Shabanov shoots Traktor into final

Traktor is on its way to the 2025 Gagarin Cup final after a dramatic finish in Chelyabinsk this afternoon. Benoit Groulx’s team was looking to wrap up the series in game five but blew a 3-1 lead in the third period. However, with overtime looming, Maxim Shabanov grabbed a 59th-minute winner to send the home team through to face Lokomotiv.

Dynamo fightback falls short

Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 Dynamo Moscow 3 (0-1, 3-0, 1-2)

(Traktor wins the series 4-1)

Maxim Shabanov, Traktor’s leading scorer in the regular season, was Chelyabinsk’s hero as he fired the team to the Gagarin Cup final. The 24-year-old scored twice in this game, including the winning goal on 58:32, to secure a 4-3 win over Dynamo on the night, and a 4-1 success in this 2025 KHL playoff semi-final series.

Last time Traktor played in the final, Shabanov was just 12 and taking the first steps in his hockey career. Now he’s a lynchpin of his hometown team and could yet lead it to a first ever national championship. Neither in the KHL, the Russian Superleague or the Soviet era has Traktor come top of the pile.

Shabanov’s big moment came after Dynamo had clawed back a 1-3 deficit to tie this game in the third period. Thoughts were turning to overtime when he and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev brought play out of their own zone. At first glance, there wasn’t much on: Dynamo had defensemen covering and there was no offensive overload. Plus, after three minutes of unbroken play, nobody had the wheels to sprint through on Maxim Motorygin’s net. But the two forwards fashioned an opening with a couple of drop passes before Shabanov roasted a wrist shot from the top of the left-hand circle. Motorygin was beaten and, despite a desperate late surge, so was Dynamo.

The Muscovites managed to extend this series by winning game four on Sunday and escaping a sweep. Today, the visitor got ahead in the first period. The first power play of the game was just ending as Maxim Dzhioshvili got the finishing touch on Igor Ozhiganov’s effort to beat Zach Fucale in the 14th minute.

Traktor responded strongly, creating some good chances before the intermission. But Vladislav Podyapolsky kept the home team at bay, denying Steven Kampfer when he had the best opportunity to tie the game. Podyapolsky was beaten in the 25th minute when Vasily Glotov got through the center, waiting for the goaltender to commit himself, then calmly finished from close range.

Podyapolsky had to leave the game with an injury in the 29th minute, and Traktor needed just 46 seconds to solve Motorygin. The incoming goalie made two good saves in that time, but was unable to deny Shabanov his first of the game. Then Dzhioshvili and Artyom Sergeyev suffered a breakdown in communication, Nikita Korostelyov grabbed the loose puck and Motorygin could not stop a third Traktor goal.

Up 3-1 at the second intermission, Traktor seemed set for a comfortable passage into the final. But Dynamo had other ideas. Brennan Menell needed just 20 seconds to halve the deficit on the power play. The visitor visibly grew in confidence and ambition, pushing forward in search of a tying goal. Reward came after 55 minutes when Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi pounced on a rebound to tie the game. However, hopes of bringing the series back to Moscow were extinguished by Shabanov’s second of the night.

Traktor advances to face Lokomotiv in the 2025 Gagarin Cup final. It’s a repeat of last year’s semi-final, which the Railwaymen swept. It’s also the first time that the final has involved the two conference winners, and will end with a new name on the trophy. The two contenders have lost three previous finals (2009, 2024 for Lokomotiv, 2013 for Traktor) but one of them must break its duck this year.