Advantage West
Tuesday’s playoff action saw two Western Conference teams forge ahead in their series. Lokomotiv won 6-2 at Avangard in game three, then Spartak took a 4-2 verdict at home to Salavat Yulaev in the Gagarin Cup second round playoffs.
Railwaymen steam ahead
Avangard Omsk 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 6 (0-1, 1-1, 1-4)
(Lokomotiv leads the series 2-1)
A third-period goal rush set Lokomotiv on the road to victory in Omsk. Igor Nikitin’s team moves up 2-1 in this second round Gagarin Cup series after the teams split the opening games in Yaroslavl.
Igor Nikitin sent out an unchanged team following a 4-1 victory over the Hawks on Sunday. Avangard replaced defenseman Daniil Chayka with a 12th forward, Emil Galimov.
From the first puck drop, every inch of the rink was a battleground. Avangard was stronger at first, with Lokomotiv forced to ice the puck several times. However, the home team could not build on that advantage. Lokomotiv also created some promising chances, looking for quick counterattacks or using its size on the slot.
Nonetheless, there were few genuine scoring chances with both teams struggling to find a clear path to the net. It wasn’t until four minutes before the intermission that Lokomotiv managed to pressure Avangard on the slot and Yegor Surin stuffed home the opening goal. The home team looked for a quick response, but Lokomotiv won most of the individual battles to preserve its lead to the break.
The action kicked up another notch at the start of the second. Alexander Radulov landed a hit on home goalie Nikita Serebryakov behind his own net, then Nail Yakupov missed a great chance to tie the scores when he was all alone in front of Daniil Isayev’s net. Next, Byron Froese hit the crossbar.
Starting in the fifth minute of the frame, Lokomotiv built up a long spell of pressure on the Avangard net. The Railwaymen kept the puck in the home zone through several line changes and managed to get to the slot but Avangard managed to hold on without allowing another goal thanks to some great stops from Serebryakov. After surviving that, Avangard attempted its own version of that play, but Lokomotiv responded with its second goal. Alexei Bereglazov’s shot from the blue line found Maxim Beryozkin to redirect the puck home.
Loko looked comfortable with that two-goal cushion but Avangard grabbed an unexpected lifeline. Semyon Chistyakov fired in a point shot which hit Pavel Kraskovsky and looped over Isayev and into the net. That fortuitous bounce put the home team back in the game, although the next notable incident was a Lokomotiv power play that gave the visitor the chance to reassert itself.
Once back at equal strength, Avangard tried to step up again. Lokomotiv defended well and looked to play on the counter; one such chance saw Radulov close to making it 3-1. Late in the middle frame, the home team got its first power play but was unable to tie the game.
In the third, Avangard again looked to take the initiative but, again, Lokomotiv defended steadily. It wasn’t until midway through the session that the Hawks managed to generate something resembling a wave of attacks. However, the home team could not take its half chances and at the other end Maxim Shalunov scored a breakaway goal to make it 3-1.
That effectively broke the game. Avangard lost some of its zip and Lokomotiv forged ahead: Beryozkin’s second of the night made it 4-1.
With 7:41 to play, Guy Boucher went to six skaters. But the response was an empty-net goal from Alexander Polunin to make it five for Loko. With nothing to lose, Avangard continued with its net unguarded and with two minutes to play Ryan Spooner got a second for the home team. But the final word went to the visitor when Artur Kayumov added a sixth to complete a decisive victory.
Advantage Spartak after game three
Spartak Moscow 4 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 (1-0, 2-2, 1-0)
(Spartak leads the series 2-1)
Spartak got in front after three games of this series, taking the home opener in Moscow thanks to goals from Nikolai Goldobin, Nikita Yefremov, Yegor Zaitsev and Adam Ruzicka.
Salavat Yulaev handed a start to back-up goalie Semyon Vyazovoi, who had played just 21:45 minutes in this year’s playoffs to date. Pyotr Khokhryakov returned after illness to center the third line while captain Grigory Panin was available despite taking a bang in the previous game.
Spartak brought back Ansel Galimov, with Alexander Belyayev moving to the fourth line and Artyom Zagidulin continuing in goal.
The visitor made a bright start to the game, playing largely in front of the Spartak net and allowing Vyazovoi time to settle into action. Josh Leivo had a good chance to open the scoring, but failed to beat Zagidulin from close range. The Muscovites had to wait until the eighth minute to get a first shot on goal, but used that as a springboard to kickstart their offense. Ruzicka and Andrei Loktionov had a two-on-one counter that tested Vyazovoi before the home team got up thanks to Ivan Morozov’s line. Nikolai Goldobin, playing his 150th game for Alexei Zhamnov’s team, fired home a feed from his team-mate to separate the teams after an evenly matched opening frame.
Salavat Yulaev created a couple of decent chances early in the second, but then allowed Spartak to leap ahead. Defensemen Yefremov and Zaitsev made well-timed contributions to the attack and their goals pushed the lead to a comfortable 3-0.
But Ufa’s import-led offense is always dangerous, and Sheldon Rempal pulled a goal back midway through the game. That inspired Salavat Yulaev to greater heights and the renewed confidence led to another goal: Yegor Suchkov made it 2-3 to raise hopes of survival. And Spartak’s problems weren’t helped by an injury for experienced defenseman Dmitry Vishnevsky.
The third period saw Salavat pushing hard to save the game. However, Spartak held firm. The Red-and-Whites defended carefully and didn’t allow the visitor to make much of its territorial advantage. In the end, Spartak not only prevented the opposition from launching a final surge, but added a fourth goal in the 59th minute when Ruzicka beat Vyazovoi to make the final score 4-2.
