Lokomotiv, Dynamo both up 2-0
Saturday’s Western Conference action followed the formbook – but the two games were rather different. Lokomotiv blanked Torpedo to record a second fairly straightforward victory in its series. Dynamo, meanwhile, edged a tight overtime verdict after a 1-1 tie at home to SKA. Both of Saturday’s victors head out on the road with 2-0 leads ahead of Monday’s games.
Isayev denies Torpedo
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 0 (1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
(Lokomotiv leads the series 2-0)
Another solid performance from Lokomotiv opened a 2-0 lead in this series. The Continental Cup winner again produced a hard-working display and 25 saves from Daniil Isayev secured a shut-out win.
After losing 1-3 in the opening game, Igor Larionov made two changes to his team. Vladislav Firstov and Artyom Misinkov returned to the roster. Ivan Kulbakov continued in goal. Lokomotiv replaced Yegor Surin with Daniil Tesanov.
After dropping the opening game here, Larionov stressed the importance of returning home with the series level. His players responded with a lively start to game two. Lokomotiv’s attacking ambition was limited almost exclusively to Pavel Kraskovsky’s line, while Torpedo looked to press forward whenever possible.
However, not for the first time this season, the Railwaymen showed that enjoyed possession is not the same as creating real chances to score on Isayev. The shots that came in tended to be from long range, and often lacked sufficient accuracy to really test the goalie. And once Torpedo’s energy levels began to drop, Lokomotiv came into the game more. Kulbakov faced a couple of tricky moments before the first power play of the night brought the opening goal. Evgeny Svechnikov sat for slashing, Maxim Beryozkin held the puck beautifully before setting up Maxim Shalunov with a shot at an open net.
That goal separated the teams at the intermission, but Torpedo looked to step things up in the second period. The visitor was getting more pucks to the net and Isayev had to deal with more shots on target. Paradoxically, though, its best chance came on the PK: Yegor Vinogradov and Sergei Goncharuk raced away on the counter, but Georgy Ivanov managed to get back and intercept a pass that would surely have led to a tying goal.
However, Lokomotiv’s power play got more chances to threaten – Torpedo gave away three penalties in the session. Beryozkin spurned two good chances and it remained 1-0 through 40 minutes.
In the third period, Loko switched to its familiar defensive posture. Now, instead of looking to extend its lead, the home team was happy to focus on disrupting Torpedo’s offense and closing out a win. It made for some cautious hockey, at least until the latter half of the frame when a couple of power plays invited the visitor to attack more vigorously. There were chances – dangerous shots from Bogdan Konyushkov among the most prominent – but no goals. In the end, Torpedo called a time-out and Kulbakov stayed on the bench during one last surge. But the gamble failed and Ivanov scored an empty-netter to wrap up a 2-0 win and a 2-0 lead in the series.
Gusev grabs OT winner
Dynamo Moscow 2 SKA St. Petersburg 1 OT (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
(Dynamo leads the series 2-0)
A tense contest in Moscow ended with Nikita Gusev making the difference for Dynamo. His 71st-minute marker snapped a 1-1 tie and gave the Blue-and-Whites a second victory in this series.
Gusev won the Gagarin Cup with SKA in 2017, but this season he is playing a big role in pushing his former club towards a first-round exit. After 2 (1+1) points in the opening game, he decided game two after SKA’s Mikhail Vorobyov failed to clear the puck from the corner. Nikita gained possession, circle around to the deep slot and unleashed a shot past Yegor Zavragin to settle the outcome.
Dynamo’s winner came after the home team had the better of the overtime period. Although much of the play was even, the Muscovites were far more accurate in their shooting – six out of eight attempts were on target – and that ultimately led to success. However, the preceding 60 minutes were more or less equal.
The home team got an early power play, but failed to take advantage. Instead, the teams traded chances throughout the first period. Dynamo almost took the lead in the 10th minute when Artyom Chernov and Pavel Kudryavtsev led a two-on-one rush, but Zavragin closed the door on that raid.
At the other end, SKA responded at once and Ivan Demidov opened the scoring. Nikita Zaitsev drilled the puck to the slot and the young forward reacted smartly to fire home. Dynamo hit back with a good chance for Maxim Dzhioshvili after a defensive lapse; Zavragin again made the save.
The home team tied the game just before the intermission. Not for the first time, SKA gave up possession in its own zone. Chernov picked up possession on the left-hand boards and picked out a perfect shot from the circle to find the top corner while Kudryavstev almost completely screened Zavragin’s view.
That proved to be the last goal in regulation. Both teams continued to trade opportunities. In the second period, the best chances came within moments of each other late in the session. First, Kudryavtsev’s lively game continued when he got onto Artyom Ilyenko’s feed from behind the net but failed to solve Zavragin. At the other end, Sergei Tolchinsky’s wrister from the circle clipped the crossbar and went over.
The third saw Dmitry Rashevsky force another good save from Zavragin, but in the closing stages SKA came close to taking the verdict. Maxim Motorgyin pulled off a spectacular triple save in the 53rd minute, denying Dmitry Yudin from the circle, coping with Zakhar Bardakov’s tester from a dead angle then getting across his crease to prevent Evgeny Kuznetsov from finding the open corner.
Kuznetsov might have won it for SKA in the closing minutes of the third. Demidov’s cross-ice feed offered the veteran a seemingly simple finish into the bottom left corner. However, he chose to return the favor for his young team-mate and Demidov failed to convert the chance. As a result, Dynamo survived to see the game into overtime and win it on Gusev’s goal.
