Defending champ one game away from title

A quickfire double blast midway through the game helped Lokomotiv to victory in game five of the Gagarin Cup final. The defending champion is now up 3-2 in the series and can wrap things up in Kazan on Thursday.

Froese scores two to pace Loko win

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 Ak Bars Kazan 1 (0-0, 2-0, 2-1)
Lokomotiv leads the final 3-2

Byron Froese scored twice to lead Lokomotiv to a 4-1 victory over Ak Bars. The win gives Bob Hartley’s team the lead in the series, leaving Ak Bars facing a win-or-bust test on home ice to try and drag this series to a game seven decider.

Ak Bars made a brighter start to the game. An early power play – Richard Panik assessed a roughing minor – put the visitor into the game and after eight minutes the shot count was 6-0 in Kazan’s favor.

But the first big chance of the game, somewhat against the run of play, went to Loko. In the 12th minute, pressure on Timur Bilyalov’s net saw the goalie make a sprawling save to deny Ilya Nikolayev from close range.

The teams traded further opportunities before the intermission: Denis Alexeyev’s surge down the right ended with another good stop from Bilyalov, then Andrei Pustozyorov dished off a feed for Dmitry Katelevsky to test Daniil Isayev at the other end.

In the middle frame, it was Lokomotiv’s turn to press from the start. With eight minutes played, the shot count was 12-2 for the Railwaymen. And the pressure brought an opening goal in the 29th minute. Panik got deep into Ak Bars territory and turned sharply to the slot before setting up Byron Froese with a routine finish from close range.

Ak Bars almost found an instant response from Artyom Galimov, but instead fell two goals behind on 30:00. Youngster Yegor Surin monstered Mitch Miller with a huge hit and created the space for Martin Gernat to release Nikita Kiryanov for a successful run on goal.

Rocked, Anvar Gatiyatulin called a time-out but Loko continued to push. The remainder of the half saw two more big chances. First Bilyalov denied Panik after the Slovak forward stripped Miller of the puck. Then the post came to the visitor’s rescue after Artur Kayumov’s shot flashed past the goalie.

By the end of the period, the shot count was 22-6 in Loko’s favor and the game was tilted firmly.

In the third period, that pattern continued, with more pressure on Bilyalov’s net. At times, the visiting defense struggled to get the puck out of its zone. In the end, Panik created a second goal for Froese within three minutes of the restart.

That chased Bilyalov to the bench, with Maxim Arefyev coming into the final for the first time. He was not beaten, but as Ak Bars in desperation pulled the goaltender, Kayumov added a fourth.

There was still time for Alexander Chmelevski to grab a late consolation goal during a spell of five-on-three play, but there was no way for the visitor to rescue the game.