Winning start for home teams in the East

Day one of the 2026 KHL Playoffs began with Daniel Sprong firing Avtomobilist to victory over Salavat Yulaev. And the other Eastern Conference action saw Ak Bars edge past Traktor in overtime.

Sprong too strong for Ufa

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0 (0-0, 2-0, 0-0)
Avtomobilist leads the series 1-0

Two goals from Daniel Sprong and 31 saves from Vladimir Galkin gave Avtomobilist victory at the start of this first-round playoff series.

Galkin had never previously been the first-choice starter in the playoffs for the Motormen, but got the nod today after Evgeny Alikin suffered a concussion during the week. Meanwhile, Salavat Yulaev’s Evgeny Kuznetsov shrugged off an injury worry to take his place on the visitor’s second line.

The home team made the brighter start, although both sides were cautious early on. The first big chance went to Nikita Shashkov, who almost caught out Semyon Vyazovoi when the Ufa goalie dithered behind his net. Salavat Yulaev had a few promising shifts, but Avtomobilist looked more threatening after it simplified its game and played more on the rebound. That produced a good look for Anatoly Golyshev, who fired narrowly wide.

Salavat Yulaev remained patient, and almost snatched the lead when Sheldon Rempal had a dangerous counterattack. Galkin stopped that effort and a nervy game became fractious. Both teams faced penalties, and for a time Ufa was down to three skaters but held on to keep it goalless at the first intermission.

Throughout the regular season, Avtomobilist has impressed in the second period. Today was no exception. Sprong, a scoring revelation since his move from CSKA in January, scored twice in the first three minutes of the middle frame to record his first KHL playoff goals. The opener was a powerful shot that beat Vyazovoi to the short side, then he picked out the same corner after Alexander Sharov’s face-off win.  Two minutes and 26 seconds separated the goals.

That placed Salavat Yulaev in an unenviable position: to save the game, it would have to open up play against an Avtomobilist team that loves to counterattack. Kuznetsov had a chance to pull one goal back, but Galkin dealt with his solo breakaway.

However, for the most part Avtomobilist was inspired by its success and enjoyed greater chances – both in terms of quantity and quality. The home team held its 2-0 lead to the second intermission and looked set to close out the win.

But the final frame saw Salavat Yulaev pick up the attacking pace. The visitor outshot Avto 13-3 as it fought for a way back. True, Avtomobilist was content to sit deeper and cede territory as it protected its lead. As tensions flared, the teams produced a second fight: Semyon Kizimov and Devin Brosseau dropped the gloves, following an earlier bout between Jack Rodewald and Roman Gorbunov.

Midway through the third, Salavat Yulaev got its first fully-fledged power play of the night and came close to scoring. However, Galkin was alert and his defense remained solid. And, once back at equal strength, there were still fewer opportunities for the visitor as Avtomobilist shut down the game to make a winning start to post season.
 
Ak Bars Kazan 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 OT (0-1, 0-0, 2-1, 1-0)
Ak Bars leads the series 1-0

A last-minute goal from Vitaly Kravtsov took this playoff opener into overtime. Traktor’s record scorer saved his team from a loss in game one with just 20 seconds left on the clock.

However, in overtime, Ak Bars managed to secure a winning start to its playoff campaign. Traktor enjoyed the better of the play at the start of the extras, and had the first big chance to win it in the 73rd minute when Maxim Dzhioshvili skated clear on Timur Bilyalov’s net, only for the home goalie to produce a glove save.

At the other end, Alexander Chmelevski hit the post before Ilya Safonov claimed the winner in the 77th minute. A tiring Traktor defense could not muster much of a press as Ak Bars kept play in the visitor’s zone. And when Safonov tried to play the puck to the net he benefitted from a string of deflections to beat Dmitry Nikolayev and give the host a hard-fought win.

Earlier, Traktor threatened to make a mockery of the rankings. The first period saw the sixth seed outshoot Ak Bars (3) by 19-9. Kravtsov found the net late in the frame, but earlier the visitor thought it had the lead through Mikhail Goryunov-Rolgizer’s 11th-minute effort. That play survived one video review to establish that the forward had used to stick to steer the puck over the line. However, a bench challenge from Ak Bars brought a second look at the video, which established that the attacking player had impeded goalie Timur Bilyalov and the goal was disallowed.

But there were no questions about Kravtsov’s opener in the 16th minute. His productive partnership with Mikhail Grigorenko continued. First, Grigorenko saw a shot deflected back to him, then he dished off a pass for his team-mate to fire home a one-timer.

If the first period saw Traktor able to attack at will, the second brought a defensive clampdown. As a result, the play got scrappy and the referees’ whistles were among the more prominent features of a goalless frame.

Traktor held its lead until midway through the third period. However, after Michal Cajkovsky’s tripping minor, Ak Bars was able to dictate the play. The visitor killed the penalty, but the momentum remained with the home team and the Slovak defenseman was barely out of the box before Dmitrij Jaskin’s effort bounced around the slot and dropped for Alexei Pustozyorov to tie the game.

And another power play seemed to have won it for Ak Bars in the 56th minute. Nathan Todd was the scorer, collecting a pass in the right-hand circle and setting himself for a wrister that fizzed over Dmitry Nikolayev’s glove and into the net.

Grigorenko was the player in the box for that goal, but he redeemed himself in the closing seconds with the assist on Kravtsov’s late leveller. His backhand pass got the puck out of a scrum against boards and set up Kravtsov all alone in front of Bilyalov’s net.