Magnitka fights back to stay in contention, Ak Bars ties it up

Defending champion Metallurg is still in the Gagarin Cup race – but Andrei Razin’s men needed two late goals to beat Avangard and escape a round-one sweep. In Kazan, Ak Bars blitzed Avtomobilist in the first period, setting up a win that ties the series after four games. 

Late goals keep defending champion in contention

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

(Avangard leads the series 3-1)

Metallurg was 20 minutes away from elimination in this first-round series, but hit back in the third period to get its first win of post-season. Wiping out the Hawks’ early lead enabled the Steelmen to haul the action back to Magnitogorsk for game five on Thursday.

Andrei Razin’s team got a huge boost with the return of captain Yegor Yakovlev, making his first appearance of post season. Troy Josephs dropped out of the line-up, while Ilya Nabokov returned in goal. Avangard made just one change, replacing Mark Verba with Danil Bashkirov on the fourth line.

Avangard was eager to get the series done today and began the game on the front foot. That led to an early goal when Semyon Chistyakov intercepted a wayward pass out of defense and advanced to fire a shot inside Nabokov’s near post. With less than three minutes played, Metallurg was in deep trouble, and things got worse almost immediately when Avangard got the first power play of the game.

Magnitka killed that penalty, but continued to struggle with the home team’s offense. Mike McLeod missed a great chance to extend the lead at one end, while at the other Nikita Serebryakov was rarely called into meaningful action.

Gradually the visitor gained a greater share of possession, but had little opportunity to find space to build dangerous attacks.

The game changed in the second period. Suddenly Metallurg stepped up the offense and spent far more time in Avangard territory. Nikita Mikhailis came close to a tying goal, but the post rescued the home team. Midway through the session, a Metallurg power play caused more trouble for the Hawks, but some solid defense – and frequent blocked shots – preserved the lead. Back at equal strength, the visitor maintained its control of the game. Yegor Korobkin and Dmitry Silantyev both went close, but it remained 1-0 at the second intermission.

That left the defending champion with just 20 minutes to save its season. Finally, the breakthrough arrived six minutes into the final frame. Denis Zernov pounced on a loose puck, picked out a superb pass for the wide-open Mikhailis and saw the Kazakh international score for the second game in a row. Avangard almost hit back right away: Ryan Spooner’s shot dribbled onto the goal line, but a defenseman whipped it to safety before it could cross the line. And the home team had more chances to restore the lead. Ivan Igumnov went close, Konstantin Okulov had two good opportunities, but Metallurg stayed in the game.

The winner came late. In the 58th minute, Nikita Kamalov’s point shot bounced onto the slot and Luke Johnson was first to react, giving Metallurg a vital lead. Avangard almost immediately withdrew Serebryakov for a sixth skater, but within seconds Valery Orekhov found the empty net to make it 3-1. Magnitka still has a long way to travel to save this series, but today’s climax could just be a shift in the momentum between these teams. 

All-square after Ak Bars romps past Motormen

Ak Bars Kazan 7 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (4-0, 2-2, 1-0)

(Series tied at 2-2)

A first-period blitz put Ak Bars on course for a big win in game four of its series against Avtomobilist. That leaves the teams deadlocked as they return to Yekaterinburg, with at least two more games needed to settle the outcome.

The start of the game could not have gone better for the home team. Ak Bars was up by four midway through the first period, all but securing the win with that early blitz. Stepan Falkovsky got things started in the second minute, firing in a wrist shot from the point to beat Vladimir Galkin. In the sixth minute, a gift from Andrei Obidin – whose no-look pass went straight to Alexander Barabanov – presented the home team with a second goal.

On 9:10, Ilya Safonov made it 3-0 with a fine finish from close range. Avtomobilist called a time-out, but nothing much changed. After 10 minutes, Nikita Dynyak made it 4-0, chasing Galkin from the net in favor of Evgeny Alikin.

At last there was some respite for Avtomobilist when Dmitrij Jaskin got a penalty. A rare test for Timur Bilyalov in the home net saw him deflect Semyon Kizimov’s shot onto the crossbar, but this was very much the home team’s first period.

Avtomobilist didn’t give up, despite the unpromising game situation. The second period saw the visitor try to claw back the deficit. In the 25th minute, Anatoly Golyshev was credited with his team’s first goal after a huge scramble on Bilyalov’s crease. The home bench challenged the play, claiming a hand pass in the build-up, but amid a genuine crowd scene it was impossible for the video to determine any wrongdoing.

There was more to come, with Alexander Sharov making it 2-4 midway through the session. For a moment, it seemed that the contest was coming back to life, but Ak Bars responded quickly to shut it down again. Nic Petan and Kirill Semyonov got on a two-on-one break and exchanged passes before Petan made it five. Then Barabanov potted his second of the night on the power play to restore a four-goal lead before second intermission.

The third period was quieter than the previous two. Ak Bars was happy to close out the win, while Avtomobilist perhaps understood that energies would be better preserved for a most promising game situation. Late on, the home team added a seventh goal when Artyom Galimov redirected Alexei Marchenko’s point shot into the net. Barabanov added an assist to his earlier goals as Ak Bars completed a rout.