Traktor caught up with Lokomotiv: the finalists of the Gagarin Cup were determined

Both participants of the final were determined in the KHL playoffs. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and Traktor Chelyabinsk will start the decisive battle for the Gagarin Cup next week. Following the results of the semifinal series, the Railwaymen passed Ufa Salavat Yulaev, and the Ural club passed Dynamo Moscow.

Traktor – Dynamo

In the previous stages of the playoffs, Traktor was noted for its fantastic ability to win, losing the match with a crushing score. So, he won the fifth match of the series in overtime with Vladivostok Admiral (5:4), although the Mariners led 4 in the middle of the third period.:0. And in the second match of the series with Dinamo Minsk, he won back from 0:3.

The first game of the semi-final against Dynamo Moscow followed a similar scenario. The blue and white team won 2-0 in Chelyabinsk in the second period, but at the end of it Traktor scored one goal. And in the third period he brought it to victory 4:3. In the second match at home, he never let his opponent get ahead and won 3-2.

But, in fact, the third match, which was already held in Moscow, became decisive. Dynamo scored twice there, but Traktor scored twice. In the main time, the meeting ended in a draw, and in the second overtime, after a defensive error, the guests scored the winning goal (3:2) and led the series 3-0.

Only once in the history of the KHL have they won back from such an account — SKA St. Petersburg won the semifinal series against CSKA Moscow (4:3) in 2015. Few people believed that Dynamo would repeat this. However, Alexey Kudashov's wards were still able to avoid a dry defeat.

"In the fifth match, Traktor smelled blood and put the squeeze on us."

Goalkeeper of the Russian national team Andrey Mishurov — about the missed chance to go with Admiral to the second round of the KHL playoffs, last season as part of the Vladivostok club and the favorite of the Gagarin Cup

They won the fourth match 3-1 at home. The fifth game was played in Chelyabinsk. Dynamo led 1-0 there after the first period. In the second, they conceded three goals in 10 minutes. Moreover, after the second, Vladislav Podyapolsky, the main goalkeeper of the blue and white team, was injured, and had to be replaced by Maxim Motorygin.

Nevertheless, in the third period, Dynamo was able to repeat the exploits of Traktor and win back from 1:3. But a minute and a half before the end of regular time, the Chelyabinsk club still scored the winning goal and won the series.

— Chelyabinsk deservedly won this series and reached the finals, — Sergey Konkov, a former forward of Traktor, Dynamo and Lokomotiv, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — Although if you take each match separately, you can't say that he was a cut above the opponent. It is no coincidence that all four of Traktor's victories over Dynamo were by one goal difference, either in overtime or in regular time. That is, all the matches were equal. But the outcome of the semi-final was decided by nuances. For example, the skill of the leaders of Traktor — I'll mention Maxim Shabanov here. He scored the winning goal in the fifth match, deciding the outcome of the meeting when Dynamo bounced back and seemingly moved the game into overtime. Look at Maxim's laser-precise throw in this episode. It is no coincidence that he has been the leader of Traktor for the second season in a row, and NHL clubs want to see him. Not all of Dynamo's guys were able to solve episodes in the same way, although I want to highlight the game of Artem Ilyenko, who scored important goals more than once in this playoff, did a lot of work and helped his club have a generally good season - after all, this is Dynamo's first semi—final in 12 years. But it wasn't enough for the finale. It's been a long time since we've had the two best regular-season teams, winners of their respective conferences, play in the Gagarin Cup finals. Lokomotiv and Traktor are equal teams, and it's hard to name a favorite. Moreover, both teams won their semifinals in the same number of matches and have almost equal time to prepare and recover. The little things and nuances will solve everything.

Lokomotiv – Salavat Yulaev

Lokomotiv, who was considered the favorite, began the series with a defeat against Salavat, which, since the previous round, could not count on a number of its key players — Nathan Todd, Joshua Livo and Yaroslav Tsulygin. The last two appeared during the series with Yaroslavl. But without them, Ufa managed to win the first match away — 3:1.

And then the class of the Locomotive took its toll. He won the second match at home with some difficulty (2-1). Then he prevailed in two away games — 4:2 and 3:0. Moreover, the third match was remembered for two refereeing decisions that caused controversy. In the third period, with the score 3-1 in favor of Lokomotiv, the referee gave Nikita Cherepanov a match penalty for a foul against Pyotr Khokhryakov. Many experts agree that this did not amount to a large fine, but it was done due to the consequences for the Ufa player — Khokhryakov was seriously injured and only left the ice with outside help.

Salavat got a five-minute majority and implemented it at the end of the extra draw. And three minutes before the end of regular time, Sasha Khmelevsky scored against Lokomotiv once again, the judges did not count the goal, as they had recorded shortly before that a foul by Denis Yan, who hit Georgy Ivanov in the face with a stick. However, he guided the stick with the help of a Yaroslavl player. And this provoked a debate about whether Ufa could have avoided hitting Ivanov in the face. If the shot had been deemed forced, the puck should have been counted. But the referees decided not to count it, having received support from the KHL refereeing department after the match.

This victory was a key one in the series. After that, Lokomotiv took the lead in the confrontation, confidently won 3-0 away in the fourth match, and took the fifth match at home with a score of 4.:2. There, "Salavat" compared twice, but everything was decided by the game of star veteran Yaroslavtsev Alexander Radulov and his young teammate Egor Surin. They scored two goals each. The first was on Radulov's account from the transfer of Surin. Then Surin scored twice from Radulov's pass. And in the end, Alexander hit an empty gate.

"We played with a very structurally strong team"

Nikita Serebryakov, goalkeeper of the Avangard hockey club, talks about Lokomotiv's departure from the KHL playoffs, the Omsk club's rise in the table and his departure from SKA

Lokomotiv reached the Gagarin Cup final for the second year in a row. A year ago, he lost 0-4 in a series to Magnitogorsk Metallurg. Sergei Gomolyako, the then athletic director of Magnitogorsk, considered Yaroslavtsev to be the favorites of the upcoming series with Traktor.

"I think Lokomotiv is the favorite for the finals, but the series will be very good and intense," Homolyako told Izvestia. — Although it seems to me that Yaroslavl played much stronger in the playoffs last spring than it does now. But then, in the final, we put them in such a position that Lokomotiv did not succeed in the fight for the trophy — all the players of Magnitogorsk played their best hockey. Nevertheless, Yaroslavl has a very good chance of winning. He deservedly passed the "Salavat". He had Radulov before this season, a real asset who will strengthen any club, add charisma and power in attack. And in defense, Lokomotiv began to play a little differently. Nevertheless, I believe in them, although it will be very difficult with the Tractor. And we will see an extremely interesting confrontation.

The final series of the Gagarin Cup starts on May 13. It will go up to four wins for one of the teams and can last up to seven matches. Lokomotiv and Traktor have never won the KHL main trophy.