Lokomotiv wins the cup, Sibir completes playoff line-up. March 17 round-up
The 2025 Continental Cup goes to Lokomotiv! The Railwaymen sealed top spot in the regular season standings thanks to victory at home to Admiral on Monday. Loko got there with two games to spare, moving six points clear of Traktor. In the Eastern Conference, Sibir claimed the last remaining playoff spot after defeating Barys 3-2. Monday’s other action saw Metallurg win a shoot-out at home to Vityaz.
Playoff contenders complete
Sibir Novosibirsk 3 Barys Astana 2 (3-1, 0-1, 0-0)
A flurry of first-period scoring secured the victory that Sibir needed to wrap up its playoff place. Vadim Yepanchintsev’s team is the 16th and final contender to qualify for post season after moving seven points clear of ninth-placed Neftekhimik.
It wasn’t entirely plain sailing for the home team, even against an opponent rooted to the foot of the KHL standings. Barys had produced some decent results in the teams’ previous meetings and the visitor struck first here. Roman Starchenko fashioned a good early chance and, shortly after that, Dinmukhamed Kaiyrzhan opened the scoring in the fifth minute.
That got the home team fired up, especially defenseman Roman Rukavishnikov. First, he delivered a rousing – and clean – hip check on Nikita Setdikov, then he won a fight against Beybarys Orazov. His aggression filtered through to his team-mates, who rattled in three goals in less than three minutes. Pavel Gogolev and Nikita Korotkov scored with long-range efforts, while Andy Andreoff stuffed the home after Sergei Shirokov’s shot.
Barys didn’t give up and had some good chances at the start of the second period. The visitor didn’t make much of a five-on-three power play but Kaiyrzhan went close to a breakaway goal on the PK a few minutes later. Eventually, Orazov did get a goal, helped by a wild deflection on his shot.
And the visitor continued to press in the third period. Denis Kostin had a busy start to the session before his team-mates awoke to the danger and began to play more cautiously. The closing stages were tense as Barys knocked on the door in search of a tying goal, but Sibir held on to clinch that playoff spot with a week to spare.
Johnson gives Magnitka a shoot-out verdict
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 2 SO (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)
A last-minute goal from Alexei Makeyev enabled Vityaz to take this game to overtime, but Metallurg eventually prevailed in a shoot-out.
It was all rather different from the Steelmen’s previous outing on Saturday when they thrashed Kunlun 7-1. Today, despite a fast start thanks to Luke Johnson’s third-minute goal, Metallurg had a hard time finishing off Vityaz. The visitor arrived on the back of a three-game winning streak and, while its playoff hopes are long gone, there’s still a chance of overtaking Kunlun and finishing ninth in the West.
As a result, after struggling to make an impression in the opening frame, Vityaz stepped it up after the intermission. Metallurg contributed to its own problems with a string of penalties, starting with a major on Troy Josephs for a slash. Josephs was joined by Roman Kantserov a couple of minutes into his enforced rest, but the home penalty kill coped with the two-man shortage. However, the penalties kept coming and midway through the session Vladislav Tsitsyura tied the game as Johnson sat for tripping. In total, Magnitka sat out 15 penalty minutes in the second period, while Vityaz stayed out of the box.
Discipline was likely the keynote of Andrei Razin’s intermission talk, and it had the desired effect. There were no more penalties for Metallurg and, playing at even strength, the home team regained control. Nikita Kamalov restored the lead in the 45th minute and the game seemed to be heading towards a routine home victory.
However, with two minutes left Pavel Desyatkov called goalie Andrei Kareyev to the bench. With an extra skater in the game, Vityaz tied it up through Makeyev. However, that was as good as it got for the visitor. Overtime could not separate the teams, but Johnson produced the winning penalty shot to seal the points and take Metallurg to second in the East.
Loko secures regular season title
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 Admiral Vladivostok 1 (1-0, 1-0, 2-1)
Last season’s beaten Gagarin Cup finalist, Lokomotiv, has rebounded to top the KHL regular season standings for the first time. Today’s victory over Admiral opens an unassailable six-point lead of Eastern Conference leader Traktor. Previously the club twice finished second in regular season, in 2011 and 2016.
The home team was quick to get on top in this game. Admiral goalie Ilya Konovalov, once a highly-rated Lokomotiv prospect, fired the puck over the boards in the first minute to set up the first power play of the night. And it didn’t take long for Richard Panik to convert that opportunity, firing home a one-timer off Byron Froese’s feed.
After that, the home team had almost total control of the game but failed to add to its lead in the first period. Admiral was held to just two shots at Alexei Melnichuk in the Lokomotiv net.
In the second period, Admiral started to pose a few more questions on the counter. However, the only goal went to Lokomotiv. Panik turned provider this time, playing the puck off the right-hand boards for his Slovak international colleague Martin Gernat to advance into space and fire home for 2-0.
Admiral made a great start to the third period, pulling a goal back and threatening to halt Loko’s march to the title. Thirty-four seconds after the restart, Stepan Starkov played the puck out of the corner and Daniil Gutik met it with a one-timer from the right-hand circle to halve the deficit. However, any nerves were eased in the 49th minute when Alexander Polunin restored the two-goal advantage. A last-minute goal for Artur Kayumov finished the job for Loko, which can now focus on preparations for a first-round playoff series against Torpedo.
