Advantage Avangard as Round 2 starts

The start of the second round saw 19 saves from Nikita Serebryakov and two goals from Konstantin Okulov lead the Hawks to victory over CSKA.

Okulov scores twice as CSKA fires blanks

Avangard Omsk 3 CSKA Moscow 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)
Avangard leads the series 1-0

Igor Nikitin’s CSKA is famed for its rigorous defensive play, yet it was Guy Boucher’s Avangard that claimed a shut-out in the opening game of this Gagarin Cup Round Two series.

This East vs West match-up is a repeat of the finals in 2019 and 2021, with the teams claiming one cup each from those encounters.

The Hawks came into the series as the higher seed after finishing second in the Eastern Conference, while CSKA was fourth in the West. Both teams enjoyed 4-1 series successes in round one.

Tuesday’s game began with high intensity, but for a long time play was bogged down in center ice. The first sign of change came in the fifth minute when CSKA got on the power play; Avangard defended well, and right after the end of the penalty, Giovanni Fiore created his team’s first good chance.

Nikolai Prokhorkin, a former CSKA player who produced a series-clinching performance in game five against Neftekhimik, then had a couple of good chances to open the scoring, forcing big saves from Dmitry Gamzin in the Muscovites’ net. After that, the Hawks got their first power play of the game and quickly converted it into the opening goal. Andrew Poturalski set up another former CSKA forward, Konstantin Okulov, and the team’s leading scorer in these playoffs took full advantage. In response, the visitor tried to raise the tempo but even a power play late in the frame could not bring a serious upswing in Nikita Serebryakov’s workload. The home goalie faced just four shots in the opening frame.

The second period began with another protracted arm wrestle. CSKA tried to dictate the play in Avangard’s zone, but the home defense never allowed its opponent to settle in possession. On offense, the host played patiently, waiting for chances to exploit any mistakes. Instead of scoring chances, we saw more skirmishes between players and ex-Avangard forward Klim Kostin was one of the more active combatants. Back in the first period, Kostin’s big hit knocked Semyon Chistyakov out of the game, but even in the absence of a key Omsk defenseman CSKA had to wait until the midpoint of the game to create its first serious scoring chance. Avangard failed to clear its lines and Maxim Sorkin surged forward, only to be denied by Serebryakov.

That incident was something of a turning point and, at least for a time, CSKA dominated the play. At last, the puck was sticking in the home zone and chances soon followed. Serebryakov produced a fantastic stick save to rob Dmitry Buchelnikov of an equalizer.

The second commercial break came at a good time for the home team, which used the pause to regroup and move play down the ice. A CSKA power play threatened to halt that momentum, but the Hawks produced a short-handed goal when Fiore broke and Mike McLeod finished the odd-man rush to make it 2-0.

In previous games, we’ve seen Nikitin teams shut down games and defend a lead in th third period. Today we saw the opposite: CSKA needed to chase, and Avangard focused on blocking the play in center ice and keeping the puck away from Serebryakov’s net. It wasn’t until the sixth minute of the session that we saw a real threat to the home team, but Nick Ebert failed to take advantage. For the most part, the visiting forwards ran into dead ends before crossing the blue line.

With 3:40 to play, Gamzin went to the bench and CSKA finally managed to establish possession in the Avangard zone. But instead of getting back into the game, the Muscovites suffered a killer blow with 14 seconds on the clock: Okulov put his second of the night into an empty net to seal a 3-0 win.