Hawks fly high, Avto and Ak Bars deadlocked

Avangard took a firm grip on its first-round playoff series, grabbing a second victory in Magnitogorsk thanks to Vladimir Tkachyov’s overtime goal. The Hawks will take a 2-0 lead to Omsk for game three at the weekend. In the other tie, it’s all square. Avtomobilist held on to beat Ak Bars 4-3, cancelling out its opening night loss.

Tkachyov grabs OT winner

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Avangard Omsk 3 OT (1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

(Avangard leads the series 2-0)

The defending champion’s grip on the Gagarin Cup already looks fragile after falling to a second defeat in two games of this first-round series. In game two against Avangard, Magnitka led twice. However, it was never able to assume control of the game and ultimately fell to Vladimir Tkachyov’s overtime winner.

That was a special moment for Tkachyov, who missed almost the entire regular season. His return from an serious injury sustained in pre-season was almost like recruiting a new player to Guy Boucher’s roster and today he highlighted his big-game temperament with a vital goal.

It came after 13 minutes of the extras. Reid Boucher’s cross-ice feed gave Mike McLeod a shooting chance from the left-hand circle. Ilya Nabokov stopped that effort, but was powerless as Tkachyov followed up to pot the rebound and give the Hawks a 2-0 lead to take to Omsk for the next game on Sunday.

After losing badly in the first game, Metallurg brought Danila Yurov back into the team. The 21-year-old had six goals in last year’s playoffs and returned after a month out with injury. He went into the second line alongside Nikita Mikhailis and Alexander Petunin.

And the home team got an early lift when Ryan Spooner went to the box in the second minute. However, the Avangard penalty kill was impressive. Not only was Magnitka unable to settle into its attacking game, it also allowed a good chance on the counter when Mike McLeod ran onto a stretch pass, only to be denied by Ilya Nabokov.

However, shortly after Spooner returned to the game, Metallurg opened the scoring. Alexei Maklyukov, captaining the team in the absence of Yegor Yakovlev, played a pass along the blue line for Danila Palivko. His point shot got caught up in traffic on the slot, but Igor Geraskin reacted fastest to put away the rebound.

Avangard had another penalty to kill, but responded midway through the first period on a goal from Nikolai Prokhorkin. The forward made it two goals in two playoff games this season when he gathered the rebound from Mikhail Gulyayev’s effort from a tight angle and beat Nabokov to make it 1-1.

It stayed that way until the intermission, although Metallurg looked the more likely to score. And the home team regained its lead at the start of the second period. Daniil Vovchenko brought a counterattack into the Hawks’ zone and sent the puck ahead of Troy Josephs. The Canadianadvanced on Nikita Serebryakov’s net and beat him for power.

Avangard had a great chance to tie the game when it got a five-on-three power play for 81 seconds. This time, though, the home penalty kill showed what it was made of, denying any big opportunities to Avangard. However, after failing with a two-man advantage, the Hawks got their tying goal on the PK. Reid Boucher took the puck into the zone, got away from Vovchenko – and then enjoyed a huge slice of good fortune as Robin Press saw his attempt to block ricochet into the net with Nabokov hopelessly wrong-footed.

The visitor came close to a second shorthanded goal when Giovanni Fiore got clear, and after Nail Yakupov left the box he immediately jumped on a play and fired over Nabokov’s net.

Penalties kept coming in the third period, but neither team could use its power play to good effect. The best opportunities came at equal strength, with Geraskin threatening a goal on the breakaway before Yurov and Petunin twice tested Serebryakov. However, it finished 2-2 at the end of the third and the game moved into overtime.

Motormen fight back, teams tied ahead of trip to Kazan

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 Ak Bars Kazan 3 (2-0, 1-1, 1-2)

(Series tied at 1-1)

After dropping the opening game 1-4, Avtomobilist recovered to square the series. Thus, we can already be sure that the UGMK Arena’s first taste of playoff hockey will not be its last for the 2025 Gagarin Cup. The teams are already certain to return here for game five on Thursday and this series has the potential to go all the way.

Despite concerns about Evgeny Alikin’s performance in the opening game, Nikolai Zavarukhin kept faith with his goalie for Friday’s second instalment. The home head coach reshuffled his lines a touch, while opposite number Anvar Gatiyatulin went with an unchanged roster.

Ak Bars began the game better, with a good early chance for Artyom Galimov denied by Alikin. The visitor also had the first power play of the night but failed to make it count.

Then, as in the first game, the team that faced the early pressure ended up allowing the first goal. The Ak Bars defense was too passive and merely looked on as Brooks Macek went behind the net to set up Alexander Sharov on the slot. Once in front, the home team was in the ascendancy. Now the Motormen spent more time in Kazan’s zone and the visiting defense was forced to up its game, repeatedly blocking shots.

Nonetheless, a second goal arrived following a needless foul by Nikita Dynyak to give Avtomobilist a power play. Alexei Byvaltsev’s shot from the circle was steered in by Nick Merkley. And the home team finished on a high, almost grabbing a third goal seconds after Mitch Miller was assessed a double minor for high sticks. That penalty carried into the second period, and Macek added a trademark power play goal to make it 3-0.

Not many teams have clawed back a three-goal deficit in Yekaterinburg this season. Dynyak, fired up, looked to inject some energy via a fight with Nikita Tryamkin, but merely saw Avto close to padding its lead with a good counterattacking chance for Semyon Kizimov. That might have been the wake-up call Ak Bars needed. Stepan Falkovsky pulled one back, beating Alikin to the short side. After that, was saw more movement and energy for the visitor, but there was little control in its play. Kizimov again went close for Avtomobilist, denied this time by the piping.

At the start of the third, Ak Bars knew it needed to cut the deficit fast. The visitor went straight out on the attack and scored a well-worked goal. Miller joined in from deep and fed Kirill Semyonov to score from the slot. However, it wasn’t a one-goal game for long: two minutes later, Artyom Kashtanov’s stretch pass sent Byvaltsev clear and he beat Bilyalov to make it 4-2.

That might have been the knock-out blow, but within a minute Ak Bars was back to 3-4. The visitor needed just nine seconds for Dmitrij Jaskin to convert a power play chance, setting up a tense finish. Another power play presented Kazan with a great chance to tie the game, but Avto held on and managed to play out the remainder of the game to clinch a series-tying victory.