Ak Bars opens with road win

Dinamo Minsk was the only team to enjoy a sweep in round one. But so far, the Belarusians are the only team to drop a home game in round two, falling 1-2 against Ak Bars on Wednesday evening.

Pustozyorov at the double

Dinamo Minsk 1 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (0-0, 0-1, 1-1)
Ak Bars leads the series 1-0

Two goals from Alexei Pustozyorov got Ak Bars off to a winning start in its 2026 Gagarin Cup Round 2 playoff series against Dinamo Minsk.

The home team welcomed back Yegor Borikov, who scored in the first two playoff games but was injured in the third and missed the fourth. Ak Bars also had a notable returnee as Nikita Dynyak slotted into the fourth line alongside Pustozyorov and Dmitry Katelevsky.

A hard-fought game in Belarus went right down to the wire, with the teams trading two late goals in a dramatic finish.

But for much of the evening, Pustozyorov’s second-period opener looked set to settle the outcome. The 25-year-old broke the deadlock in the 26th minute when Dinamo got caught changing on the fly. Ak Bars launched an effective counter, getting the puck to Pustozyorov in center ice for him to race away and put a wrister into the top corner.

Earlier, the visitor made the brighter start in the first period. In the opening exchanges, Alexander Chmevelski and Mitch Miller went close before the home team managed to get into the game. It wasn’t until midway through the first period that Timur Bilyalov had his first save to make, getting behind a deflected shot from Bogdan Belkin. Late in the first period, Stanislav Galiyev came close to opening the scoring with a shot that came back off the crossbar.

At the start of the second period, Dinamo stepped up its attacking game. However, it’s efforts fell short of seriously extending Bilyalov in the visitor’s net.

Pustozyorov’s goal came with Ak Bars’ first shot of the middle frame and once Kazan got in front it defended well to keep the Belarusians to the outside.
However, there was a big chance at the start of the third and once again Galiyev was involved. The forward, who scored twice to settle game four of the previous series, raced onto Alex Limoges’ feed and had a clear path to goal in front of him. However, his shot flashed over the bar. At the other end, Dmitrij

Jaskin went close before, in the 45th minute, Dinamo got its first power play of the game.

Given the situation, it felt like a big moment: the home team badly needed a goal. But the Ak Bars penalty kill was impressive, getting out to press the puck carrier and preventing the home forwards from creating a shooting chance. When Dynyak left the box, he jumped straight into the play and was close to doubling the visitor’s lead. Miller also had a chance to finish things off before Dmitry Kvartalnov was forced to withdraw goalie Zach Fucale and play six-on-five.

That gambit did not pay off: Ak Bars quickly won possession and set up Pustozyorov for an empty netter on 57:50. There was still time for Vadim Moroz to pot his first goal of the playoffs, banging home Vadim Shipachyov’s feed at the back door to ensure a fraught final couple of minutes. But Bilyalov and his defense stood firm to secure Kazan’s first win over Minsk this season.