“Ak Bars” won with all teams – Newspaper Kommersant No. 67 (7512) dated 04/18/2023
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The final play-off series of Fonbet of the KHL championship opened with a match in which Ak Bars, experiencing colossal pressure from CSKA in segments, beat him in Kazan with a score of 4:1.
The play-off final is always in many respects a clash of details and trifles. And the one who thought that the details in the first match speak in favor of the current owner of the Gagarin Cup, easily found material evidence of his version on the ice. Well, yes, it seemed that the Ak Bars hockey players were a little more nervous than the CSKA players. Here they missed Prokhor Poltapov near the gate, as if they did not know how stubborn this forward was. But Dmitry Voronkov, an experienced, titled player, out of the blue, suddenly threw the puck over the board. And this is a chance for CSKA with its ability to play the majority.
But the finale is also the time of all sorts of paradoxes. And, playing their majority, the usually disciplined army team immediately missed Ilya Safonov’s spurt, which was stopped only by goalkeeper Adam Reideborn. And it would be fine, only this jerk was missed. Soon there was another cut. Artyom Lukoyanov already rolled out on Reideborn and acted very competently: he threw it sharply, without approaching the goalkeeper, and hit the right place.
CSKA in this Gagarin Cup draw and, in particular, in the semi-final against SKA, convinced that everything was in order with his psyche and he knew how to ignore all sorts of failures, even those that seemed terribly painful: they didn’t unsettle him, but did that are troubling.
After the embarrassment with Lukoyanov’s goal, the army team confirmed that they had saved a valuable exchange for the decisive series. They continued to control the puck more often, jump into the other zone more often, and, in the end, earned the numerical advantage again. This time, the CSKA five did not allow themselves any liberties, and Mikhail Grigorenko’s throw turned out to be perfect both in terms of timing – from under Nikita Lyamkin, who closed the view of goalkeeper Timur Bilyalov, – and in accuracy.
And after the rest, the majority of Ak Bars already worked, and the coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov approached the cutting, apparently, with special care. In any case, in the KHL you rarely see an NHL trick when a player is specially released to win a face-off, and a second later he is already running to the bench so that a partner who is better in some other aspects comes out. Kirill Semenov turned out to be such a throw-in specialist for Kazan. He coped with his task brilliantly, and after that, the leaders of Ak Bars, who had been “silent” until now, brilliantly coped with theirs. The transfer from Vadim Shipachyov, which cut the army zone in half, was flawless, as was Stanislav Galiev’s throw into the far corner.
And after a while the Kazan arena was already about to celebrate the third goal. After Shipacheva, Alexander Radulov, as hardened as he, turned on. He gave a chic pass to Ilya Safonov, who was shooting from a point directly opposite the goal. Safonov was sure that he scored by flashing Adam Reideborn. And thousands of people in the stands of the Kazan arena seemed to be sure of this together with him. But no, in fact, having ricocheted on the stick of Vladislav Provolnev, the puck stuck into the crossbar.
The final period was even more interesting. Score tight whip drove CSKA forward. And he obeyed him with pleasure, forcing Ak Bars to endure. And he showed that he can endure. And he endured until what finally happened at the one who refused to give up slack and fake an opponent of a small breakdown. Kazan thanks to him launched a counterattack, which was crowned by Dmitry Voronkov, who had entrenched himself in the patch. He dealt with Reideborn, and trying to insure the goalkeeper, sprawled on the “ribbon”, Provolnev heroically thwarted only the first attempt to finish off Voronkov. He didn’t screw up the second one.
It was, of course, not yet the verdict of CSKA. Two goals in half a period with a hook, the army team can win back even from such a reinforced concrete opponent as Ak Bars. The guests were sentenced by other Ak Bars hockey players who, despite the degree of tension, performed a loud hymn to composure. Kirill Adamchuk grandiosely “sold” the army team a powerful throw, instead of which he gave a thin throw to the hook of Kirill Panyukov’s stick.
Ak Bars took the lead in the final. The next match of the series will also take place on Wednesday.
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