He won the third match of the series with Metallurg

Gagarin Cup

Photo: Kommersant / Dmitry Lebedev / buy photo

No matter how hard the goalkeeper of Magnitogorsk Metallurg Georgiy Gelashvili tried, he was unable to save his team from defeat in the match with Salavat Yulaev

Photo: Kommersant / Oleg Nikolaev / buy photo

Photo: Kommersant / Dmitry Lebedev / buy photo

The finalist of the last Gagarin Cup, Avangard, found itself in an extremely difficult situation. Yesterday, in the third match of the quarterfinal series of the Eastern Conference, he lost to Siberia - 1:4, putting himself in a difficult position in a series in which he is now inferior - 1:2. Salavat Yulaev led with the same score in the confrontation with Magnitogorsk Metallurg. Ak Bars is one step away from the conference semi-finals, having defeated Neftekhimik in Nizhnekamsk - 2:1 - and led the series with a score of 3:0.

Before the start of the first round of the Gagarin Cup, it seemed that the intrigue would not last long in the pair “Avangard” - “Sibir” (the second and seventh teams of the East according to the results of the regular championship). The difference in the weight categories of the opponents was obvious: a well-equipped heavyweight Avangard that went through the regular season in one breath and, at best, a middleweight represented by the Novosibirsk club, which suffered during the season from a series of injuries to its key players and made it to the playoffs for only the second time in performances in the KHL. Moreover, during the season the Omsk club won twice against Sibir.

The first meeting in Omsk ended, as experts predicted, with a clean knockout - 5:0 in favor of Avangard. But just a day later, “Sibir” appeared on the ice of the Omsk Arena as a completely different team. In 60 minutes of playing time, the Novosibirsk team did not allow the opponent to create a single scoring chance. They themselves caught him being unrestrained, implementing a double removal for Avangard. This was enough to win the first victory in the series.

Yesterday "Siberia" got another one on its ice. In the third match, she was better in all components - faster, more disciplined, although it seemed that in the last aspect no one could surpass the Avangard players. But this time there were much more mistakes in the actions of the Omsk team than in Dmitry Kvartalnov’s players. Novosibirsk won a convincing victory - 4:1. Two-meter Slovakian defender Christian Kudroch scored a double. The score in the series became 2:1, and the Avangard coaching staff, led by Petri Matikainen, can only feverishly remember why his team beat Sibir so easily in the first match of the series.

In Ufa, the relationship between Salavat Yulaev and Metallurg was sorted out. Their series began with an exchange of victories in Magnitogorsk. Yesterday “Metallurg” looked less toothy. However, it was he who managed to open the scoring at the end of the first period: Magnitogorsk's main scorer Sergei Mozyakin waited for a mistake by the Ufa defense and confidently dealt with goalkeeper Iiro Tarkki.

After the break, the hosts responded with a goal from Nikita Filatov, who with a barely noticeable touch corrected the flight of the puck after a shot from the blue line by Miroslav Blatyak. And at the second break, “Salavat” completely left, leading in the score. Twice the hosts used a simple, but, as it turned out, effective scheme - a throw on the penny, where one of their own pushes the puck into the goal. In the first case, Anti Pihlström did it, and in the second, three Ufa players could close in Brent Sopel’s cross. Alexander Pankov turned out to be the most efficient.

"Metallurg", of course, tried to save themselves, of course, they changed the goalkeeper to a sixth field player and, of course, instead of scoring two goals, they let in the fourth goal. Vitaly Proshkin, it seems, did not count on hitting the target at all, throwing the puck further out of his zone, but it still slowly crawled over the goal line. “Salavat” took the lead in the series – 2:1.

SKA was very close, a small step away from reaching the semi-finals of the Western Conference. The point is not even that he led the series with a score of 3:1 (the fifth match will take place on Thursday in St. Petersburg, and in the first two games of the series Atlant was defeated there with a total score of 0:8), but that How did the last meeting of these teams go?

Yesterday, in the fourth meeting in Mytishchi, SKA was again the rightful master of the ice. It seemed that the guests had completely forgotten about Sunday's defeat (1:3). Moreover, yesterday it already seemed like nothing more than a misunderstanding. The St. Petersburg team again rolled the opponent into the ice - 6:1.

Ak Bars is even more confident in the playoffs. Changing sites does not in any way affect the efficiency of Valery Belov’s team. She plays equally well both on her own ice and on someone else’s ice. Yesterday the Kazan team proved this in Nizhnekamsk, adding a third to two home victories. The outcome of the match, however, remained unclear until the middle of the third period. However, it was a foregone conclusion in just four minutes, during which the Kazan team scored both goals. First, Dmitry Obukhov completed a quick counterattack of the guests, and then Denis Kulyash almost hit the home net with a powerful throw. Tomas Netik's return goal in the last minute only sweetened the bitterness of defeat for the hosts. Already today, Ak Bars can become the first semi-finalist of the Eastern Conference if they win the fourth meeting in Nizhnekamsk.

Dynamo Moscow and CSKA could become the first semi-finalists of the Western Conference yesterday. Their advantage over Slovan and Lev is obvious - both lead the series with a score of 3:0. The fourth matches in Bratislava and Prague ended after the number was signed for printing.

Yuri Ugrinov

1/8 finals

Best-of-four series

Western Conference

"Lev" - CSKA 1:3. The series score is 0:3.

"Slovan" - "Dynamo" (M) 2:4. 0:3.

"Atlant" - SKA 1:6. 1:3.

The fourth matches of the series "Severstal" - "Lokomotiv", "Lev" - CSKA, "Slovan" - "Dynamo" ended after the issue was signed for printing. The fifth matches will take place on February 28 at the sites of the teams listed second .

Eastern Conference

"Siberia" - "Avangard" 4:1. The series score is 2:1.

"Barys" - "Traktor" 1:3. 2:1.

"Salavat Yulaev" - "Metallurg" (MG) 4:1. 2:1.

"Neftekhimik" - "Ak Bars" 1:2. 0:3.

The fourth matches of the series will be held today at the sites of the teams listed first.

"Salavat Yulaev" has increased in price