Not the day of Metallurg - Sport - Kommersant
Another participant of the third round was determined in the play-offs of Fonbet of the Kontinental Hockey League. Avangard made it to the finals of the Eastern Conference, which unexpectedly quickly dealt with Metallurg and won the series - 4: 0. In the decisive match, which took place in Magnitogorsk, Omsk won with a score of 4:1 thanks to a double by Reed Boucher.
Probably, in Avangard they themselves did not expect that in the confrontation with Metallurg, a seasoned cup fighter, last year's play-off finalist, everything could end so quickly and that only four matches would be enough to win. But fortune clearly favored the hawks in this series: in the three previous meetings, they each time threw one more puck, took two overtimes and took the lead - 3:0.
Probably, the fact that Magnitogorsk suffered in the first round against Avtomobilist played hard seven matches, and taking into account extra time almost eight, while Avangard spent only five with two short overtimes against Sibir. So Omsk, apparently, were fresher.
The fourth game began for Avangard better than ever. Already in the first minute, the entry into Metallurg's zone, which seemed to be not fraught with great danger, led to the fact that the puck, after a rebound, literally jumped to the nickel, where Sergey Tolchinsky arrived and sent it into the goal from a bounce off the ice. The hosts goalkeeper Edward Pasquale, it seems, did not even understand how it happened.
The situation obliged Magnitogorsk to take risks, but the quickly conceded goal, it seems, somewhat cooled the ardor of Magnitogorsk.
The team of Ilya Vorobyov swayed for a long time, but two consecutive removals from Avangard helped, and she scored in the five-on-three format. Defender Grigory Dronov closed the cross pass of Brendan Leipsik, and then he almost scored a similar puck in the five-on-four powerplay. Goalkeeper Vasily Demchenko rescued the guests.
The first period ended in a draw - 1:1, as it was in the last match. The second dvadtsatiminutka also took place in an equal fight with mutual attacks, although without bright scoring chances. But the moment came up with Korben Knight, who pulled three Magnitogorsk players on himself and laid the puck on the hook for Reed Bush, and Avangard's top scorer in the current play-off delivered it to the net. And Tolchinsky could immediately get a double, running one on one with Pasquale.
Omsk played a few more active shifts and thereby at least killed time, taking it away from Metallurg. Only at the end of the period, the hosts managed to press the opponent to the goal, and Maxim Karpov had a good chance to hit them, but, unlike the same Tolchinsky, the Magnitogorsk attacker did not hit the bouncing puck, being alone on the penny.
In the final segment of the meeting, the Avangard players played by the score and defended quite confidently, and if the opportunity presented itself, they visited the other zone.
One of these visits turned into a third goal - and the North American connection Knight-Busche worked again. The first, already losing his balance, gave a surprisingly accurate pass from behind the gate, and the second, having managed to handle the puck and even take aim, put Metallurg on the brink of relegation from the Gagarin Cup with an unwavering hand. In general, Magnitogorsk decently got from Bush, who also scored twice in the second match and scored in the first.
Meanwhile, Vorobyov's wards had to win back the minus two difference in more than 13 minutes. In principle, they had enough time left, but they themselves no longer believed that this was possible. The third goal, in fact, demoralized the steelworkers. They tried to do something, taking off the goalkeeper three and a half minutes before the siren, and missed into an empty net after a shot by Alex Broadhurst. And with the score 1:4, Magnitogorsk has already stopped any resistance and recognized the victory of Avangard. The Hawks won a ticket to the Eastern Conference finals, where, apparently, they will meet with Ak Bars, which beats the Admiral - 3: 1 - and can close the series on its site on Friday.