Green derby rivals both a win away from progress

Salavat Yulaev and Ak Bars are both one game away from advancing to the second round of the 2026 Gagarin Cup playoffs after victories on Sunday. Salavat enjoyed a 5-2 win at home to Avtomobilist, while Ak Bars needed a second period of overtime to see off Traktor in Chelyabinsk. Anvar Gatiyatulin’s team can finish the series on home ice on Tuesday, while Avtomobilist returns home to try to save its series on the same day.

Ufa closes on second round

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (1-0, 2-1, 2-1)
Salavat Yulaev leads the series 3-1

A 5-2 win on home ice in game four sees Salavat Yulaev heading back to Avtomobilist with the chance to wrap up this first-round series on Tuesday.

After dropping the opening game of the series, Viktor Kozlov’s team celebrated a third straight win to mark the club’s 200th KHL playoff encounter. Daniil Alalykin and Maxim Kuznetsov scored two each.

After Friday’s 3-4 loss, Avto head coach Nikolai Zavarukhin made changes. Brooks Macek was promoted to the top line alongside Daniel Sprong and Alexander Sharov. Anatoly Golyshev returned to action on a line with Stephane da Costa and Semyon Kizimov. Leading defenseman Kirill Vorobyov again missed out, while forward Yegor Chernikov made his playoff debut.

For Salavat Yulaev, Evgeny Kuznetsov returned to center the second line after serving a one-game suspension. But defenseman Evgeny Kulik was injured, bringing Ildan Gazimov back into the team as seventh D-man.

Just like Friday’s game, this one started with Salavat Yulaev on the front foot. The home team skated better and enjoyed the edge in the early play, giving Vladimir Galkin some early testers. Avtomobilist seemed to be caught off guard by the fast start and struggled to move play down the ice.

The fast start brought an early reward. Maxim Kuznetsov, who scored a late winner in the previous game, opened the scoring in the third minute. He advanced from the corner to the net and fired home beneath Galkin’s pads. After falling behind, the Motormen came into the game and outshot Ufa 14-9 in the first period. But Semyon Vyazovoi dealt impressively with everything that came his way and defenseman Sergei Varlov received warm applause from the home crowd for a crunching hit on four-goal Sprong during an Avto power play.

At the start of the second period Salavat Yulaev again dictated the play. Avtomobilist kept the home team at bay until the 26th minute, but that Alalykin’s redirect took a Yaroslav Tsulygin point shot away from Galkin to double the lead. The reply came a minute later when Sprong got on a two-on-one rush converted by former Salavat forward Alexander Sharov.

Later, the visitor lost key defenseman Jesse Blacker, then Sprong failed to beat Vyazovoi with a great chance on the power play. That miss proved costly: Sheldon Rempal went to the other end and made it 3-1 after 33 minutes.

The third period also began with a quick goal. However, despite Avtomobilist’s attempts to dictate the play in search of a way back into the contest, it was Kuznetsov on the mark again. Vladislav Yefremov picked out his partner as he moved down the right, and a shot as he entered the Avto zone chased Galkin from his net. Evgeny Alikin took over for his first playoff action of the season.

Despite a comfortable 4-1 lead, Salavat Yulaev continued to look for more goals. There was no intention of sitting back and killing time, and Alikin had a busy introduction to post season. Frustrated, Avtomobilist ran into penalty trouble – including Sprong’s slash at his former NHL team-mate Evgeny Kuznetsov. There was still time for the visitor to get a goal back – Golyshev scoring his first of the playoffs in the 56th minute. But hopes of a big fightback evaporated when Nikita Tryamkin was assessed a major penalty and Sergei Zborovsky followed him into the box. But even before that, Alalykin had scored his second of the game into an empty net, leaving the Motormen on the brink of crashing out.

Safonov wins it for Ak Bars in OT

Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 Ak Bars Kazan 3 2OT (1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Ak Bars leads the series 3-1

An overtime winner from Ilya Safonov decided the longest game of the season so far and put Ak Bars in a commanding position in its series against Traktor.

Safonov stopped the clock on 91:50 after Mitch Miller’s shot from the right-hand circle was blocked by Mikhail Grigorenko. The puck squirted wide of the net and cannoned off the boards, and Safonov reacted first to put it away.

The goal ensured that Maxim Arefyev earned a win on his first appearance in goal in these playoffs. The youngster took over from Timur Bilyalov after Traktor’s 3-2 success on Friday put the Chelyabinsk team back in contention in this series.

And there was more grounds for optimism among the home support as their heroes took an early lead in Sunday’s game. The home team got the first power play of the day after an interference call on Mikhail Fisenko. Unusually for a goal on the PP, it came via a counterattack: Maxim Dzhioshvili skated away, turned on the goal-line and played a pass to the slot for Josh Leivo to open the scoring on 2:57.

But Ak Bars turned the game around by the 12th minute. Dmitrij Jaskin tied it up when he forced the puck home from the slot after the visiting offense created a string of dangerous chances on Dmitry Nikolayev’s net. Then another Miller shot was touched past the goalie by Artyom Galimov to make it 2-1 at the first intermission.

The visitor began the second stanza looking to put the game out of reach. In the first eight minutes, Traktor was unable to get a shot at Arefyev as Ak Bars controlled the play. But things changed quickly. The young goalie had to make a big save to deny Vasily Glotov and in the immediate aftermath Alexander Barabanov pulled over the Traktor forward, earning himself a penalty. Twelve seconds later, the home team was level: Grigorenko’s angled shot prompted a scramble on the crease, Andrei Svetlakov was denied but Dzhioshvili buried the second rebound.

That was the end of the scoring in regulation. Traktor found the net again through Sergei Telegin in the 47th minute, but Ak Bars successfully challenged the play for a high stick and the goal was whistled off.

Traktor was two for two on the power play in the game, and almost made it three for three when Fisenko sat again midway through the third. Jordan Gross’s shot beat Arefyev, but came back off the post to keep the game tied.

And, at the start of the extras, another bench challenge saved Ak Bars from defeat. Dzhioshvili stuffed the puck home from close range on another power play, but this time the officials ruled that Arefyev was impeded.

After two successful bench challenges from the visitor, Traktor got a break via the video screens after 68 minutes. A point shot slid beneath Ivanov’s pads, but the review showed it did not fully cross the line before the goalie got a glove to it. The game went into a second period of overtime before Safonov got a legitimate winner at last.