Primorsky “Admiral” beat “Ak Bars” in the fifth match of the semi-finals

The Sailors won in Kazan, returned to the fight again and now they are returning to Vladivostok again

If someone had the illusion that the most powerful Ak Bars, sharpened for the playoffs from the very beginning, would easily deal with the Far East, for whom the mere entry into the knockout race is already a worthy goal, then congratulations – you were mistaken. The fifth match of the series and the fight for getting into the finals of the conference “East” is still ongoing. And a serious fight without jokes.

Yes, sailors lost two semifinal matches in KazanYes they from two home games were able to take over only one, but even one victory is enough to leave hope. The fifth match in Kazan for “Admiral” could be fatal, but the more stubborn Primorye tuned in to win. Over-motivation is about the over-ambitious Admiral. Why not create a second sensation of this championship?

At the beginning of the first period, the Primorsky team managed to seize the initiative on the court, practically preventing the opponent from creating dangerous chances, and Kazan were not ready for this. Thanks to Timur Bilyalov – he pulled it out, there was a moment when Dmitry Kagarlitsky could open the scoring in this match, but here thanks to Nikita Serebryakov, who outplayed the Ak Bars striker.

The first puck flew (although it rather crawled in) into the goal on the 36th minute Daniil Gutik, forgotten by the defenders of Kazan dangerously close to the goal and received the puck without hesitation, threw it into the near corner, the goalkeeper beats it off with a shield, it ricochets off the side and still somehow then miraculously enters the corner completely blocked by Bilyalov. Video review confirmed – this is a goal. We didn’t have to wait long for the second goal – in the 38th minute, Admiral found themselves in the opponent’s zone with a numerical advantage, and Nikolai Chebykin realized his chance to score in the playoffs.

In the third period, “Admiral” began to play his favorite game – sending off. At 41 minutes, Colby Williams went into the penalty box. Vladivostok survived. At the 50th minute, Libor Shulak also went there, and then Ak Bars was able to take advantage of the majority and win back one goal. Alexander Radulov scored. Then the teams played four-on-four, and at the end of the period, the Kazan team removed the goalkeeper altogether. It didn’t work out.

“Admiral” celebrates the victory in the fifth meeting of the semi-final series of “Vostok” and continues to fight for the final.

– I want to congratulate my team on the victory. I am delighted with the guys, thank you very much for this game. Few deletions in the third period endured, the initiative passed to the opponent. But dedication, self-sacrifice is at a high level. We’re going home for the sixth match. We calmly prepared for this match, worked and played. They changed something, corrected it, sent the guys somewhere. Now there is no time for emotions. What did I say in the winning locker room? This is the inner workings of the team, secret. The playoffs are a different competition, we know who is playing against us. The guys squeeze everything out of themselves. There’s a lot to say, but the season goes on. Therefore, I will be careful with words – the guys are trying. As for the seventh match, let’s see, anyway, Ak Bars has one more match point. Serebryakov’s best match? His best matches are yet to come. We all have the right to make mistakes, I don’t utter such words at all. The game goes on for 60 minutes, we make mistakes, we correct mistakes. The philosophy is this – we go out not to play, but to win. As it comes out, the current will endure, as they say. Am I happy with the season? One coach said: “If we didn’t take the Gagarin Cup, of course, the season is in the red.” Here I am too. All coaches hope to reach the end, to win the cup. That’s how I worked in the Premier League, I’m not interested in the playoffs, I’m only interested in the cup. Although we do not pronounce the phrase “Gagarin Cup” in the locker room at all. Here we will pass “Ak Bars”, then we will pronounce. If we pass, then we will stick stickers in the locker room, we don’t have them yet. We are a working team, – shared Leonid Tambiev, head coach of HC Admiral.

The mentor of the rivals leaves no hope of winning the series and took this defeat calmly.

– The game was interesting, we expected this. The opponent started very aggressively in the first period, we – I won’t say whether we were ready or not – but we didn’t play the way we should have. A good second period, the third – enough chances were created to win this match. But we did not score, we are preparing further. I can’t say that we went into the third period depressed: we played it well, scored and could have scored more, but it didn’t work out. Bilyalov had a good game, he acted great until the end. The first puck – it happened, in general. He is OK. It can be seen that the opponent is playing very aggressively against our majority, we are not yet able to cope with this. We will think and change something. There is no panic, the series continues, we are in the game. Is the potential rival in the final of the East already resting? Such a situation, it was necessary to win. We’re on a good streak. As for Radulov’s goals, the other guys also try to score, but they don’t succeed. Alexander is a master, a player who knows how to score and is obliged to do it. Others should also, it is necessary that everyone strives to score. We are trying. Power tricks? We demand from each player what he must do. It does not always work out, there are players who can do it, there are those who cannot. Of course, we are not used to flights like the Admiral. There is such a situation, and we need to get out of it, prepare seriously, – noted Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, head coach of HC Ak Bars.

The teams are moving to Vladivostok, where on March 26 they will play the sixth match of the semi-finals. “Admiral” still has no room for error – “Ak Bars” only need one win to end the series. The more interesting to watch this confrontation.

Read also: Primorsky “Admiral” lost to “Ak Bars” in the fourth match of the semi-final series. The fatal puck flew into the gates of Nikita Serebryakov after a series of errors in overtime.