Yaroslavl “Lokomotiv” made it to the final of the Gagarin Cup

The first finalist of the Fonbet play-offs of the KHL championship was Lokomotiv. Surprisingly, in order to cope with the seemingly very dangerous opponent Traktor in the quarterfinal series, the Yaroslavl team needed a minimum number of matches – four. In the fourth, ending the confrontation, they beat Chelyabinsk away with a score of 3:0.

This play-off marked a return to once-familiar territory for Lokomotiv. At the end of the last century and in the 2000s, it did not fall out of the list of those clubs from which they are always expected to fight for the main prize – then not the KHL, but its predecessor the Super League. The Yaroslavl team took it three times, in 1997, 2002 and 2003, and several more times found themselves close to the gold. But the last time this happened was a long, long time ago. In 2009, Lokomotiv lost to Ak Bars in the decisive series of the newly created new league, and since then it has not had any finals. In September 2011, before the start of another season that promised him a lot, the worst plane crash in the history of Russian sports happened, in which the entire Yaroslavl base died. This was followed by a difficult process of reviving the team. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, two clubs that Lokomotiv once looked down on, but which gradually turned into real giants and a tall barrier for the Yaroslavl team on the way to the final, gained colossal power. So it didn’t work out with him.

It has grown together now and has grown together incredibly effectively. In the opening round of the play-offs, a strengthened Lokomotiv defeated CSKA, the best KHL club of the previous two seasons. In the second, Avangard seemed to be an almost ideal hunter for the Gagarin Cup thanks to its powerful attack, which, however, could be considered an achievement by the fact that it stretched the series to the maximum distance, until the seventh match.

But the performance of Lokomotiv in the confrontation with Traktor, of course, made an even stronger impression than those that preceded it.

The Chelyabinsk club in front of him could not be treated the way they treated it, say, in the middle of winter – as just a good team: they would make it to the playoffs, but they were unlikely to advance too far. Not that polish. The April “Tractor” itself already looked like an absolute grandee with a huge margin of safety. In the quarterfinals, he not only eliminated the regular season winner Dynamo from the road, he defeated them cleanly in four matches and looked head and shoulders better than the Moscow club, at the same time earning himself a few extra days of rest, which are never superfluous in the playoffs.

But even though Traktor, which had improved in the spring, was still unable to even hint at an equal fight with Lokomotiv, it still couldn’t find a way to neutralize Yaroslavl’s trump cards – the tight play of all four lines, pressure, pace, the ability to do without obvious falsehoods throughout long, sometimes for a whole period, segments.

It is unlikely that anyone could have imagined a scenario in which this semi-final series would be of minimal duration.

The situation rather hinted at the same protracted battle that Lokomotiv had with Avangard. But it was done in exactly four matches, in each of which the Yaroslavl team had, albeit a tiny, advantage.

The fourth was extremely revealing. In it, Lokomotiv, thanks, it seems, primarily to its cold head, unlike its rivals, gave Traktor a brutal beating in the first period. The hosts spent ten minutes relying on the exploits of goalkeeper Sergei Mylnikov, who took shots from all distances and points, including the spot, but in the end they conceded after the signature connection of defender Martin Gernat.

Then “Lokomotiv”, feeling that “Traktor” had gotten rid of the jitters, switched the mode to a different position and began to endure, endure and endure, seemingly extinguishing the more and more dangerous attacks of others. They could have killed anyone, but they had not learned to endure the pressure of any degree of Yaroslavl, who already endured their own counterattack and Artur Kayumov’s goal in the second twenty minutes. Soon after, Sergei Andronov also scored, and the difference of three goals is already a death sentence for Lokomotiv’s opponent, no matter who it is. Chasing in such a situation in a match with this fantastically disciplined team is completely pointless.

Lokomotiv reached the final. His opponent will be determined in the series, in which Avtomobilist and Metallurg will play the fourth match on Tuesday. So far the score is 2:1 in favor of Magnitogorsk playing away.

Alexey Dospehov