Ufa scores at last, but Loko wins again

Salavat Yulaev scored its first goals of this 2026 Gagarin Cup playoff second round series but could not avoid a third successive loss to Lokomotiv.

Kayumov pots game-winner, defending champ leads 3-0

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 (0-1, 1-1, 1-1)
Lokomotiv leads the series 3-0

Bob Hartley’s Lokomotiv is one game away from returning to the Gagarin Cup semi-finals after taking a road win at Salavat Yulaev.

The home team welcomed back goalie Semyon Vyazovoi, who missed Friday’s loss in Yaroslavl. Viktor Kozlov also named 23-year-old Vitaly Budnitsky as seventh defenseman, giving the youngster only his second appearance of the season. Lokomotiv was unchanged after winning the first two games.

The visitor got in front in the sixth minute after Ilya Nikolayev’s face-off win enabled Denis Alexeyev to take possession and skate in to score from close range. And Salavat Yulaev suffered another blow in the 13th minute when Evgeny Kuznetsov was injured in a hit from Alexander Polunin. The home forward had to be stretchered from the ice.

Lokomotiv created another good chance when Alexander Radulov sent Yegor Surin clear on Vyazovoi’s net, but the youngster could not hit the target.

Kozlov’s home team had yet to score a goal in the series, and managed just four shots at Daniil Isayev in the first period here. But after the intermission, things picked up. A power play early in the second period generated momentum, then at full strength Devin Brosseau and Jack Rodewald launched a two-on-one rush. Andrei Sergeyev did brilliantly to slide in and block Brosseau’s shot, but the puck went to Sergei Varlov for a point shot that beat Isayev after 147:53 of the series.

But Loko required less than two minutes to regain the lead. Alexander Yelesin’s long-range effort did not look the most threatening, but it came through traffic to beat Vyazovoi. The defending champion held that lead until the second intermission, and might have scored again when Polunin and Nikolayev enjoyed an odd-man rush. However, Ufa produced some of its best attacking play of the series so far, outshooting Loko 18-7 in the middle stanza.

At the start of the third period Salavat Yulaev drew level. The import trio combined, with Brosseau going behind the net to keep the puck alive before arriving on the slot to convert Sheldon Rempal’s set-up and make it 2-2.

But home captain Grigory Panin was handed a major penalty after a high hit on Radulov and the extended power play cost his team the game. The penalty kill was impressive, but after three-and-a-half minutes, Artur Kayumov took matters into his own hands. The forward collected a pass on his own blue line and charged forward to shoot home from the top of the left-hand circle.

Salavat Yulaev continued to create chances, and Brosseau dinged the piping in the 52nd minute. There was more excitement in the closing stages: Byron Froese was denied an empty-net goal, and the next attack saw Isayev twice deny Alexander Zharovsky to preserve his team’s advantage to the end.