Translated material
Shortest path
Six teams secured their place in the quarter-finals
Just three matches in the first round of the playoffs were enough for six Super League teams to quickly earn the right to continue fighting for medals. In only two episodes the showdown is delayed at least until tonight.The first to secure passage to the quarterfinals was the current national champion and winner of the regular season, Ak Bars. The positive result of the meeting in Novokuznetsk was largely ensured by the first link of the attack. His players took a direct part in three goals, and the last puck, already into the empty goal of “Kuznya”, was scored by Alexander Stepanov 19 seconds before the siren. In addition to him, three more hockey players from the visiting team scored 2 (1+1) points in the scorers standings - Raymond Giroux, Sergei Zinoviev, who played in his hometown, and the best sniper of the championship, Alexey Morozov.
During the match, the club from the capital of Tatarstan took the lead three times, but the Metallurgists equalized the score, and all this happened while playing with equal strength. The winning goal for the team from the capital of Tatarstan was scored by Morozov, who converted the numerical majority. There were very few deletions; in total, the opponents earned 14 penalty minutes.
“The game turned out to be very difficult for us,” Bilyaletdinov said at the post-match press conference. -- The home team showed excellent hockey, good dedication and high speed. I'm glad we managed to win. We are already starting to prepare for the next stage of the playoffs.” “Metallurg” mentor Sergei Nikolaev transparently hinted at poor quality refereeing: “We wanted and could extend the season in our city. It is clear that the opponent did not like this, but the extra experience of playoff matches would not have hurt us. Unfortunately, there was one person on the court who did not allow us to win. Thanks to the audience, thanks to the team, thanks to everyone who was with us in this championship. We will work to create a team for the next season.”
Events in Tolyatti followed a similar scenario. Only here the hosts were the first to score, and three times they could not maintain the lead. The main hero of the match was Muscovite Alexander Nikulin. In the final 20 minutes, he equalized the score, and in the 98th second of overtime, he gracefully dribbled past two Togliatti club players and made the net shake behind Volga goalkeeper Vasily Koshechkin.
The joy of the hockey players and coaching staff of CSKA was overflowing. The “Red-Blues” are reaching the quarterfinals for the second year in a row, and before that in Russian history they had never made it into the top eight at the end of the national championship. All these are the fruits of the thoughtful work of the team’s head coach, helmsman of the national team Vyacheslav Bykov, who returned to his native club in the summer of 2004. This season is generally the most successful in the career of a specialist who has worked in Switzerland for many years. With the main team of the country, he won three stages and the regular championship of the Eurotour, and so far everything is going smoothly with CSKA.
The former coach of our team, Vladimir Krikunov, had no reason to be in a good mood last night. His Dynamo finished the tournament ahead of schedule. For the second year in a row, after the championship season, the “blue and white” were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs without winning a single home victory. In the opening of the meeting with the Yaroslavl “railroad workers”, Dynamo was let down by Igor Mirnov. He was sent off in the 13th second, for which the hosts paid with a missed goal. Sergei Vyshedkevich scored the return goal on the power play, but soon Mirnov was sent to serve his punishment again. As a result, the “blue and white” again found themselves in the role of catching up. The hosts' top scorer partially redeemed himself, scoring in the middle of the game with the score 1:3. Dynamo didn't have enough for more.
In the Severstal-Khimik series, the visitors failed to score for the third match in a row. In the first two games it was Cherepovets, but on Wednesday the forwards of the Moscow Region club did not say their word. But Mytishchi goalkeeper Vitaly Kolesnik broke the record of his colleague in the role Maxim Sokolov, who played for Avangard three years ago and 165 minutes. 52 sec. from the start of the playoffs he kept the goal intact. Kolesnik’s result was 176 minutes. 39 sec. He missed from Severstal only at the end of the match, the second goal was scored a second before the siren without Vitaly - he was replaced by an extra field player.
Results. Super League. Playoffs. 1/8 finals. The third matches of the series up to three victories. "Metallurg" Nk - "Ak Bars" - 3:5. The series score is 0:3 . "Lada" - CSKA - 3:4 (OT). The series score is 0:3 . "Severstal" - "Khimik" - 2:0. The series score is 1:2 . "Vityaz" - "Avangard" - 0:1. The series score is 0:3. "Dynamo" - "Lokomotiv" - 2:4. The series score is 0:3 . "Neftekhimik" - "Siberia" - 2:0. The series score is 1:2 . HC MVD - Metallurg Mg - 2:3. The series score is 0:3 . SKA - Salavat Yulaev - 2:3 (shootout) Series score 0:3 .