fired home from the right-hand circle to make it a one-goal game.
With eight minutes left, there was ample time for Magnitka to save the game. However, after allowing a big goal, Avtomobilist responded by re-engaging the offense. Da Costa was close to completing a hat-trick and Sergei Zborovsky tested Nabokov from the blue line as the visitor looked to play as much time as possible at the other end of the ice.
Gradually, Metallurg regained its momentum and the home team got a huge boost in the 57th minute when Semyon Kizimov took an unnecessary O-zone penalty. Nabokov went to the bench to set up a six-on-four power play, but the two-man advantage wasn’t enough for Magnitka to save the game. And after Kizimov left the box, the visitor finished the job when Danil Romantsev found the empty net. The teams head to Yekaterinburg with the series deadlocked.
