Avangard and Severstal set for Blinov Cup decider

Avangard handed Bob Hartley a 3-0 loss on his return to Omsk as head coach of Lokomotiv. That keeps the Hawks unbeaten in their home tournament. Severstal also has three wins from three after sinking Sibir, and the two will meet on Sunday to decide the champion.

Blinov Cup

Unhappy return for Hartley

Avangard Omsk 3 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0 (1-0, 0-0, 2-0)

Of all the games in this season’s Blinov Cup, the meeting between Avangard and Lokomotiv was the most eagerly anticipated. Not just because it pitted the tournament host against the current KHL champion. This also marked Bob Hartley’s first game against Avangard after he left the club following four seasons and a Gagarin Cup win in 2021.

The game was incident-packed from the start. Avangard took the lead in the sixth minute on a short-handed goal from Vasily Ponomaryov. He added to his two assists in the previous game after the puck bounced his way via a linesman’s skate in center ice.

Shortly after that, we saw a fight between Avangard’s Marsel Ibragimov and Loko’s Daniil Misyul and the penalties kept coming. Lokomotiv spent much of the first period on the power play and outshot the host 13-3 but could not find the net and trailed 1-0 at the intermission.

The second period was scoreless, but there was still plenty to talk about. Mikhail Kotlyarevsky went close to extending Avangard’s lead before Alexander Polunin had a fantastic opportunity to tie the game at the other end. But the biggest talking point arrived in the 37th minute when Lokomotiv’s Yegor Surin had a goal whistled off. He chased Nikita Serebryakov behind the net, won possession and then redirected a shot into the net, but the officials ruled that he fouled the home goalie and Avangard was reprieved.

Instead, the next goal went to the home team midway through the third period. Georgy Ivanov went to the box and Avangard converted the power play when Alexander Volkov finished off a neat move to make it 2-0. Then, in the 52nd minute, Dmitry Rashevsky made it 3-0 when he banged the puck home from close range after Nikolai Prokhorkin drove it into the danger zone.

In the final moments, Misyul was ejected from the game after cross-checking Prokhorkin in the face. Avangard secured the shut-out win; Loko fell to a second loss in three games.

Dumbadze leads Severstal to victory

Sibir Novosibirsk 1 Severstal Cherepovets 3 (1-1, 0-0, 0-2)

David Dumbadze had a hand in all three goals as Severstal maintained its winning start at the Blinov Cup.

The forward scored two and assisted on Nikolai Chebykin’s empty-netter as the Lynx recorded a 3-1 verdict over Severstal to remain at the top of the tournament standings.

For the second game in a row, Sibir opened the scoring but fell to a third successive loss in Omsk.

Both teams deployed reserve goalies: Dmitry Lozebnikov for Sibir and Timofei Korolev for Severstal. Danil Aimurzin, who scored three points in Severstal’s previous game, was rested today.

The early exchanges were cautious, with barely a chance at either end. That changed when an error in center ice sent Ivan Klimovich on a two-on-one break to open the scoring.

Sibir thought it had doubled the lead moments later when Ilya Lyuzenkov converted a rebound after Alexander Pershakov’s effort hit the post. However, Severstal lodged a bench challenge and the review confirmed that Korolev was fouled in the build-up. That gave Severstal a lift and Dumbadze tied the game before the intermission.

The middle frame was goalless, but Severstal settled the outcome in the third. There was a reprieve early on when Vladimir Tkachyov created a good chance for himself but failed to take advantage. The breakthrough came at the other end with seven to play: Dumbadze’s wrister from distance came through traffic to make it 2-1.

With 90 seconds to play, Sibir went for a sixth skater only to see Chebykin add an empty-net goal to his pair of assists. Severstal claimed a third win in three games, Sibir fell to a third loss from three.