Vovchenko’s streak continues in Magnitka win

Daniil Vovchenko scored for the third game in a row as Metallurg moved a step closer to settling its Gagarin Cup second round series against Torpedo. Saturday brought a 4-1 win on home ice, giving Magnitka a 2-0 lead in the series.

Steelmen ease past Torpedo

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 1 (1-0, 1-0, 2-1)
Metallurg leads the series 2-0

An impressive performance saw the Steelmen ease to victory over Torpedo in game two of this Gagarin Cup second round series. The regular season champion heads to Nizhny Novgorod up 2-0 and Andrei Razin’s men look well-placed to progress to the semifinals for the third time in five seasons.

There were no changes to the home roster after Thursday’s 4-3 win, with captain Alexei Maklyukov still recovering from injury. Torpedo made one change with Yegor Sokolov returning to the team.

Metallurg was dominant throughout, outshooting the visitor 42-28 and spending 18 minutes on the attack against 12 for Torpedo. Much of that pressure came in the first two periods, laying the foundations for the win before Alexei Isakov’s team tried to chase the game in the third.

The home team took control of this game in the first period, and it took a strong display from visiting goalie Denis Kostin to keep Torpedo in the game. However, after some big saves, he was beaten in the 18th minute when Sergei Tolchinsky opened the scoring. He fired in a wrister after Derek Barach won the draw, and the shot clipped Kostin’s blocker on its way into the net.

Magnitka kept up the pressure at the start of the second period and soon increased its lead. Daniil Vovchenko was on target for the third game in a row, redirecting Makar Khabarov’s point shot past Kostin. Barach collected another assist after feeding the defenseman on the blue line.

At the end of the middle frame, Metallurg had a five-on-three power play that straddled the intermission. The home team could not turn it into a goal, but a third marker was not long in coming. In the 44th minute, Nikita Korotkov outpaced two Torpedo players to get onto Mikhail Fyodorov’s clearance then dished off the puck for Valery Orekhov to score from the center of the Torpedo zone.

The next shift brought penalties for both teams, and during the four-on-four action Torpedo got a goal back. Igor Geraskin, well-known to Razin from his time at Severstal and then Metallurg, converted a backhand pass from Amir Garayev to deny Alexander Smolin a shut-out.

After that, Torpedo began to build some pressure for the first time in the game. However, apart from an angled shot from Daniil Zhuravlyov, which forced Smolin into a smart save at his near post, there was little serious threat to the Metallurg net. At the other end, Tolchinsky almost grabbed a second when his shot beat Kostin but was deflected onto the post by Robert Nardella’s stick.

Torpedo’s slim hopes of saving the game tumbled in the 56th minute. Anton Silayev unexpectedly slipped in center ice, and Alexander Petunin jumped onto the loose puck and skated away to make it 4-1.