In the play-offs of the Gagarin Cup, Avtomobilist leads 3:0 in the series against St. Petersburg SKA

The third matches took place in two series of the Fonbet play-off quarterfinals of the Kontinental Hockey League. Avtomobilist, after two victories away, beat SKA at home, putting the finishing touches on the St. Petersburg team in overtime – 2:1. Thus, the Ekaterinburg team already leads the series 3:0. Meanwhile, Spartak managed to reduce the gap in the confrontation with Metallurg to a minimum – 1:2. In the first home match, the Muscovites were successful – 5:2.

In addition to Dynamo Moscow, two more representatives of the Western Conference found themselves in a difficult position during the quarterfinal stage of the play-offs. It is especially surprising that one of the main contenders for the Gagarin Cup, SKA, lost twice on its ice to Avtomobilist and went to Yekaterinburg, risking never returning, that is, ending the season there.

The third match of the series was vitally important for the St. Petersburg SKA team.

Already in the opening, she had the opportunity to play the majority, but she played it too passively, so that Yekaterinburg goalkeeper Evgeniy Alikin felt almost nothing. The hosts also used their numerical advantage unproductively, but in equal strength they attacked quite sharply, and defender Sergei Zborovsky missed a magnificent chance that Semyon Kizimov created for him. SKA was saved by goalkeeper Nikita Serebryakov, who parried a point-blank shot from the spot.

In the next twenty minutes, the St. Petersburgers gradually seized the initiative and firmly established themselves in the opposing zone. Avtomobilist patiently defended and waited for its chance on the counterattack, and when it presented itself, it immediately turned it into a goal. Anatoly Golyshev intercepted the puck in the center of the ice, played with Danil Romantsev and, after a return pass, treacherously shot from a tight angle. Moreover, the army team could have conceded the second goal already in the locker room, when Serebryakov made a save after an impromptu shootout by Yegor Alekseev.

In the third segment of the match, Avtomobilist again concentrated primarily on defense, and it was still difficult for the guests to get through it. A non-standard solution was required, and SKA’s top scorer in the current playoffs, Vasily Glotov, found it when he fired a shot at the goal right from the throw-in point, but Alikina was saved by the post. In general, Glotov did this trick three times and constantly fell into the frame. And the St. Petersburgers scored in a rather cunning way, when Arseniy Gritsyuk sent the puck through the air into the net. Then both of them tried to snatch victory in regulation time, and Pavel Dedunov was very close to the goal, but Alikin again proved that it is not for nothing that he is the leader in the main goalkeeper indicators.

Everything was decided in overtime, and it was the army team that faltered. Defenseman Maxim Fedotov made a huge mistake by hooking the puck to Curtis Volk, who played an elegant combination in front of the goal with Brooks Macek and completed it himself. Despite the fact that SKA outscored the opponent almost twice (43:24 on target and 101:51 in total), Avtomobilist prevailed – 2:1. And now the Ekaterinburg team is one step away from reaching the semifinals.

Spartak also had no room for error after two defeats in the quarterfinals with Metallurg.

Although his situation was made easier by the fact that there were still home matches left. Moreover, it was simply hard to believe that the best attack of the regular season, and the red and white scored 233 goals in 68 meetings, would not show itself in this series. The two “crackers” in Magnitogorsk, with all due respect to the Steelworkers’ goalkeeper Ilya Nabokov, looked like some kind of anomaly.

Spartak’s goal drought was interrupted by Maxim Tsyplakov, who struck Nabokov from mid-range after a pass from Andrei Loktionov. Then the Muscovites’ first line finally scored, when Ivan Morozov, with the help of a rebound from visiting defender Valery Orekhov, doubled the advantage. However, there were also dangerous moments at the hosts’ goal, but they nevertheless won the first period 2:0. But as soon as the second began, Metallurg reduced the difference. Goalkeeper Dmitry Nikolaev recklessly rolled into the field, failed to regain his position, and Denis Zernov punished him by scoring with a rebound from Yegor Zaitsev.

Moreover, for some reason Spartak became confused and almost completely lost control of the game. “Magnitka” sometimes literally drove the red and whites around their zone, sowing panic and chaos in their ranks. Alexei Zhamnov’s team was frankly lucky that, despite such disorganization, they rebounded and still led the score by the second break. True, there was an episode when the captain of the Steelworkers, Egor Yakovlev, was in the minority and took the puck off the ribbon.

In the third period, “Metallurg” still won back through the efforts of defender Makar Khabarov, who, for good luck, powerfully clicked from afar. But Spartak already reacted correctly to this goal, did not float and took the lead again. Nikolai Goldobin showed that he is dangerous even when standing behind the goal, from where he brought the puck into the net. And then Pavel Poryadin put his stick under Dmitry Vishnevsky’s throw from the blue line. The guests eventually replaced Nabokov with the sixth field player, and Goldobin hit the empty net, scoring a double. Having won 5:2, Spartak now loses the series 1:2.

Alexander Ilyin