Salavat makes it in game seven

A hard-fought 2-1 victory for Salavat Yulaev sealed a 4-3 win in its KHL playoff series against Sibir. That completes the first round of this year’s post season. In the second round, with teams playing cross-conference pairs, Western top seed Lokomotiv faces Avangard (starting Friday) and second seed Dynamo will take on Ak Bars (starting Saturday). The top Eastern seed, Traktor, plays Dinamo Minsk (also starting Saturday) and Salavat Yulaev is up against Spartak.

Ufa edges through decisive game

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

(Salavat Yulaev wins the series 4-3)

After a seven-game struggle, Salavat Yulaev secured its place in the second round of the 2025 Gagarin Cup playoffs. A 2-1 verdict over Sibir sends Viktor Kozlov’s team to a match-up against Spartak, which starts Friday in Ufa.

Sibir had to make changes for this game. Kirill Rasskazov and Ivan Klimovich were injured so Maxim Sushko and Maxim Karpov returned to the team. Taylor Beck, Andy Andreoff and Vladislav Kara formed the top line. For the home team, Josh Leivo shrugged off a minor knock to take his place.

Every previous game in this series had gone to the home team, which might have prompted Sibir to look for a livelier start here. Certainly, the visitor was the more interesting in the early exchanges. Pavel Gogolev had a dangerous early break, testing Alexander Samonov’s reactions in the Ufa net. In the fourth minute, Sibir thought it had the lead when Kara deflected Roman Rukavishnikov’s shot past the goalie. However, a video review showed that the puck did not fully cross the line.

Far from inspired by that reprieve, Ufa then gave up the first power play of the game and faced more challenges before killing Mikhail Naumenkov’s penalty. It was a nervy start from the host, which possibly felt fortunate to be goalless at the intermission.

However, Salavat Yulaev got a power play at the end of the opening frame and began the second on the power play. Sibir passed its first big defensive test but the game was barely back to five-on-five when Dennis Yan got free in the visitor’s zone and fired home a terrific snipe to open the scoring.

Sibir continued to press, with Gogolev again looking threatening. But the next goal, midway through the game, went to Salavat. Leivo’s feed from behind the net found Scott Wilson on the slot and he held off the attentions of the defense to double the lead.

For a time, the home fans had a little comfort, but at the start of the third period Sibir halved the lead. Just 21 seconds into the session Kara’s shot on the turn flashed into the path of Beck before deflecting off the Canadian’s skate and in.

From that point on, the game – and series – was up for grabs. The home team had more possession but always looked vulnerable to a counterattack. As the clock ticked down, temperatures rose and Sibir ensured a fiery finish. The visitor battled to the last second to try to drag the game into overtime. Visiting captain Sergei Shirokov worked hard to unsettle Samonov, but the home goalie kept his emotions in check to help his team secure a tough victory in a tough series.