Zernov hat-trick gives Magnitka the edge. April 11 playoffs
Metallurg is just one game away from reaching the 2024 Gagarin Cup final after a 4-2 win over Avtomobilist in game five. Denis Zernov was the star man, grabbing a hat-trick to put Magnitka up 3-2 in the series. Victory on Saturday would send the Steelmen to the final for the fifth time. However, Avto will have home ice advantage as it looks to force game seven.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (2-0, 0-1, 2-1)
Metallurg leads the series 3-2
Neither team made big changes from game four. Metallurg, once again, was entirely unchanged. Avtomobilist returned Evgeny Alikin to the starting role, with back-up goalie Vladimir Galkin on the bench.
In a series full of twists and turns, this game was another that ebbed and flowed, keeping fans enthralled throughout. Metallurg got off to the better start, enjoying the bulk of possession in the first period and putting the pressure on Alikin and his colleagues.
That brought two goals for Denis Zernov in the opening frame. He broke the deadlock in the 10th minute. A patient build-up saw the Magnitka offense probing before Valery Orekhov’s blast from the blue line got a decisive deflection from Zernov. Shortly after that, the home team got the first power play of the game, but could not get closer than a shot from Yegor Yakovlev that dinged the crossbar. The second goal had to wait until just before the intermission. Orekhov’s stretch pass set up an odd-man rush, Dmitry Silantyev faked a shot then slipped the puck to Zernov who was waiting at the back door to bang it home.
A 2-0 lead was a fair reflection of the first period play, but Metallurg knew that the game was far from won. After all, the Motormen recovered from 0-3 to win the previous game and in the second period the visitor began the long road back. It was no easy journey: Magnitka continued to see plenty of the puck, and Alikin made some crucial saves to keep the scoreline within reach.
However, just as it seemed that the teams would reach the second intermission with no further scoring, Anatoly Golyshev pulled one back. The leading scorer in this year’s playoffs moved to nine goals when he skated onto Denis Barantsev’s pass and sped towards Ilya Nabokov’s net. A vicious shot flashed into the top corner, putting Avto right back into the game.
Early in the final frame, the scores were level. This time, Golyshev and Stephane Da Costa generated traffic in front of Nabokov and defenseman Kirill Vorobyov thumped a point shot into the net. Once again, Avtomobilist had fought back to wipe out a Metallurg lead.
However, unlike Tuesday’s game, Metallurg did not fall behind. When Alexei Makeyev was penalized for interference, the home power play finally got it right. Taking advantage of the extra man, Magnitka’s PP delivered a slick combination of passes that culminated in Alexander Petunin setting up Daniil Vovchenko to make it 3-2.
In the closing stages, Zernov was once again to the fore. After two goals in the opening frame, he took two penalties in the last 10 minutes. However, his colleagues dug deep to protect their lead on the power play. Then, as his second spell in the box came to an end, Zernov jumped back into the game and immediately put the result beyond doubt. The forward went back to his own zone to pick up a pass from Roman Kantserov, then sped down the ice to beat Alikin and complete his hat-trick.
There was more to come, with Igor Geraskin scoring into an empty net with seconds left, making the final score 5-2 and moving Metallurg to within one win of getting to the Gagarin Cup final. However, neither team has managed back-to-back victories in this series so far: can the Steelmen finish the job in Yekaterinburg on Saturday?
