Overtime road wins in the West

Both of Saturday’s Western Conference playoffs went to overtime, and both ended with the away team victorious. Sam Anas struck after three minutes of the extras to put Dinamo Minsk up 3-0 on Dynamo Moscow after a 1-1 tie in the Russian capital. Across town, Spartak’s Ivan Morozov grabbed a late tying goal against Lokomotiv, but the Railwaymen rebounded to win it on Artur Kayumov’s redirect. The defending champ is up 2-1 in that series.

Kayumov gives Loko OT win

Spartak Moscow 3 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (1-2, 1-0, 1-1, 0-1)
Lokomotiv leads the series 2-1

Artur Kayumov’s overtime winner saw Lokomotiv regain the lead in its KHL playoff first round series against Spartak.

The 26-year-old picked a timely moment to score his first goal of this year’s post season, netting after five minutes of the extras to snap a 3-3 tie.

The defending champion was close to winning this in regulation, but allowed a tying goal from Ivan Morozov with just 90 seconds left to play.

But Bob Hartley’s men shrugged off that disappointment to settled it when Kayumov wriggled in front of Semyon Bychkov on the slot to apply the redirect to Rushan Rafikov’s point shot.

Lokomotiv got off to a perfect start in Saturday’s game, opening the scoring after just 51 seconds. Maxim Beryozkin did a good job to win possession behind the Spartak net and his pass to the face-off circle was met by Maxim Shalunov, who fired a one-timer past Alexander Georgiyev.

The lead did not last long. Spartak tied the game in the seventh minute after Yegor Filin led an attack down the right flank. The youngster went behind the net and knocked a backhand feed to the slot for Daniil Gutik to find the net despite slightly mistiming his shot.

And the goals kept coming. The Railwaymen restored their lead after 10 minutes through Alexander Radulov. The veteran forward drew on all his experience to get into position between the hash marks and redirected Daniil Misyul’s long-range effort into the net.

Although this was turning into a high-scoring period, there were relatively few shots on target. Spartak edged the possession, but managed just two attempts at Daniil Isayev. Lokomotiv was better at testing Georgiyev, and almost had a third in the last minute when Beryozkin’s shot from a tight angle clipped the outside of the post.

In the second period, the play was fairly similar. Lokomotiv had more possession, but neither team was getting many shots off. And there were long passages of play that got bogged down in center ice.

However, when Spartak managed to get some time in Loko territory, it led to a tying goal midway through the game. Pavel Poryadin made the breakthrough, turning sharply in the circle, advancing and finding the top shelf while Isayev was screened.
Stung, Lokomotiv hit back with a couple of good chances. Radulov found Georgy Ivanov with the goal seemingly at his mercy, but Georgiyev came from nowhere to make a spectacular sprawling save. Then Surin found space on the slot and deposited a backhand shot against the piping as the home net led a charmed life.

The remained deadlocked until the third period. But in the 47th minute, Filin’s foul gave Lokomotiv its first power play of the game. Seven seconds later, the defending champion had the lead again. Radulov was the architect, with a lovely pass from the corner to the back door where Byron Froese was waiting to put the puck in the net.

Froese almost blotted his copybook on his next shift, picking up a penalty for tripping, but his team-mates reprieved him with a strong PK.
It looked as though time was running out for Spartak, but after Georgiyev went to the bench, the Red-and-Whites found a tying goal with 90 seconds left.

Ivan Morozov was the scorer, finishing off after a scramble in front of Daniil Isayev. Just two days after Spartak won in OT in Yaroslavl, the teams were going into the extras once again.

Minsk one game away from advancing

Dynamo Moscow 1 Dinamo Minsk 2 OT (0-1, 0-0, 1-0, 0-1)
Minsk leads the series 3-0

An overtime goal from Sam Anas secured a third successive victory for Dinamo Minsk as the Muscovites’ lack of firepower continues to hurt.

The Russian team has been unable to score more than once in any game in this year’s playoffs, and will surely need to change that immediately if it is not to fall to a first-round sweep.

Today, Vyacheslav Kozlov’s men showed far greater offensive intent: more than 18 minutes of attacking possession and 32 shots at Zach Fucale. But the end result was the same: an Artyom Sergeyev goal in the third period was the only reward, and a 1-1 tie led to defeat in OT.

The change in emphasis from the Muscovites were visible in the first period. Dynamo had 11 shots on goal in the opening frame – compared with just 17 in the whole of the previous 1-4 loss in Belarus.

But it still could not score, and fell behind late in the session when Minsk delivered a classic counterpunch. Xavier Ouellet fired the puck off his own end boards, Vitaly Pinchuk raced onto it and turned a clearance into a stretch pass before sending a wrister past Vladislav Podyapolsky.

The second period followed a similar pattern, with the home team having more possession but failing to beat Fucale. Minsk played on the counter, and probably had the better scoring chances: Vadim Shipachyov forced Podyapolsky into a smart blocker save, then won a duel with Belkin after the Belarusian youngster robbed Magomed Sharakanov of the puck.

\It wasn’t until midway through the third that Moscow finally drew level. Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi’s quick-thinking earned him space in front of Fucale’s net, his pass kept the defense guessing and Sergeyev was the beneficiary to make it 1-1.

In the closing stages, the game became more open with neither team apparently eager to go to overtime. However, neither team was able to deliver the killer blow until the extras.

Then Anas, this season’s leading scorer, extended his hot streak to eight games with the winning goal. Alex Limoges won possession in his own zone and set Minsk’s top line away on the counter. A tic-tac-toe move sent the puck via Pinchuk to Anas, whose shot stopped the clock on 63:14.