Lokomotiv's move: Yaroslavl were the first to win the Gagarin Cup series

More than half of the matches took place in all eight episodes of the first round of the KHL playoffs, but only one of them has a known winner. The winner of the regular season, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, turned out to be the only club that managed to go further after four matches. He beat Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4-0 in the series, which became the only team that did not win a single meeting at this stage.

In the remaining seven episodes, the fight continues. Some of them have already stretched to six matches, and there may be sensations. For example, Admiral Vladivostok and Sibir Novosibirsk, which seemed hopeless outsiders of the Eastern Conference, hold equal scores (2:2), having unexpectedly resisted Traktor Chelyabinsk and Salavat Yulaev Ufa, respectively.

West

Lokomotiv — Torpedo

As expected, the advantage of last year's playoff finalist quickly emerged in this series. Periodically, the "Torpedo" indicated resistance, but in the end, the class of the "Locomotive" affected. He won victories without much effort — either in pure class, or by turning on the right speeds on time when the game was not going according to his script. For example, Yaroslavl could not score for a long time in the first two matches of the series, which were held at their home.

In the opening match, the first period ended in a goalless draw, but in the ninth second of the second, the Railwaymen realized the majority. Three minutes later, Avtozavodtsy equalized, but pretty quickly Lokomotiv took the lead again, again successfully playing too much. And before the second break, he scored the third goal and confidently held a two-goal advantage in the remaining time of the match, eventually winning 3-1. In the second match, only four minutes before the end of the first period, Igor Nikitin's wards opened the scoring in the majority.

Their minimal advantage lasted almost until the very end of the meeting, when Lokomotiv scored in the last minute into an empty net and won 2-0. But even then, Yaroslavl confidently acted defensively, giving almost nothing to create in their opponent's zone. Next, the series moved to Nizhny Novgorod, and there, in the third match, Torpedo seemed to resist, twice realizing the majority.

At first, this allowed the score to be opened in the 5th minute of the meeting, but within the next six minutes the guests scored two goals and took the lead. At the beginning of the second period, Igor Larionov's team equalized, but after about half a minute, Lokomotiv scored again. And at the end of the match, he hit an empty goal and won 4-2.

In the fourth match, the first period was again goalless, but at the beginning of the second, Lokomotiv twice realized the majority. Only at the end of the match did Torpedo players win back one goal, but they didn't have enough for more. Lokomotiv won 2-1 and moved on.

Dynamo (Moscow) — SKA

As expected, the episode turned out to be extremely tense. The first two matches, which took place in Moscow, were influenced by Dynamo's better organization of the game. In addition, SKA could not rely on their captain Alexander Nikishin due to injury. As a result, the blue and white team won 3-1 in regular time and 2-1 in overtime.

After the series moved to St. Petersburg, Nikishin returned to the lineup. In addition, SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg began to trust more playing time to the young Ivan Demidov, who had not been on the ice often since mid-February. It was he who scored in the second match in Moscow.

And in the third game, already in St. Petersburg, Arseniy Gritsyuk opened the scoring with Demidov's pass. And at the end of the second period, Nikishin, as a result of the majority draw, scored the third goal against Dynamo, and SKA led 3:1. In the middle of the third period, the blue and white managed to equalize, but immediately Ilya Karpukhin again put the hosts ahead. And at the end of the game, Zakhar Bardakov was sent off for five minutes, but Dynamo could not take advantage of the long majority and lost 3:5 after scoring into their empty net.

The end of the meeting was marked by a series of scandals. Roman Rotenberg staged a long controversy with the judges using profanity, calling Dynamo head coach Alexei Kudashov an obscene word in absentia. In a post-match flash interview, he accused Kudashov of throwing a bottle on the ice, recalling a similar episode from 2017, when Kudashov led Lokomotiv and was fined for a similar incident during a series against SKA. Later it turned out that in this case the mistake was made by Dynamo striker George Weale, whose cork flew out of the bottle onto the ice.

Another injured leading player, striker Sergey Plotnikov, returned to the SKA squad for the fourth match. And Demidov was moved to the first link, and he quickly opened the scoring when he threw from behind the goal, and the puck from Dynamo defender Kirill Gotovets bounced behind the goalkeeper. But already in the middle of the first period, Dynamo equalized — Pavel Kudryavtsev scored the majority. The next blue-and-white extra draw was unsuccessful, but a few seconds after it ended, Cedric Puckett led the guests ahead. And just before the end of the period, Artyom Sergeev scored 3-1 in favor of Dynamo. During the break, SKA replaced the goalkeeper — Artemy Pleshkov came out instead of Yegor Zavragin.

It was thanks to his saves that SKA stayed in the game in the second period without conceding yet. At the same time, the hosts themselves created almost nothing in the attack. At the beginning of the third period, Mikhail Grigorenko narrowed the gap in the score.

Wil received a five-minute suspension 10 minutes before the end of regular time. During the majority draw, SKA removed the goalkeeper and replaced him with a sixth fielder. But this led to the fact that Puckett made a double in the minority of "4 on 6", scoring into an empty net. Dynamo led 4-2. But the blue and white couldn't avoid the hassle - when Wil came off the penalty box, the hosts took off the goalkeeper again and scored in the 6—on—5 mode - Pavel Akolzin did it. There were five minutes left until the end of the third period. A minute and a half later, Marat Khairullin equalized.

It came to overtime. SKA scored in the first of them, but the referee did not count Mikhail Vorobyov's goal due to interference from the goalkeeper. And in the second overtime, Max Comtois brought victory to Dynamo, which now leads the series 3-1 and can win the series on April 4 in Moscow if it prevails in the fifth match.

Dinamo (Minsk) — CSKA

Taking into account the fact that the Belarusian club was in the table above the Army team at the end of the regular season, few people will be surprised by the first in the history of the Minsk team to reach the second round of the playoffs. They started to live up to expectations in the opening two home matches. In the first game, CSKA quickly took a 2-0 lead, but soon Dynamo bounced back and eventually won 5:2. In the second match, Dmitry Kvartalnov's team also confidently won — 5:3.

The only thing that marred this game was an incident three seconds before the final siren, when red-blue striker Kirill Dolzhenkov surreptitiously hit Minsk defender Josh Brook several times with a stick. CSKA claimed that the young player was provoked throughout the meeting, but most hockey experts condemned Dolzhenkov for dirty play, and the KHL's KFOR disqualified him for one match.

Already in Moscow, in the third game, the army team finally appeared at their best and won a strong-willed victory.:1. And in the fourth match, Dolzhenkov, who returned, scored the first goal at the beginning of the third period. His team won 2-1, although Dynamo had the advantage in the first two periods, but goalkeeper Ivan Prosvetov saved the hosts. Score in series 2:2. And the teams have at least two more matches ahead of them — the fifth in Minsk on April 3 and the sixth in Moscow two days later.

Spartak — Severstal

Two of the most spectacular teams in the West, and perhaps the entire championship, once again, as a year ago, produced a vivid series of the first round. But the class of Spartak Moscow was taking its toll. He won 5-4 in overtime in the first match at home, and turned the tide of the meeting in the middle of the second period, when, losing 2-4, he scored in the minority.

In the second game, the red-and-whites realized almost all their chances at someone else's goal, while Severstal was again let down by a weak realization, as well as a goal conceded in the majority. As a result, Spartak won 4-2, and the series moved to Cherepovets. There, in the third game, Alexey Zhamnov's team won 1-0 and were one win away from reaching the second round. But in the fourth match, Severstal postponed the end of the series, winning 4-1. Now the teams are going to Moscow again, where on April 3, Spartak, if they win the fifth match, will send the Cherepovets club on vacation.

"The teams are showing vivid combination hockey, which they have been doing for the second season under the current coaches," Alexander Kozhevnikov, a former Spartak forward, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — But the class of the red-and-white players is affecting. They make fewer mistakes in defense, they use their chances better in attack. Severstal lacks the necessary experience in this regard. They play as well as their opponents, but they are inferior in nuances. It's good that Cherepovets is not losing the series dryly — they didn't deserve to finish the season without winning a single playoff game. The team can delay the series, but Spartak is unlikely to miss its opportunity.

East

Traktor — Admiral

Two years ago, Admiral won the series 4-2 against Salavat Yulaev and became the first Far Eastern club in history to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs. It seemed impossible to repeat this this season. Moreover, Traktor confidently became the first in the East in the regular season, and Admiral failed the last matches before the playoffs.

But Leonid Tambiev's team managed to win the first meeting in Chelyabinsk (5:4), and then only lost the second one in overtime (1:2). After moving to Vladivostok, Nikita Soshnikov's hat-trick helped Admiral gain the upper hand in overtime in the third match (4:3). And in the fourth game, the Mariners led 3-1 after the first period, but then Ivan Shabanov's five points allowed Traktor to win 7-3. The score in the series is 2:2, the teams will have to play at least once in Chelyabinsk and Vladivostok.

—Vladivostok has managed to get a good grip on this series and competently imposes the fight on the opponent," Sergei Konkov, a former Traktor and Admiral striker, told Izvestia. — It's not clear yet that Chelyabinsk has the upper hand, which is unexpected, since they were good all the regular season and deservedly finished first in the East. But so far they lack concentration throughout the entire match of each game with Admiral. And Admiral has this concentration — due to this, he took two matches and imposed a fight in the other two. And now it's hard to predict who will win the series in the end.

Salavat Yulaev — Siberia

The Novosibirsk club failed at the end of the regular season and almost gave a ticket to the playoffs to Neftekhimik. With difficulty, Siberia was able to get there. But her acting made a depressing impression. First of all, the team's lack of character was striking, especially among its foreigners — striker Taylor Beck and defender Trevor Murphy.

It seemed that Vadim Epanchintsev's team would be eliminated from the playoffs very quickly. The first two matches confirmed the predictions — in Ufa, Salavat Yulaev defeated Siberia 7-0 and 8-2. But after the series moved to Novosibirsk, the hosts made several changes in the ranks. Most of them earned money, which often helped the team out in the regular season.

As a result, Siberia won two games — 2:0 and 2:1. In the third game, even Murphy's five-minute removal did not prevent him from letting the team down again, out of the blue, leaving it in the minority. And in the fourth match, Salavat was already eliminated very often, and this was taken advantage of by Beck, who scored the second goal against Ufa. Pavel Gogolev, who returned from injury, distinguished himself a little earlier. The series stretched to at least six matches.

Metallurg — Avangard

The most intense fight was expected in this episode. But Avangard started with a 4-1 away win, and then won twice in overtime — 3:2 away and 2:1 at home. Vladimir Tkachev, who returned from a long injury only in March, scored the winning goals both times. Everything went to the departure of Metallurg without a single victory — in the fourth match, he lost 0:1 after two periods. But in the end, he won 3-1 and postponed the resignation of the Gagarin Cup winner, which he won last year. Nevertheless, the Omsk club leads 3-1 in the series and can win it on April 3 based on the results of the fifth match in Magnitogorsk.

"All the matches of these teams are equal, but Magnitogorsk loses in very small nuances," Fedor Kanarekin, former head coach of Metallurg and Avangard, told Izvestia. — On the Omsk side, the realization of moments and the skill of their leaders are on the side, first of all Tkachev. But the return of Egor Yakovlev to the squad for the fourth match against Metallurg showed that with such an experienced defender, the team is capable of a lot. Therefore, I would not write off Andrey Razin's team in advance.

Avtomobilist — Ak Bars

So far, this series has been the most equal in terms of the class of teams and their success. They won once at home and once away. At first, Ak Bars prevailed 4-1 in Yekaterinburg, but then the hosts won 4:3. After the series moved to Kazan, the teams played the third match for a very long time, and only in the middle of the second overtime did Avtomobilist score the winning goal. But two days later, the club from the capital of Tatarstan evened the score in the series, defeating the guests from the Urals 7:2.