Dynamo keeps semi-final alive
A 3-1 win on home ice means Dynamo Moscow escaped a sweep at the hands of Traktor in the 2025 KHL playoff semi-finals. Now the teams are poised to continue their battle in Chelyabinsk, with Benoit Groulx’s men looking to finish the job on Tuesday.
Blue-and-Whites get a win at last
Dynamo Moscow 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 (1-0, 1-0, 1-1)
(Traktor leads the series 3-1)
Dynamo escaped a sweep in this year’s Gagarin Cup semi-final series against Traktor thanks to a 3-1 victory in game four. It’s the first time in eight playoff games that the Blue-and-Whites have got the better of their rival from Chelyabinsk, after losing 0-4 in round two a year ago.
Sunday’s game was also the first in this series to be decided by a margin greater than one goal, as Alexei Kudashov’s team offered a warning that the job is not quite done for the Eastern Conference top seed.
However, as the action is set to continue in the Urals on Tuesday, Benoit Groulx and his players still have a commanding lead in the series – plus the knowledge that only one team in KHL history has won after trailing by three games in the playoffs.
The home team had a boost ahead of this game with the return of defenseman Brennan Menell, who had not previously featured in the semi-final. However, neither Max Comtois (injury) nor Cedric Paquette (did not complete the previous game) were available. In their absence, Alexei Kudashov had a new second line of Anton Slepyshev, Ilya Mikheyev and Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi. Traktor, meanwhile, reshuffled every line except for Maxim Shabanov’s.
Dynamo was also helped at the start of the game when Artyom Blazhievsky caught Jordan Weal in the face with his stick. After the Muscovites’ power play was unable to show its stuff at all in regulation in the previous game, it now had four minutes to impress. However, with Weal remaining on the bench for much of the PP, there was little incision among the home offense. Apart from one effort that dinged the piping, there was not much to alarm Zach Fucale in the Traktor net.
At equal strength both teams created chances. Compared with the previous game, there were more mistakes in center ice and the action was more open as a result. Ultimately, Dynamo was able to take advantage: Blazhievsky was unable to clear the puck from his zone, then moments later the luckless defenseman deflected Shvets-Rogovoi’s shot into his own net.
That goal separated the teams at the intermission, but in the second period Traktor came out and took control of the play. Excellent control of the puck, intelligent work from the D-core in joining the offense and, most important, reacting fastest and winning puck battles saw the visitor enjoy a huge territorial advantage and a 20-9 shot count. Nonetheless, the only goal of the session went to Dynamo. A rare counterattack saw Dmitry Rashevsky win the puck on the boards. He went directly to the slot to screen Fucale, while Artyom Ilyenko found the scoring shot to make it 2-0 in the 26th minute.
Throughout this series, Traktor has proved it is up for a comeback. Groulx’s team trailed by two in the opening game, and fell behind twice before winning in overtime on Friday. So a goal for the visitor at the start of the final stanza could only have been cause for alarm. Defenseman Grigory Dronov potted his 19th of the current season and his second in as many games to halve the deficit and open the door for another fightback. His team-mates also believed and piled the pressure onto Vladislav Podyapolsky’s net. The home goalie would finish with 44 saves from a busy evening, but he would also emerge victorious. Slepyshev got his first goal of the post season to restore that two-goal cushion and even though Nikita Gusev’s empty-netter was whistled back, Traktor could not bridge that gap.
Dynamo’s win keeps this series alive, and the action continues Tuesday with game five in Chelyabinsk.
