CSKA strikes back at last

The Gagarin Cup second round series between Avangard and CSKA is heading back to Omsk for game five after the Muscovites got their first win on Tuesday.

Muscovites keep series alive

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

It’s been a while in coming. After dropping the first three games of this series, CSKA finally found the answer to Avangard. Tuesday’s 3-1 verdict ensures the series will go to at least a fifth game.

The win also brought an end to a couple of forwards’ wait for a goal. Maxim Sorkin, who got the go-ahead marker in the second period, found the net for the first time since the opening post season game.

And Prokhor Poltapov, who opened a vital two-goal cushion midway through the second period, got only his second goal of the playoffs and his first in this series. Poltapov was CSKA’s scoring leader in the regular season.

Before all that, game four began in a fashion reminiscent of game three: Pavel Karnaukhov gave CSKA an early lead. This time he struck in the sixth minute, extending a stick to direct Jeremy Roy’s point shot past Nikita Serebryakov. The home team was good value for its lead after making a bright start to the game.

However, as on Sunday, Avangard tied the game in the first period. With 17 minutes played, defenseman Marsel Ibragimov scored the first playoff goal of his career. The 28-year-old, who began his career at CSKA, produced a classic defenseman’s goal: face-off win, puck back to the point, long-range shot. A simple but effective ploy that rewarded the Hawks’ enterprising response to falling behind.

But if the visitor dominated the back end of the first period, the home team turned the game around in the second. CSKA outshot Avangard 15-8 in that middle frame and turned pressure into a lead in the 37th minute. Poltapov brought the play out from behind the net, but seemed to be going nowhere before he managed to turn on the boards and shoot the puck back towards the slot. Nikolai Prokhorkin got in in front of Sorkin, but could only send the puck looping into the air, and Sorkin reacted smartly to bang it in as it fell to the ground.

Right after that we had the first penalty of the game when Max Lajoie was assessed a tripping minor to put CSKA on the power play. As that penalty elapsed, Dmitry Buchelnikov and the visitor’s Vasily Ponomaryov picked up minors after a bit of push and shove.

Avangard was still eager to finish the series in four games, and stepped up its own offense at the start of the third period. However, another Igor Nikitin defensive masterclass frustrated the visitor, and things got worse for Guy Boucher’s men midway through the session. A quick counter saw Vitaly Abramov race into the danger zone before dishing off a pass for Poltapov to score.

After that, the visitor dominated the play. In the 56th minute, Serebryakov went to the bench and Avangard played with six skaters, but still could not make a breakthrough. Konstantin Okulov was silenced for the first time in this series and there was nobody else able to step up and lead the attack. CSKA held on to take the win, ensuring that at least one series in this round will go to five games.