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Free-scoring semi-final heads to game seven
Monday is D-Day for Metallurg and Avtomobilist as they decide at last who will advance to the 2024 Gagarin Cup final. The teams have already set a record for the highest-scoring KHL semi-final series and are set for a big finish in Magnitogorsk. Elsewhere, St. Petersburg celebrates one cup, and could add another, Lokomotiv awaits its final opponent and the rest of the league starts preparing for 2024-2025’s confirmed start date.
Second SF goes to the wire
The series between Metallurg and Avtomobilist is locked at 3-3, with the decisive game set to take place in Magnitogorsk on Monday. If the home team wins, it will send Metallurg to a fifth Gagarin Cup final. The Motormen, meanwhile, are looking to extend their best ever season. French forward Stephane Da Costa might be the key man: in the three game that the Avtomobilist center has scored in this series, his team has won; when he was silenced, Magnitka came out on top. So far, neither side has posted back-to-back victories in the series – an omen that favors Metallurg after Saturday’s loss in Yekaterinburg.
Avtomobilist forces game seven showdown. April 13 playoffs
Highest-scoring semi
The six games between Metallurg and Avtomobilist produced 37 goals – more than any other KHL playoff semi-final. The previous best of 36 came in 2010 in MVD’s battle with Lokomotiv, then again the following year as Salavat Yulaev defeated Magnitka. Both series went the full seven games. The average of 6.16 goals per game is the best in a KHL playoff semi-final since 2012 when Dynamo Moscow and SKA had 25 goals in four games (6.25 goals per game). If the teams share seven or more goals on Monday – and the last three games have finished 5-3, 5-2 and 5-3 – they would set a new record. Meanwhile, the highest goal tally in an individual playoff semi-final game remains at 11: a 6-5 OT win for Ak Bars at Traktor in 2013.
Final schedule confirmed
Monday’s winner will face Lokomotiv in the final. The series will start on Thursday, April 18, with game seven on April 30 if required. If Metallurg wins through, the series will start in Magnitogorsk. If Avtomobilist advances, Lokomotiv will host the first two games. The Railwaymen have had a long wait to discover their opponent: their series against Traktor was done in four games as Igor Nikitin’s team eased into a first final since 2009.
Dynamo Neva wins women’s crown
In the Russian Women’s Hockey League, Dynamo Neva clinched its first ever championship, wrapping a 4-1 success in the final series against Biryusa Krasnoyarsk. This year’s final featured two teams that had never won the title, with perennial powerhouse Agidel Ufa knocked out by Dynamo in the semis. The Petersburg club, runner-up twice in recent seasons, began the final with a road win in Siberia. Biryusa tied the series, then took the first game in Petersburg to overtime. However, Dynamo came through that test and claimed the cup with a 3-2 win in Krasnoyarsk in game five. Goaltender Diana Farkhutdinova was named MVP, while Biryusa forward Oxana Mitrofanova was the top scorer in the playoffs.
Loko vs SKA-1946 for the Kharmlamov Cup
The Junior Hockey League final features two traditional powerhouses of the competition. Loko Yaroslavl, a three-time champion, faces SKA-1946, back for its fourth Kharlamov Cup final. Loko secured its place after defeating Chaika Nizhny Novogord in six games. The decisive goal in that match-up came from Kirill Yemelyanov in the 14th minute of overtime following a 1-1 tie in regulation. SKA-1946 got past Chelyabinsk’s Belye Medvedi in five games, with forward Ivan Demidov continuing his prolific form. Demidov, one of the hottest properties ahead of this summer’s NHL draft, has 25 (10+15) points from 13 playoff games this term after potting 60 (23+37) in 30 regular season games. This year’s final starts in Yaroslavl on Wednesday, April 17, with game seven to be played on April 29 if necessary.
September start set
The 2024-2025 KHL season will begin on September 3, it was announced last week. As usual, the Opening Cup will kickstart the campaign with a rematch of this term’s Gagarin Cup final. Earlier, the KHL Board of Directors voted to extend the season, allowing the campaign to run on until the end of May 2025. Potentially, therefore, next season has a whole extra month of hockey to enjoy. Full details of how the regular season and playoffs will run, and the schedule for the regular campaign, will be released in due course.
