Lajoie joy as Avangard starts with win

Defenseman Max Lajoie had two power play goals to open the Gagarin Cup semifinals. His efforts paced a 5-2 win for the Hawks at Lokomotiv.

Railwaymen knocked off track in game one

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 Avangard Omsk 5 (0-2, 1-2, 1-1)
Avangard leads the series 1-0

The Hawks made a flying start to their Gagarin Cup semi-final series. Away at defending champion Lokomotiv, Avangard seized control and opened a 4-0 lead during the second period.

The visitor had to cope with the absence of Semyon Chistyakov on defense – still injured – but welcomed back Slava Voynov to reinforce the rearguard. Meanwhile head coach Guy Boucher once again tangled with fellow Canadian Bob Hartley, who is behind the bench in Yaroslavl. Hartley won Avangard’s only Gagarin Cup to date and is hoping to become the first foreign coach to win the trophy twice. Boucher could join Hartley and Mike Keenan on the import roll of honor.

The game started with a series of penalties. Loko got the first power play chance, then Avangard had its turn. However, neither team could generate much offense.

At equal strength, the home team quickly settled into possession, only to allow the opening goal. It was a horrible moment for Alexei Bereglazov, a former Avangard defenseman now with Lokomotiv. He got his stick in the way of Vasily Ponomaryov’s pass from behind the net but could only knock the puck past Daniil Isayev.

The goal came against the run of play and the Railwaymen continued to play their possession game. However, aside from a decent chance for Nikita Kiryanov, there was little to trouble Nikita Serebryakov in the visitor’s net. And late in the opening frame, Andrew Poturalski doubled the lead when he squeezed a shot in from a tight angle just 0.6 seconds before the hooter.

An Avangard power play at the start of the middle frame brought a goal for Max Lajoie. Those quick markers either side of the intermission knocked Loko off track and the host produced an error-strewn display, struggling to get play to Serebryakov’s net. Joseph Cecconi added a fourth with a shot through traffic, chasing Isayev from his net in favor of Alexei Melnichuk. The understudy got his first taste of KHL playoff action.

In the 34th minute, Loko got on the scoresheet at last thanks to Denis Alexeyev. That was a belatedly wake-up call for his team and subsequently there were more chances around the Avangard net. However, the revival was undermined by penalty calls and the third period began with Lajoie scoring his second power play goal of the night. Leading scorer Konstantin Okulov assisted on that play and set up what should have been a straightforward finish for the Hawks.

However, there was a bump in the road to come when Damir Sharipzyanov took a major penalty for slashing. Maxim Shalunov quickly scored making it 2-5. Lokomotiv still had more than three minutes on the power play and looked for more goals. Despite some good chances, though, there was no way to further reduce the arrears. The home team carried momentum into the remainder of the game and tested Serebryakov further while playing five on five. But there was no way to deprive Avangard of the first victory in the series.