Katelevsky leads Ak Bars to victory

Two goals in the first period from Dmitry Katelevsky proved to be the catalyst for an Ak Bars victory in game three of its Gagarin Cup semi-final series against Metallurg. The Tatar club moves in front 2-1 in the series against the regular season champion.

Happy homecoming for Ak Bars

Ak Bars Kazan 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 (2-0, 1-1, 1-0)
Ak Bars leads the series 2-1

This semi-final arrived in Kazan locked at 1-1. Ak Bars took the opening game 5-2, but then dropped a 2-4 verdict in game two in Magnitogorsk.

Neither team made changes for game three, deploying the same personnel in the same combinations as the action moved to Tatarstan. That was no surprise, and it meant that Ilya Nabokov, playoff MVP in 2024, continued in goal for Metallurg after seemingly winning back his role as Andrei Razin’s first choice ahead of Alexander Smolin.

The game began with both teams trying to impose their style. Metallurg wanted a big forecheck, Ak Bars hoped to evade this with its mobility. The visitor got the first whiff of a scoring chance: Nikita Mikhailis was almost clear on Timur Bilyalov’s net but Nathan Todd got back to bail out his defense.

After that the action opened up a little. Nikita Lyamkin had a great chance, Metallurg responded with a three-on-two rush. But the breakthrough went to Kazan’s third line, and Dmitry Katelevsky, who scored two goals in three minutes late in the opening frame.

His first came off a feed from Nikita Dynyak behind the net, helped by three defensemen following Dynyak beyond the goalline and leaving Katelevsky all alone on the doorstep. The second goal soon followed: Dynyak’s smart positioning cut off one opponent, Alexei Pustozyorov dished off a pass and Katelevsky had another. Mitch Miller also assisted on the second goal, extending his hot streak to nine assists in the last six games.

Dmitrij Jaskin missed a good chance to add a third before the intermission, hitting the post on a counterattack. He made up for it at the start of the second with a power play goal, firing home from the circle. Lyamkin’s assist got him back on the scoring trail after his nine-game streak ended in the 2-4 loss on Monday.

Metallurg managed to get greater control of the puck after that and began to create some chances. That brought success midway through the game when Robin Press fired in a wrister from the blue line. Soon after, Magnitka had a power play, but instead of further reducing the deficit the visitor was fortunate not to fall further behind to a pacy counterattack.

At the start of the third Alexander Chmelevski had a great chance to make the game safe when he raced clear on Nabokov’s net. That set the tone for the game: Metallurg had more of the play, but Ak Bars was always dangerous on the counter. Todd almost put the game out of reach with a one-time off a Kirill Semyonov feed, but Nabokov made a big save to keep the contest alive.

At times, Metallurg’s pressure had Ak Bars close to breaking point, but the home defense held on. At the other end, Katelevsky went close to a hat-trick, but fired straight at the goalie when well placed. With three to play, Nabokov went to the bench and Metallurg’s six skaters put the pressure on the Kazan defense. But the final word went to the home team: Semyonov added an empty-netter to make it 4-1 on the night and 2-1 in the series.