Traktor progresses, Sibir forces game seven

Sunday’s Eastern Conference action brought one more series winner and set up another game seven. Traktor’s 2-0 victory at Admiral put Benoit Groulx’s team through to the second round of the 2025 KHL playoffs. Meanwhile, Sibir defeated Salavat Yulaev 5-2 to send the teams back to Ufa for a final showdown on Tuesday.

Traktor moves on in Vladivostok

Admiral Vladivostok 0 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 (0-0, 0-1, 0-1)

(Traktor wins the series 4-2)

Traktor joins Avangard in representing the Eastern Conference in the second round of this year’s KHL playoffs. A hard-fought win on the road in Vladivostok completed this series in six games.

That was tighter than many expected: Traktor topped the Eastern Conference in regular season thanks to consistent form from start to finish. Admiral, meanwhile, limped into eighth place despite losing its last five games of the campaign. But the Sailors were revitalized in post season, taking two wins and opening a 4-0 lead in Chelyabinsk in game five only to fall victim to a spectacular fightback.

Captain Nikita Soshnikov and defenseman Mario Grman missed that game and returned here. Traktor put Vitaly Kravtsov onto the first line, and also handed goalie Sergei Mylnikov his first start of the playoffs ahead of Zach Fucale.

Unfortunately for Mylnikov, his game was done in the 13th minute when injury made it impossible for him to continue. Fucale resumed his role and, coincidentally, the action livened up. Shortly after the goalie change, Traktor’s Vladimir Tkachyov had a chance of a short-handed goal. His breakaway was halted illegally by Georgy Solyannikov and the visitor had a penalty shot. Maxim Shabanov had the attempt and got it half right: he sat goalie Andrei Mishurov on the ice but couldn’t keep the puck on his stick long enough to finish.

Admiral also had chances in an eventful opening stanza. Libor Sulak hit the post early on, and Daniil Gutik frequently tested Traktor’s goalies.

However, the first goal had to wait until midway through the second period. It went to Traktor when two defensemen rolled into the Sailors’ zone and Sergei Telegin fired in an unstoppable shot. That was the first time in this series that Traktor had opened the scoring. The home team got on the power play soon afterwards, but could not find a tying goal. Then Vyacheslav Osnovin was the second Admiral player denied by the piping as Traktor just about preserved its lead to the intermission.

In the third period, with its season in the balance, Admiral stepped up its offense in search of a game-saving goal. The Sailors outshot their visitor twice over, but Fucale was back to his regular season form after an uncertain start to the playoffs. He frustrated the home offense and, in the final minute, Tkachyov grabbed an empty-netter to secure the verdict in game and series.

Sibir sends series back to Ufa

Sibir Novosibirsk 5 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 (0-1, 4-1, 1-0)

(Series tied at 3-3)

This fascinating series is going the full distance. Sibir recovered from allowing the first goal to win game six 5-2 and tie the series. However, Vadim Yepanchintsev’s men will have to break the trend of home victories if it is to advance to the next round via Tuesday’s decisive showdown in Ufa.

After such a fast start to the series, with Salavat Yulaev plundering 15 goals in the first two games, not many would have predicted a winner-takes-all finale. Yet in the wider context, Salavat Yulaev’s playoff problems are nothing new. In two previous campaigns  under Viktor Kozlov, the Bashkir club has looked good in regular season but fallen at the first hurdle. Sibir is hoping to be the latest team to exploit this apparent frailty.

In the first period, though, everything seemed to be going the visitor’s way. Although Sibir welcomed back captain Sergei Shirokov, who missed the previous game with a minor injury, there was little else for the home team to enjoy. Salavat Yulaev dominated the play, outshooting Sibir 13-6, and the home team picked up four penalties along the way. Ufa’s reward came in the 16th minute when Sheldon Rempal – a hat-trick hero in the previous game – opened the scoring.

In the second period, though, Sibir sorted out its disciplinary problems and turned the game around. An unpleasant incident saw Kirill Rasskazov stretchered off the ice and Artyom Pimenov assessed a tripping minor in the 25th minute. Sibir converted that power play thanks to Andy Andreoff – Shirokov among the assists – and 30 seconds later the home team was ahead through Ivan Klimovich.

Salavat Yulaev wasted no time in responding with Pyotr Khokhryakov tying the game on 27:13. But the balance of play had fundamentally shifted. Now Sibir was in the ascendancy, and it was Ufa that ran into penalty trouble. Midway through the session Valentin Pyanov restored the home lead with a power play goal off another Shirokov assist. Then Nikita Zorkin got a major penalty for a slash, Vladislav Yefremov followed him into the box and Pyanov turned provider as Trevor Murphy made it 4-2 during a five-on-three power play in the 39th minute. The visitor swapped goalies, with Semyon Vyazovoi replacing starter Alexander Samonov, and made it to the intermission without sustaining further damage.

However, there would be no third-period drama. Sibir added a fifth goal – Klimovich, short-handed, potting his second of the game after 47 minutes – and that was enough to sink Salavat Yulaev. Now it all comes down to a one-off decider on Tuesday.