Todd’s OT winner puts Ak Bars in control

A pulsating game in Minsk saw the teams trade goals in the last 70 seconds of regulation to tie 4-4. Dinamo had recovered from 1-3 to lead on 58:50, but allowed a late equalizer before falling to Nathan Todd in the extras.

Late drama but Dinamo comes up short

Dinamo Minsk 4 Ak Bars Kazan 5 OT (1-3, 0-0, 3-1, 0-1)
Ak Bars leads the series 2-0

Nathan Todd’s overtime winner settled a thriller as this Gagarin Cup second round series heads to Kazan with Ak Bars up 2-0.

After the teams traded late goals to tie 4-4 in regulation, the visitor won it midway through the first extra period. Ak Bars dominated the extras, outshooting

Dinamo 13-2 before scoring in the 72nd minute. Stepan Terekhov, who scored his team’s second goal of the game, fired in a shot from the blue line. Zach Fucale padded it away, but Todd was alert to send the rebound into the net.

That was quite the reprieve for Ak Bars, which led 3-1 at the second intermission only to allow two quick goals. Then Sam Anas put Dinamo in front for the first time on 58:50, only for Artyom Galimov to tie it up in the last minute.

The tight finish seemed unlikely after Ak Bars made a blistering start to the game. Grigory Denisenko, much criticized after failing to record a point in his first six post-season appearances, picked up two in the first five minutes.

He opened the scoring on 1:48, finishing off a great passing combination when he skated onto Mikhail Fisenko’s feed to beat Fucale. Then, three minutes later, Denisenko fired in a shot that Fucale could not hold, and Terekhov was on hand to put away the rebound.Dinamo’s problems got worse. Andrei Stas, who today became the fifth player – and the first from Belarus – to make 1,000 KHL appearances, fouled Nikita Dynyak to give Ak Bars a power play. But the home team killed that penalty and gained some confidence in the process. By the 10-minute mark, an Alex Limoges power play goal halved the deficit and the game was well and truly on.

But back at equal strength Ak Bars continued to have more of the play and got up 3-1 in the 16th minute. Mitch Miller went round the back before setting up Alexander Barabanov, who scored at the second attempt.

Dinamo began the middle frame on the power play and almost pulled a goal back 17 seconds into the session. However, after Anas’s shot found its way into Timur Bilyalov’s net via the post, a coach’s challenge uncovered an offside in the build-up. The Belarusians soon had another power play chance after Alexei Marchenko caught Vitaly Pinchuk in the face, while Denisenko’s busy day continued as he and Nicolas Meloche picked up roughing minors in the aftermath.

Those early PPs helped the home team game momentum in the second. Dinamo outshot Ak Bars 17-6 in the session but could not find a way past Bilyalov.

All that changed in dramatic fashion in the third. The Belarusians produced an assured penalty kill, then got on another power play and saw Sergei Kuznetsov pull a goal back. Ty Smith quarterbacked the play from the blue line, then Limoges made a quick pass from the circle to find Kuznetsov between the hash marks.

Pinchuk played a big part in that goal, screening Bilyalov as the one-timer came in. And a couple of minutes later he was on the scoresheet himself to tie the game. This goal was a mix of brilliance and good fortune: Pinchuk seized possession in center ice and charged at the heart of the Ak Bars defense. A deft dangle took him away from two opponents, but his initial shot was deflected towards the left-hand circle. Sam Anas was looking for the rebound, forcing Alexei Pustozyorov to attempt a clearance; the puck bounced off the Ak Bars man’s skate and into the net.

And there was more to come. In the 58th minute, Dinamo got one more chance on the power play. Kuznetsov stretched Bilyalov, before Anas got his team’s third power play goal of the night. Minsk was up for the first time on 58:50 and thought the series was all square.

But Ak Bars needed just 24 seconds to tie the game. Barabanov won back possession in the Minsk zone, fired the puck to the net and Galimov held off the attentions of Josh Brook to steer it home and force overtime at 4-4.