Beautiful blue: CSKA won 2-0 in the army derby
At the start of the KHL playoffs, there were already two matches in four of the eight series. In the central confrontation of the first round, CSKA leads SKA 2:0. Ak Bars Kazan has the same advantage in a series with Traktor Chelyabinsk. In pairs "Avtomobilist" — "Salavat Yulaev" and "Severstal" — "Torpedo" after two meetings, equality is 1-1. In four more series, one match was played: Lokomotiv leads Spartak, Metallurg leads Siberia, Avangard leads Neftekhimik, and Dinamo Minsk leads Moscow.
West
CSKA MOSCOW — SKA
The most powerful sign from all the episodes of the first round so far meets expectations regarding the tension level of the confrontation. The two top clubs showed very unstable results in the regular season due to the restructuring of their squads during the offseason and during the season. Therefore, we finished it in the middle of the table: CSKA in fourth place, SKA in fifth. And they bumped into each other in the first round, having approximately equal opportunities.
CSKA traditionally plays tough and schematic, but effective hockey for its head coach Igor Nikitin. SKA, under head coach Igor Larionov, tried many times to play attacking combination hockey, but when it did not give positive results, it adjusted to a more cautious style — this was especially evident when Leonid Tambiev, the former head coach of Vladivostok Admiral, joined the coaching staff of St. Petersburg in the winter.
Therefore, it is not surprising that in the first two matches of the series, both teams demonstrated extremely rational and viscous hockey. And this had an effect on the distance in favor of the Moscow army men. This was especially evident in the fact that they were the first to concede goals, but due to the lower level of the SKA defense, they could not maintain the advantage. In the first game, the first period ended with a score of 0:0. At the beginning of the second period, Sergey Plotnikov opened an account. Closer to the second break, Maxim Sorkin equalized, but very quickly Sergei Sapego put the Petersburgers ahead again.
They seemed to be leading the way to an away victory. But with two and a half minutes left, Sorkin equalized again. The case went into overtime. The first additional 20 minutes did not reveal the winner, but at the beginning of the second overtime Nikita Nesterov scored the winning goal against SKA. Joseph Blandisi, one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg club, returned to the second match after injury.
He quickly opened the scoring, but eight seconds before the first break Pavel Karnaukhov equalized. And in the middle of the second period, Denis Guryanov put CSKA ahead — his team led in regular time for the first time in this series. And she consolidated this success at the beginning of the third period, when Takhir Mingachev and Dmitry Buchelnikov scored another goal against SKA. After that, the Petersburgers could not escape. They responded with only one goal at the end of the match. Now, with the score 2-0 in favor of CSKA, the teams are going to St. Petersburg, where they will play the next two matches on March 27 and 29.
"We are very glad that we managed to win two matches, but now we have to forget about it and prepare for the next games," CSKA captain Pavel Karnaukhov told Izvestia. — We won due to the teamwork, everyone gave themselves on the ice to the end. I am glad that we won in front of our fans. We are very grateful to them for the support they have given us. But now we have a difficult trip to St. Petersburg ahead of us, and in general, a difficult series that is not over yet. The opponent is very strong, so we need to make the most of the next matches.
Dynamo (Minsk) — Dynamo (Moscow)
The Dynamo Derby is the second largest series in the first round in the West. The Minsk club spent almost the entire regular season at the highest level, but sank at the end of winter. Probably, the conflict between the head coach Dmitry Kvartalnov and the Dynamo managers played some role in this. One of the signs of disagreement was the dismissal of Kvartalnov's assistant Igor Gorbenko. Nevertheless, Minsk residents managed to finish second in the West. And they got on the Moscow "colleagues", who played extremely unstable all season. In November, coming fourth in the West, Dynamo fired head coach Alexei Kudashov, and his assistant Vyacheslav Kozlov took over the team.
This controversial resignation was explained by the need to shake up the team. As a result of the "shake-up", by the beginning of February, the blue and white had dropped to seventh or eighth places. By March, they had improved, but in the end, two defeats at the finish line dropped them back to seventh place.
Perhaps it will go sideways for them, because in the first game in Minsk, Dynamo Moscow looked indistinct. The Belarusian club played in its signature aggressive style. The Muscovites kept the zeros on the scoreboard at the end of the first period, but at the beginning of the second they missed the puck after Egor Borikov's throw. And at the beginning of the third, Darren Dietz and Andrei Stas scored and brought victory to Minsk. The opponent responded only with a goal by Dylan Sikura at the end of the match.
Severstal — Torpedo
Two extremely modest financial teams had a successful regular season, while showing spectacular combination hockey. However, Severstal has been showing success for the third consecutive season — that's how long Andrey Kozyrev has been working as its head coach. However, in the last two playoffs, Cherepovets lost in the first round to Spartak Moscow. But now we have moved up from a higher position in the table. They became the third and got on a completely passable "Torpedo".
The Nizhny Novgorod club parted ways with its head coach Igor Larionov last year, with whom it sensationally reached the second round of the playoffs in 2023. He was replaced by Alexey Isakov, who previously worked at the Torpedo-Gorky Avtozavodtsev farm club, which won the VHL playoffs last spring. Many predicted that Nizhny Novgorod would not make the playoffs in the KHL, but Isakov managed to keep the team at the top of the table for a long time in his debut season.
At the end of the regular season, she began to fail and eventually dropped to sixth place. But I was confident in the playoffs. And she got an opponent in the first round, who can pass and repeat the success of three years ago. The first two matches of the series, held in Cherepovets, did not reveal a favorite. The teams each scored a major victory. At first, Torpedo celebrated success (4:1), then Severstal (4:0). Now the series is moving to Nizhny Novgorod for the next two matches, but the participants will definitely return to Cherepovets, where the fifth meeting will take place on March 31.
Lokomotiv — Spartak
Perhaps this pair seems to be the most predictable. Lokomotiv looks like a clear favorite. The current Gagarin Cup winner retained almost all of his players after last year's triumph. With new mentor Bob Hartley, the Railwaymen confidently passed the regular season and finished first in the West.
Spartak was very unstable throughout the regular season, sometimes it got into serious crises, so it finished only eighth. Nevertheless, the red and white got off to a good start in the first match in Yaroslavl. In the middle of the first period, they led 2-0 thanks to goals from Demid Mansurov and Daniil Gutik. But by halftime, the Railwaymen had equalized after goals from Alexander Radulov and Georgy Ivanov. Richard Panik also scored in the second period, but German Rubtsov equalized at the beginning of the third period. Nevertheless, the class of Lokomotiv took its toll — the draw of the majority led to a goal by Martin Gernat. And at the very end Nikita Kiryanov scored into an empty net. Yaroslavl won 5-3 and will play the second match of the series against Spartak at home on March 26.
East
Avtomobilist — Salavat Yulaev
One of the most equal series of the two teams, which had an uneven regular season, where they alternated bright matches with unsuccessful ones. Salavat's star striker Evgeny Kuznetsov returned to the playoffs after an injury. But in the first game it didn't help Ufa. Daniel Sprong's two goals at the beginning of the second period brought Avtomobilist victory 2:0. In the next game, Salavat won 1-0 thanks to Egor Suchkov's goal. The score in the series is 1:1. Now the teams definitely have two matches in Ufa and at least one in Yekaterinburg.
Ak Bars — Traktor
This episode promised to be very intriguing. And Traktor initially lived up to expectations in both matches in Kazan, scoring first. But in the end, Ak Bars won. First, he prevailed 3-2 in overtime in the first game, then 4-2 in regular time.
Now the series goes to Chelyabinsk with the score 2-0 in favor of the club from the capital of Tatarstan. The Ural team must definitely win in order to keep the chances of going further. It is worth noting that in the second match, one of the goals against Traktor was scored from a pass from Ak Bars goalkeeper Timur Bilyalov. This is his 16th scoring pass in the KHL. He broke the league record for this indicator, previously held by former Avtomobilist goalkeeper Yakub Kovarzh.
Metallurg — Siberia
Magnitogorsk confidently won the regular season. Nevertheless, it has been hit by a recession since the end of winter, so doubts have arisen about an easy victory in the series over Siberia. But the head coach of Metallurg, Andrey Razin, rested some of the basics before the playoffs.
And in the first game it had an effect. Magnitogorsk quickly took a 2-0 lead, then expanded to 4-0 by the middle of the third period. Siberia responded only once (4:1). The second match will take place on March 26.
Avangard — Neftekhimik
The Nizhnekamsk club managed to resist Omsk in the first match. They took the lead at the beginning of the match, but pretty quickly Avangard scored two goals and took the lead. Nevertheless, Neftekhimik continued to play on equal terms and even equalized at the beginning of the third period.
But in the end, the hawk class took its toll. They scored the puck again towards the end of the match, and then hit the opponent's empty net and won the first match 4-2.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
