Loko back in grand final

The defending champion is back in the Gagarin Cup final for the third year straight. Lokomotiv rallied from 1-3 in Wednesday’s game seven in Yaroslavl to win it in overtime. And that was an echo of the series, with Bob Hartley’s team recovering from 1-3 against Avangard to take a 4-3 verdict.

Beryozkin stars as defending champ progresses

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 Avangard Omsk 3 2OT (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Lokomotiv wins the series 4-3

Maxim Beryozkin emerged as the Lokomotiv hero with a third-period equalizer and an overtime winner to send Yaroslavl back to the Gagarin Cup final.
The Railwaymen made a fast start to game seven of their semi-final series against Avangard, but trailed 1-3 in the second period.

But Beryozkin came up with the answers. Midway through the third he steered Yegor Surin’s shot into the net. Then, in the 89th minute he rifled home the winner. The play started in a scramble on the home crease as Avangard chased its place in the final. But a turnover enabled Beryozkin and Artur Kayumov to set off on a breakaway. Exchanging passes and advancing into the Hawks’ zone, the had the visitor’s defense at full stretch before Maxim evaded the attentions of Mikhail Gulyayev to shoot home the game and series-winning goal.

Lokomotiv made the perfect start to the game, opening the scoring after just 25 seconds. Richard Panik dumped the puck in the Avangard zone and it deflected into the path of Nikita Kiryanov, who drove forward to pick out the top corner from mid-range.

But the home lead was short lived and the Hawks tied the game in the fifth minute. Alexander Volkov went behind the net to set up Damir Sharipzyanov on the slot, then reacted first to the rebound and stuffed the puck behind Daniil Isayev.

Once the game was tied, the teams settled into their familiar styles. Lokomotiv had more puck possession, but Avangard was effective on the counter. The visitor led the shot count 13-10 after 20 minutes and the teams went into the intermission deadlocked at 1-1.

The contrast in styles continued at the start of the second. Avangard was the first to show, with Konstantin Okulov streaking away on the counter only to be denied by Isayev’s outstretched pad. At the other end, Lokomotiv set up in the O-zone and Yegor Surin stepped up from the blue line, skated round an opponent and fired for the corner before Serebryakov made the save.

Right after that, Okulov put Avangard in front for the first time. The playoffs’ leading scorer stripped Surin of the puck in center ice and advanced down the right. As Rushan Rafikov came to close him down, the visiting forward unleashed a shot that Isayev could not reach to make it 2-1 in the 26th minute. That moves the Omsk forward to 21 (10+11) in this season’s playoffs.ыг

Lokomotiv responded with more pressure on Serebryakov’s net, but could not find a way through. Instead, the visitor increased its lead in the 34th minute through Joseph Cecconi. The Avangard defenseman got to the slot in time to collect the rebound from a Nikolai Prokhorkin effort and squeeze it home from a tight angle.

With the season on the line, the home team responded by stepping up its offense. And, seconds before the intermission, Maxim Shalunov produced a vital goal to halve the deficit. He moved down the center to collect Alexander Polunin’s feed off the boards and wired a wrister to the top shelf with Serebryakov unable to react in time.

That gave the home team – and crowd – a lift going into the final frame. Apart from an early chance for Giovanni Fiore to increase the Avangard lead, the Railwaymen made the running in the third. That pressure brought a couple of decent looks for Surin, but the tying goal went to Beryozkin in the 52nd minute. His team-mates forced a turnover in the Omsk zone and Martin Gernat fed the puck from the blue line into the danger zone. Surin’s backhand shot flashed across the slot, and Beryozkin was on hand to apply the finishing touch and tie the game.