Lokomotiv takes game one

The opening day of the Gagarin Cup final brought victory for Lokomotiv. Two goals in a minute early in the second period paved the way for a 3-1 success for the defending champion.

Radulov paces Loko victory

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Ak Bars Kazan 1 (0-0, 3-0, 0-1)
Lokomotiv leads the final 1-0

Alexander Radulov rolled back the years with a goal and an assist as Lokomotiv took the lead in the 2026 Gagarin Cup final. The 39-year-old played a crucial part in the Railwaymen’s victory in Monday’s series opener on home ice in Yaroslavl.

Radulov, of course, won the title in 2011 with Salavat Yulaev and again last season with Lokomotiv. That’s the longest gap between Gagarin Cup wins of any player. This year’s series, meanwhile, has its own memory lane aspect: 17 years ago, these teams met in the first ever KHL grand final.

None of the players from that series are still active, but their presence still makes itself felt this year. Lokomotiv’s goalie that year, Georgy Gelashvili, is now coaching the netminders at Ak Bars. Sergei Zvyagin is an assistant coach to Bob Hartley, and golden goal scorer Alexei Morozov is the current KHL president.

The previous Gagarin Cup final meeting between these teams began with a Lokomotiv victory in Kazan. This series started with the home team assessed a bench minor and Ak Bars creating several chances. Kirill Semyonov came closest, but his shot rebounded off the post to safety.

Power play or equal strength, the teams played on the front foot. Center ice was barely used as play rushed somewhat frantically from end to end. In terms of results, it was perhaps a case of more haste, less speed: neither team could make a breakthrough in the opening frame.

That changed rapidly at the start of the second. Yegor Surin – just two years old when that 2009 final got underway – fired in a point shot and Radulov, 20 years his senior, steered the puck home. Then a counterattack saw Maxim Beryozkin, hero of the semi-final decider, double the lead 46 seconds later. Ak Bars called a time-out, but Anvar Gatiyatulin’s words could not stem the flow of Lokomotiv offense, even if the home team was not immediately able to pad its lead.

The home momentum was broken by a couple of penalties, but when Loko got its chance on the power play it added a third thanks to Byron Froese in the 36th minute. Radulov corralled the rebound after Martin Gernat’s shot slammed into the boards, setting up the Canadian for a close-range finish.

In the third period, the home team was content to play with its lead, allowing Ak Bars the puck and relying on occasional counterattacks. At equal strength, that worked fine; on the power play, the visitor finally found the net when Mitch Miller shot through traffic to beat Daniil Isayev in the 48th minute. But that was as good as it got for Ak Bars. Bob Hartley’s men calmly closed out the game, while the visitor’s desperation saw it reduced to three skaters after 56 minutes. There was no further scoring on Timur Bilyalov, but the time taken from the game made it impossible to close the gap.