Ak Bars advances, Avto fights on

An overtime winner from Dmitrij Jaskin sent Ak Bars into the second round of the 2026 KHL playoffs. His 61st-minute strike earned a 2-1 win over Traktor, settling the series in five games. The series between Avtomobilist and Salavat Yulaev returns to Ufa after Stepan Khripunov lead the Motormen to a 5-2 win. Salavat will hope to finish the job on Thursday, but saw its advantage reduced to 3-2.

Khripunov sinks Salavat Yulaev

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

A hat-trick from Stepan Khripunov led the Motormen to a vital victory in Yekaterinburg, keeping this KHL first-round playoff series alive.

Salavat Yulaev still has a 3-2 advantage and can wrap things up on home ice on Thursday, but today Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team did enough to extend its season for at least one more game.

The home head coach made big changes. Evgeny Alikin took over as starting goalie, while defensive leader Jesse Blacker was out injured. Alexei Byvaltsev and Maxim Denezhkin returned to the attack.

The visitor made just one change, but it was a notable one: Evgeny Kuznetsov was replaced by Denis Yan. Kuznetsov, who missed game three through suspension, had no points in his three playoff outings to date.

Avtomobilist got off to a perfect start in the second minute when Alexander Sharov redirected a Daniel Sprong shot past the startled Semyon Vyazovoi in the Ufa net. Salavat Yulaev continued to play with an aggressive forecheck, but gained little from its efforts. Instead, Khripunov doubled the lead with his first of the game, getting the vital touch on Sergei Zborovsky’s shot.

Neither team was keen to spend time in center ice, and Avtomobilist looked much better without the puck than in its losses in Ufa. Shots came flying in at both ends, and the host’s efforts tended to be the more threatening. Sharov might have got his second with an attempt from the slot, while at the other end Nikita Zorkin fluffed a breakaway chance on the penalty kill late in the opening stanza.

The power play continued after the intermission and Sprong claimed his fifth goal of the playoffs to open a commanding 3-0 lead. The visitor, meanwhile, could not convert its power plays. At equal strength, Avtomobilist defended sensibly, denying Salavat the chance to profit on the counter. Late in the frame, Khripunov made it 4-0: similar to his first goal, he redirected a shot from the blue line past Vyazovoi.

That was the visiting goalie’s last act. Ilya Konovalov came out for the third period to play his first minutes in the 2026 playoffs. Ufa head coach Viktor Kozlov seemed to be looking ahead to game six and saw some reason for optimism when Ildan Gazimov got a shorthanded consolation goal.

But this was Khripunov’s day. The forward went out on the penalty kill and claimed an empty net goal with five minutes left, completing the first hat-trick of this year’s playoffs. A late goal from Devin Brosseau made little difference to the outcome as Avtomobilist eased to victory.

Jaskin goal sends Ak Bars through

Ak Bars Kazan 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 OT (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
Ak Bars wins the series 4-1

Quick goals were the order of the day for Ak Bars as Anvar Gatiyatulin’s team became the first club from the East to progress in this year’s playoffs.

The Kazan club took the lead after just seven seconds of the game. Then, at the start of overtime, the host needed 57 seconds to decide tonight’s result and seal a 4-1 series success.

Ak Bars began the extras on the power play following Andrei Svetlakov’s last-minute infringement. And when the teams resumed to play four-on-three, that extra space made all the difference. Visiting defenseman Michal Cajkovsky was left in no man’s land, unsure whether to pressure Kirill Semyonov as he held the puck in the right-hand circle, or close on Jaskin as the Czech forward lurked beside the net.

His indecision enabled Semyonov to thread a pass to his team-mate, who sprung into action and beat Dmitry Nikolayev from close range, shutting the book on Traktor’s season.

The game began with a record-breaking goal. Ak Bars got in front after just seven seconds with the fastest goal in KHL playoff history. It went to Artyom Galimov, who finished off after Ilya Safonov drove forward from the opening face-off and picked out his team-mate with a diagonal pass to the edge of the right-hand circle.

Curiously, the previous record was also a goal against Traktor: Konstantin Pushkatyov put Barys ahead in 11 seconds when the teams met in the first round in 2017. Traktor went on to lose that game 5-2.

Rocked by that early blow, Traktor almost hit back immediately. Timur Bilyalov padded away Vitaly Kravtsov’s long-range effort, and his defense scrambled to prevent Josh Leivo from finding an open corner.

And the visitor continued to edge the first-period play, outshooting Ak Bars 10-5 and enjoying noticeably more offensive possession.

However, Traktor could not find a tying goal until deep into the second period. When it came in the 34th minute, it was Cajkovsky’s 200th KHL point, and his first in this year’s playoffs.

Alexander Kadeikin did a great job bringing play into the Ak Bars zone and keeping play alive even after falling to his knees. He managed to slide the puck to the Slovak defenseman, whose shot from the top of the circle stayed low and found the net via a deflection off Alexei Marchenko.

In the third period, Traktor was the livelier team. The visitor topped the shot count 11-4 and looked to test Bilyalov at any opportunity. However, Ak Bars had more possession through the 20 minutes and was able to take it to overtime for the third time in the series. And, for the third time, Ak Bars prevailed in the extras to clinch a place in the next round.