Magnitka ties it up

A 4-2 home victory saw Metallurg draw level in its 2026 Gagarin Cup semi-final series against Ak Bars. The Steelmen led 3-0 at the second intermission but the visitor clawed two goals back in the third before Nikita Mikhailis put the game out of reach late on.

Kantserov takes game away from Ak Bars

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (1-0, 2-0, 1-2)
Series tied at 1-1

A three-point game from Roman Kantserov paced Metallurg’s success in game two of this semi-final series. That saw Andrei Razin’s team cancel out its opening 2-5 loss at home to Ak Bars and ensures the series moves to Kazan locked at one game each.

Razin opted to start with Ilya Nabokov in goal. The 2024 cup winner has understudied Alexander Smolin in post season this time, but came into game one with the score at 0-3 and showed enough to keep his place tonight.

There was also a change in the attacking lines, with Mikhail Fyodorov elevated to the first line alongside Kantserov and Vladimir Tkachyov. Ak Bars was unchanged following its winning start.

Two days ago, Metallurg made a sluggish start and effectively lost the game in the first period. Today things were different. After an effective early penalty kill, Magnitka quickly forged ahead. On a power play of its own, the home team opened the scoring when Kantserov redirected Yegor Yakovlev’s effort past Timur Bilyalov.

Once in front, the regular season champion went in search of more. Young Ivan Nechayev had two good looks on the same shift as he looked to mark his return to the team. Alexei Maklyukov and Artyom Minulin also had good chances at they got forward to join the rush. Ak Bars found it tough to escape any further damage in the opening frame, let alone get back into the game. Nonetheless, there were a couple of opportunities around the slot to keep Nabokov alert.

There was a danger that a solitary goal from that first period would prove inadequate reward for Metallurg. Ak Bars began to get more time on the attack and Nabokov had more to do. The visitor’s best chance went to Alexander Barabanov on the counter, but Metallurg was limited to just one good chance in the opening 10 minutes of the frame when Daniil Vovchenko set up Sergei Tolchinsky, only for Bilyalov to make the save.

However, both players would get on the scoresheet before the second intermission. Tolchinsky doubled the lead on 31:40, keeping the puck in the zone and dragging it to the slot to score.

Then came a power play goal for Vovchenko, with another assist for Kantserov. Anvar Gatiyatulin called a time-out, but kept faith in Bilyalov between the piping.

Late in the second period, Ak Bars got on the power play. That meant the third started with a face-off in Metallurg territory. It took just four seconds for Artyom Galimov to turn that into a goal and bring the game back to life. Metallurg had chances to restore its three-goal lead – a power play came and went, then Tkachyov and Kantserov produced a great combination before Bilyalov closed the door. The home team began trying to close out the game, but could not prevent a second Ak Bars goal. In the 54th minute Kirill Semyonov sent Alexander Chmelevski beyond the defense to beat Nabokov and make it a one-goal game.

The fightback was undermined by a penalty for Dmitrij Jaskin. Ak Bars survived, but lost time. And in trying to recover, the visitor got caught late on. Nikita Mikhailis corralled a rebound off Bilyalov to make it 4-2 and ease local nerves despite a late surge from a final Ak Bars power play that showed Nabokov at his best.