Lokomotiv season review: Second defeat in the finals
KHL.ru continues its club-by-club review of the 2023-2024 season with Lokomotiv. The Yaroslavl side had a very good season and reached the Gagarin Cup finals for the second time in history. In the final series, the overwhelming majority of experts considered them the clear favorites, maintaining this opinion even after the first loss, and even after the second.
Lokomotiv entered the season as one of the favorites, albeit not the most obvious one. The start of the regular season was rather strained: in a five-game home series, Yaroslavl secured three wins with a one-goal difference, lost clearly to Nizhny Novgorod (2:5), and were completely defeated by Sochi (0:5). Gradually, things started to improve, and in October, Lokomotiv even led the overall standings for a while before slowing down; from late December until the end of the season, they confidently stayed in the top four, briefly dropping out only on their non-playing days. In mid-January, 17 games before the end of the regular season and earlier than any other team, Lokomotiv secured a playoff spot by defeating Neftekhimik.
In the first round of the playoffs, Yaroslavl avenged CSKA, to whom they had lost three consecutive springs. In the second round, they defeated Avangard, even forcing Omsk to change their head coach during the series. After this, Lokomotiv became the main favorite — partly due to their own successes and partly due to the elimination of Dynamo Moscow and SKA. The semifinals against Traktor, which lasted only four games, solidified this status. However, it also had a downside: after the semifinals, Yaroslavl had a ten-day break — too long. Of course, they didn't rest in the literal sense, but the prolonged lack of competitive play took its toll: the final also didn't last more than four games, each of which Lokomotiv lost by one goal — 1:2, 0:1, 1:2 (in OT), and 1:2.
Best players
69 games, 44 wins, 92.68%, 7 SOs
Lokomotiv’s disciplined play certainly contributes to the success of their goalies. At first glance, this is confirmed by the fact that Ivan Bocharov's save percentage and goals-against average are quite close to Daniil Isayev's figures. However, Bocharov mostly played against less formidable opponents, and even so, Isayev's numbers are higher. In terms of wins, no one could match him, neither in the season nor in the regular season. It's no surprise that he was chosen as the best goalie in the League.
Maxim Beryozkin, Maxim Shalunov, Artur Kayumov
46 points (13+33) in 82 games, 22+20 in 85, 20+29 in 86
It is extremely difficult to single out even one, let alone two, best forwards on Lokomotiv. Georgy Ivanov, who is very close to the top line — not in terms of scoring, but overall performance — is also in the mix (16+19 in 86 games). Each of the four has certain components where they excel compared to their teammates, and ranking them in any order inevitably raises the question, "Why this way and not that?"
It's also worth noting that Shalunov was injured in the first game of the final series, and Lokomotiv undoubtedly missed him. While it's unlikely that Maxim's presence would have fundamentally changed the outcome of the series, it almost certainly would have extended it beyond four games.
36 (13+23) points in 84 games
Martin Gernat seamlessly integrated into his new team and quickly became a key player. He played in both power plays and penalty kills, scored points, and didn't shy away from physical play. Lokomotiv's selection of defensemen was arguably the strongest in the league, and within this solid group, Gernat became the top scorer. Even among the forwards, he was outscored only by the top line.
Coaching
Igor Nikitin belongs to a very exclusive group of coaches who have won the Gagarin Cup, but he also stands alone in an even narrower circle: those who have lost in the finals three times. Until this spring, Nikitin was the only coach in KHL history to win a final series 4-0. Now, he has contributed to Andrei Razin achieving the same feat.
Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. In this case, the clear pattern isn't in the number of finals Nikitin has lost, but in how those losses occurred. In 2018, under his guidance, CSKA won game three in OT but lost the other four 1:2, 1:2, 1:3, and 0:1. In 2021, with the series tied 2-2, they lost 0-2 and 0-1. Now, the scores were 1:2, 0:1, 1-2, and 1:2.
After the season ended, the coach said in an interview, "The final is a separate competition, very short. You face strong, motivated, and fortunate opponents; you don't reach the final otherwise. You need to go on the ice in each game with a sense of danger, which we lacked." When you compare the results of decisive matches where Nikitin's teams, whether CSKA or Lokomotiv, consistently scored no more than one goal, it seems they had plenty of that sense of danger — perhaps too much.
The 2019 final was different: his team played without that sense of danger, and as a result, they swept Avangard in four games—none of which were actually decisive for them, thus causing no extra pressure.
All this doesn't negate the fact that Nikitin is an outstanding coach with a distinct style that brings results. Similar losses in the finals are a drawback, but reaching those finals is an achievement not everyone can attain.
Best game
A 7:0 blowout is always a notable event. When it's performed by Lokomotiv, it’s doubly remarkable; against a serious opponent, it’s triply so; away from home, and in a cup match rather than a regular season game, it’s five times as impressive. This happened on Mar 18 in Omsk, and it will be remembered for a long time.
Interestingly, until the middle of the game, the score was 0:1, and it took Yaroslavl just 28 minutes to score the remaining six goals.
Youngsters
One of the positives for Nikitin is that he has become much more proactive than his predecessors in utilizing talented youth, which the two Yaroslavl schools consistently produce. In terms of average age during the regular season, only five teams were younger than Lokomotiv, two of which did not make the playoffs at all, while the remaining three were eliminated in the first round. Throughout the season, six players aged 23 or younger played at least 60 matches, and another eight were periodically brought into the main lineup.
Throughout the entire final series, Yaroslavl managed to score only three goals. One of them was credited to the previously mentioned Beryozkin, another to Yaroslav Likhachyov (whom Nikitin had previously benched for disciplinary reasons), with an assist from Daniil Tesanov. Beryozkin also participated as an assistant in another goal and ended up being Lokomotiv’s top scorer in the playoffs, as well as the top assistant and second-highest scorer for the entire season.
Summer work
Another promising young forward, Alexander Perevalov, did not find a place in the lineup. He spent part of the previous season on loan at Kunlun and part of the past season on loan at Sochi. Now, he has been traded to Avangard. Lokomotiv’s captain, Sergei Andronov, has moved to SKA, and it seems that Ivan Bocharov and Yegor Averin will not stay either.
So far, Lokomotiv has made only one acquisition, but it’s a significant one: Alexander Radulov, one of the two most high-profile transfers this summer. All key players either had existing contracts or signed new ones, so there won’t be any major changes. And they aren’t really needed: Lokomotiv's course is very clear and seems aimed directly at another final.
