Barabanov shoots Ak Bars into final

Ak Bars is going back to the Gagarin Cup final for the sixth time after winning its semi-final series against Metallurg in five games. That equals the record for final appearance, first set by CSKA. Anvar Gatiyatulin’s men will face the winner of the Lokomotiv vs Avangard series when the grand final gets underway on May 11.

Late leveller can’t save series for Magnitka

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Ak Bars Kazan 4 OT (1-2, 0-0, 2-1, 0-1)
Ak Bars wins the series 4-1

An overtime goal from Alexander Barabanov ended Metallurg’s season as Ak Bars advances from this semi-final series.

He struck 10 minutes into the extras, to win game five after Metallurg had tied it up at 3-3 on a Valery Orekhov goal with two minutes to play. Barabanov has 3 (2+1) points in his last two games, helping to steer his team over the line in this series.

The winning goal came out of nothing. Nikita Lyamkin won possession in his own zone and passed the puck to Barabanov in center ice. There seemed to be little on for the forward, but he kept rolling down the ice and surprised Ilya Nabokov with a shot from mid-range to stop the clock at 69:16.

With no margin for error ahead of game five, Metallurg head coach Andrei Razin rolled the dice. Veteran defenseman Yegor Yakovlev was scratched, and his 20-year-old replacement Yaroslav Mukhranov was handed a playoff debut.

Ak Bars was unchanged following its 4-1 home win in game four. And it brought that momentum in Magnitogorsk with an early goal from Alexei Pustozyorov after Nabokov misjudged his decision to move away from his net.

Throughout this series, the opening goal has been crucial. Today, though, Metallurg produced an instant response. The first power play of the game saw Derek Barach get the vital touch on a powerful Orekhov effort, tying it up on 6:01.

A few shifts later, Magnitka had a chance to get in front. Roman Kantserov and Mikhail Fyodorov set up an incisive counter, but the youngster could not beat Timur Bilyalov from close range. The home team continued to press, but fell behind once more against the run of play: Artyom Galimov found space on the slot to convert a feed from behind the net. The Magnitogorsk crowd had cause to feel aggrieved: Metallurg outshot Ak Bars 19-7 in the opening stanza, but trailed at the intermission.

After the break, Metallurg enjoyed several overlapping shifts in Kazan territory, with the visitor twice forced to ice the puck. However, pressure did not bring scoring chances and gradually Ak Bars came into the game. As in the first period, the visitor relied on swift counterattacks while Metallurg enjoyed more possession. But neither team could score in the second period.

Going into the third, Ak Bars seemed happy to defend its lead, with Bilyalov dealing with any threats that came his way. Nikita Mikhailis had a great chance to tie the game, but fired over with the goal at his mercy. However, his next shift was more successive: the Kazakh international produced a fine shot to the top corner to make it 2-2.

Lyamkin took an unnecessary penalty on 48 minutes, but Metallurg was unable to take advantage. And after the defenseman returned to the game, another pacy counterplay saw Ak Bars back in front. This time, Dmitrij Jaskin was the scorer.

But that wasn’t enough to win it. Metallurg, desperate to keep its season alive, found a tying goal on 58:07 when Robin Press fed his defensive colleague Orekhov as he got to the slot to tie the game.

There was more drama to come when Yegor Korobkin was penalized for fouling Bilyalov four seconds before the hooter. That power play carried into the extras, and Ak Bars had the better of the play with opportunities for Lyamkin and Barabanov. At the other end, Sergei Tolchinsky should have sent the series back to Kazan but he failed from a great position. And the full cost of that miss was extracted by Barabanov as Ak Bars advances to the final.