Soshnikov hits game-winning hat-trick, Ufa misfires at Sibir
It’s all about goals. Scoring them, like Nikita Soshnikov, and stopping them, like Anton Krasotkin and Denis Kostin. Admiral’s Soshnikov potted a hat-trick, including the overtime winner, as the Sailors regained the lead in their series against Traktor. And Sibir’s goalies pooled their efforts to silence Salavat Yulaev’s offense: 15 goals in two games from Ufa, but none in the third as the Siberians grabbed a vital 2-0 victory.
Soshnikov hat-trick stuns Traktor
Admiral Vladivostok 4 Traktor Chelyabinsk 3 OT (2-0, 1-2, 0-1, 1-0)
(Admiral leads the series 2-1)
Underdog Admiral continues to punch above its weight in this series against the Eastern Conference top seed. After splitting the opening two games in Chelyabinsk, the Sailors won game three in Vladivostok to regain the lead in the series.
Both teams were unchanged for Monday’s clash, following Traktor’s 2-1 overtime victory at the weekend. And the rivals were destined to go all the way to overtime again in another competitive encounter. Admiral blew a 2-0 lead, recovered to get up 3-2 but could not hold on in regulation. Then, in the extras, Nikita Soshnikov completed his hat-trick to give the home team a 2-1 advantage in this Gagarin Cup first-round pairing.
Throughout the season, Admiral has played energetic hockey on home ice. Today was no exception, yet it still seemed to catch Traktor off guard. The visitor produced an error-strewn start and was punished in the fourth minute. Zach Fucale and Logan Day weren’t on the same wavelength as the goalie went behind the net. Day’s hurried clearance fell straight to Soshnikov, and he gleefully unwrapped that gift to open the scoring on his former club.
Traktor’s blunders kept coming. Alexander Rykov jumped off the bench but failed to control the puck on the blue line. Soshnikov pounced upon it and sent it deep, where Dmitry Zavgorodny had a surprisingly easy time evading Day and Steven Kampfer before setting up Soshnikov for the second goal of the game. The home team took a 2-0 lead to the intermission, despite Traktor leading the shot count 17-12.
Gradually, the visitor’s threat increased. Twice Traktor hit the piping in the second period and Admiral was pushed deeper into its own zone. Eventually, that pressure brought its reward. Kampfer pulled one goal back, then 63 seconds later his fellow defenseman Artyom Blazhievsky tied the game. Blazhievsky potted the overtime winner in Saturday’s encounter and continued his productive streak today. However, just as Kampfer’s evening had its ups and downs, so did Blazhievsky’s: his penalty helped Admiral regain the lead as Soshnikov assisted on Libor Sulak’s 38th-minute power play goal.
Traktor responded right at the start of the third period. This time Admiral’s defense got it wrong, coughing up the puck in its own zone and enabling Semyon Der-Arguchintsev to score. Both teams had power play chances in the third, with Soshnikov close to completing his hat-trick in regulation when presented with a rebound chance that dribbled narrowly wide.
He had to wait until the 77th minute to complete that treble. Once again, Traktor’s defense was not at its best: the visitor struggled to clear its lines, then Blazhievsky’s untimely stumble opened the path to goal for Soshnikov to force home the winner.
Sibir subdues Salavat strike force
Sibir Novosibirsk 2 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0 (1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
(Salavat Yulaev leads the series 2-1)
After blasting 15 goals in two games at home, Salavat Yulaev fired blanks on the road. It would be hard to imagine a better illustration of the unpredictable nature of playoff hockey.
After losing 0-7 and 2-8 on the road, Vadim Yepanchintsev made changes. Most obviously, Anton Krasotkin replaced Denis Kostin as starting goalie. That cemented the change that happened partway through the previous games – albeit only for 20 minutes. Krasotkin did well in the first period, making 12 saves, but sustained an injury in the process and could not continue. Kostin came back into the game and continued to frustrate the visiting forwards.
It wasn’t that Salavat Yulaev’s offense went away, but suddenly it wasn’t scoring at will. Between them, Kostin and Krasotkin made 36 saves to deny the visitor, while Ufa spent more than 16 minutes with the puck in Sibir territory but could not find a way through. A further 30 shots were blocked by their team-mates in a huge defensive effort.
None of that allowed much time for Sibir’s forwards to show their stuff. On the other hand, the home team needed just 20 seconds to open the scoring in this one. Andy Andreoff stole the puck in the Salavat zone, played it back to Yegor Alanov at the point and his shot bounced kindly for Alexei Yakovlev to score. That was the first KHL playoff goal at the new Sibir Arena after it opened in Sep. 2023.
Salavat Yulaev steadily played its way back into the game but in the first 10 minutes Sibir looked the more threatening team. Even a power play didn’t do much to help the visitor: Sergei Shirokov sat out a minor penalty without too much alarm.
Gradually the pressure intensified. Krasotkin made his first big save of the game in the 12th minute, clutching Vasilevsky’s long-range effort with an outstretched glove. Another power play at the end of the first kept play in Sibir’s zone, but it remained 1-0 at the intermission.
The change of goalie did not bring a change of fortune for Salavat Yulaev. Kostin kept making saves, his colleagues kept blocking shots. There were some anxious moments: Mikhail Naumenkov’s long shot almost skittered into the net off Kostin’s glove, Sheldon Rempal hit the post on another power play. But not even a major penalty on Trevor Murphy, who hit Nikita Zorkin so hard he broke his stick, brought a tying goal.
In the final frame, as expected, Salavat Yulaev poured forward in search of an equalizer. However, for the most part, the visiting forwards ran into a defensive wall on Sibir’s blue line and rarely managed to seriously test Kostin. At the other end, a couple of dangerous counters forced Alexander Samonov into big saves to deny Vladislav Yefremov and Ivan Klimovich. However, when Naumenkov fouled Taylor Beck in the 54th minute, Sibir’s first power play of the evening proved crucial. Beck played his role in setting up a PP goal for Valentin Pyanov to make it 2-0, and Viktor Kozlov’s team could find no way back from there.
