OT win completes Round 2 line-up

Salavat Yulaev left it late, but Evgeny Kuznetsov and Sheldon Rempal put the Ufa club into the second round of the playoffs. Kuznetsov tied the game four seconds before the hooter, then assisted on Rempal’s winner in overtime. Salavat Yulaev will now face Lokomotiv in round two, with the series starting in Yaroslavl on April 8.

Late drama before Rempal wins it for Ufa

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3 SO (1-1, 1-1, 1-1)
Salavat Yulaev wins the series 4-2

Big players show up in the big moments. Evgeny Kuznetsov has had a quiet playoff so far, but when Salavat Yulaev needed something special, he delivered.

Viktor Kozlov’s team needed a win today to wrap up this series and avoid a testing game seven trip to Yekaterinburg. But when Sergei Gorbunov put the Motormen up 3-2 in the last minute of regulation, it looked like the visitor had done enough to extend the series.

Then came Kuznetsov. With barely 10 seconds left, Salavat Yulaev got possession in its own zone. Yegor Suchkov brought play forward and found Sheldon Rempal on the right. Rempal’s feed to the back door was perfectly weighted for the on-rushing Kuznetsov, who fired home with four seconds on the clock. The big bird was primed for take-off as the game headed into overtime.

The first period of the extras could not separate the teams, despite good opportunities at both ends. But within a minute of the restart, the home team found the winning combination. Kuznetsov was involved again, delivering a feed assist for Rempal to score a trademark goal and end Avtomobilist’s season.

Salavat Yulaev returned to Ufa following a 2-5 road loss in game five. But Viktor Kozlov’s team was still ahead in the series and could complete the job today with a win.

Avtomobilist had saved itself once, but needed another win to extend the series.

The home team was first to strike. Maxim Kuznetsov opened the scoring after eight minutes, taking over the puck in center ice and doing the rest himself. The visiting defense backed off and backed off until there was nowhere left to go, and Kuznetsov rifled home his fourth goal of the playoffs.

His more celebrated namesake also made a big impact in the first period, but not in the manner he would have hoped. In the 17th minute Evgeny was assessed a major penalty for hooking between Daniel Sprong’s legs, and the subsequent power play saw Avtomobilist tie the game through Brooks Macek.
Midway through the second period, the teams traded a pair of quick goals. Avtomobilist center Stephane da Costa emerged from the sin bin in the 30th minute, just in time to release Maxim Denezhkin on a counter that put the visitor up 2-1. But within two minutes, Ufa was level: Jack Rodewald redirected Alexei Vasilevsky’s point shot beyond Evgeny Alikin.

Anatoly Golyshev had the puck in the home net once again in the 35th minute. This time, though, the forward used his head – soccer-style – to nod it past Semyon Vyazovoi. A perfect play in the Champions League, but illegal on the ice; the score remained 2-2.

The game remained deadlocked until deep into the third period. Salavat Yulaev had the only power play of the session, but could do little with a numerical advantage. As the hooter drew near, the tempo dropped visibly – until the last minute.

Roman Gorbunov thought he’d won it for Avtomobilist on 59:27 when he surprised Vyazovoi with a wrist shot from the blue line that kept low and skidded into the net. But the drama was just beginning as Kuznetsov delivered his buzzer-beating game-saver.