Wait, steam locomotive: Ak Bars has brought intrigue back to the Gagarin Cup final

In the fourth match of the Gagarin Cup final series, Ak Bars beat Lokomotiv 2-1 and regained the balance in the fight for the trophy. Kazan managed to win back after Timur Bilyalov's mistake, and Alexander Khmelevsky's goal in the majority brought victory to the hosts. Now the series returns to Yaroslavl with the score 2-2.

The price of error

Both matches in Kazan started about the same way: a lot of stoppages, fighting, but very few dangerous moments. Nevertheless, in the third game of the opening period, the teams scored two goals. In the fourth, none. Only Mikhail Fisenko entered his name in the protocol, overdoing his fight with Byron Fraz after the whistle. For this, the Ak Bars forward was penalized with a two-minute penalty.

Lokomotiv has serious problems with most of them this season, and then Fisenko's removal was split into two periods. But the Yaroslavl team couldn't create anything interesting at Timur Bilyalov's gate.

But Kazan residents immediately had a similar opportunity. The same Fraz got punished for tripping. Unlike their rivals, Ak Bars were able to create a scoring opportunity: Artem Galimov was brought out on a throw, and he hit the corner of the goal powerfully. However, Daniil Isaev demonstrated the wonders of reaction by catching the puck with a trap. The click was so strong that the puck even flew out of it, but there was absolutely no one to play on finishing.

Immediately, the audience was able to see in a concentrated way how important the goalkeeper is in the playoffs. If Isaev saved the team from a sure goal, then Bilyalov frankly "yawned" the puck, even after a very strong, but still throw from Alexander Polunin's open ice. Instead of 1-0 on the scoreboard, Kazan got 0:1.

After such a blunder, you can openly swim. Especially if you remember that in the previous finals matches, the teams who opened the scoring won. But the hosts were able to level the situation even before the break: after Galimov's throw, the puck ricocheted into space, where Ilya Safonov was fighting with the Lokomotiv defender. Apparently, it was from the latter that she flew into the gate. And the goal was credited to Artyom. On the second attempt, he still managed to distinguish himself.

However, a dispute immediately arose as to whether Safonov had any foot movement at the time of the goal. The bench of the Yaroslavl team and coach Bob Hartley actively called the referee, but he did not watch the replay of the episode. The league's chief referee, Alexei Anisimov, explained the incident live on air.

— Apparently, the "Locomotive" thought that Safonov made a kick movement with his foot. Let me remind you that we have 60 seconds to check the correctness of the goal. The "war Room" confirmed the judges' decision. Moscow's well—made decision is to move on," the expert said.

There was another dispute between the Canadian specialist and the referees: Hartley felt that Grigory Denisenko was faking, and it was not worth removing Loko defender Alexei Berezglazov. Nevertheless, Ak Bars did not realize the majority.

"It's hard for everyone, and we're all on equal terms"

Ak Bars hockey player Mikhail Fisenko — about the Gagarin Cup final series against Lokomotiv and how they got by train to Yaroslavl

The winning moment

But Nikita Kiryanov's penalty in the wrong zone turned out to be decisive. It was used by Alexander Khmelevsky. The forward, whose acquisition cost the Kazan club a significant sum, scored in this playoff only in the series with Metallurg. And finally he distinguished himself again.

Thanks to this goal, defender Mitchell Miller became the top scorer of the Gagarin Cup. The American scored an assist on Chmielewski and scored his 22nd point of the season. In addition, he set a record for defensive player performance in the playoffs, surpassing Chris Lee's achievement (21 points in the 2016/17 season).

Yaroslavl's final assault did not work out at all. Moreover, the teams spent almost the entire last minute in the guest area.

— The opponent went into pressure from the first shifts, it was important to take control of the puck — they understood this and reminded the guys at halftime, — said Ak Bars coach Anvar Gatiyatulin after the game. — We regrouped, began to control the puck and create more chances. We couldn't realize our chances for a long time, we continued to increase our activity and took the match on character — a good team victory.

Lokomotiv head coach Bob Hartley did not look for excuses at the early start of the match, noting that the conditions were the same for both teams.

"It was a tough game, there weren't many scoring chances on both sides," the Canadian specialist emphasized at a press conference. — In the third period, we were in a good position, but the Ak Bars goal played a crucial role in most of the games. We didn't create much, we only threw four times in the last 40 minutes. Will Georgy Ivanov, who did not play the third match, be ready for the fourth game? Any player is important to the team, but injuries are part of the game. This gives other hockey players an opportunity to play. Georgy is a warrior: if he is able to go out on the ice, he will go out and fight.

The score in the series is now equal, and we have at least two more matches ahead of us. And it is unlikely that anyone will decide to predict the winner of the Gagarin Cup now. The next game will be held on May 19 in Yaroslavl.