Tolchinsky's goal, Grubec's “cracker” and 39 blocked shots: how Avangard beat CSKA and won the Gagarin Cup

On the eve of the Gagarin Cup final, hardly many expected that by the sixth match of the series Avangard would be one step away from the trophy, and not the reigning champion - CSKA. Nevertheless, the phenomenal comeback in the fourth meeting and a confident victory in the fifth made Bob Hartley's charges favorites and opened the way for them to gold. It remained only to take the last step and beat the competitor who was in a depressed mood on his ice.

There is no doubt that before leaving for Balashikha, all representatives of the coaching staff and army hockey players, without exception, felt serious psychological pressure on themselves, but it was especially difficult for Maxim Shalunov. The forward not only earned an optional removal in the fourth meeting and left the site, which largely predetermined its unsuccessful outcome for CSKA, but also missed the fifth match due to disqualification. The absence of the best sniper and the author of seven winning goals in the KHL playoffs seriously limited the Muscovites in attack and led the team to leave the ice for the third time during the Gagarin Cup without scoring goals. Previously, this happened only during the confrontation with Lokomotiv in the semifinals of the Western Conference.

“Here you can look at the situation in different ways. On the one hand, he (Shalunov -

) is the best sniper, on the other hand, he lost a key game. Now put one and the other on the scale, which outweighs? The story is controversial ... At least for today, this removal was worth the fact that the series turned over. And in the long term, it may have been worth the trophy, "said Leonid Vaysfeld, former general manager of Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

In the sixth match, Shalunov, as expected, returned to the squad and took a favorite place in the second line - along with the top scorer of the playoffs Konstantin Okulov and Maxim Mamin. At the same time, Nikita Soshnikov and 40-year-old Alexander Popov, who had a shock in the first half of the final series, were in reserve. In turn, Andrei Stas, the “victim” of a tough forceful technique performed by Shalunov, returned to the application at Avangard. He missed the previous game due to injury, but managed to recover by the reporting meeting.

In a pre-match interview, Hartley said that one of the main tasks is to act on the limit and not allow opponents to shoot at goal without resistance. The Omsk people followed the coach's instructions. As a result, there was an abundance of wrestling on the ice and seven blocked attempts in the first ten minutes. True, the army team still managed to bother Grubec eight times, and the leading three looked especially bright. Okulov and Mamin, due to their individual skill, created good chances for themselves, but they could not beat the Czech.

As befits in such a high-status meeting, emotions began to flare up already in the first period. The most striking episode took place in the middle zone, when Maxim Goncharov, with a tough forceful technique, imprinted Andrei Svetlakov on board. As it turned out, in that collision, the forward of the Muscovites was injured and did not spend a single change again. 21-year-old Maxim Sorkin decided to intercede for his teammate, but he also found himself on the ice after a collision with a dimensional defender. A scuffle almost broke out between the teams, but the judges managed to intervene in time and extinguish the conflict.

In general, the first 20 minutes passed with a slight advantage for CSKA - both territorially and in terms of the number of dangerous episodes. Therefore, Avangard's goal 30 seconds before the siren did not quite follow from the logic of the game. CSKA allowed themselves to be relaxed and let the "hawks" carry out a positional attack, for which they paid. At first, they did not prevent Oliver Kaska from passing outside the goal, and then they did not prevent Sergei Tolchinsky from making a touchdown throw. Lars Johansson was not ready for such a development of events and missed the 29th goal in the current Gagarin Cup, allowing his former partner to catch up with Okulov in the playoff scorers race (both - 20 points each).

In the first minutes of the second period, one might have got the impression that Igor Nikitin's charges had not fully recovered from the shock caused by a missed "goal in the locker room." CSKA needed to go ahead and compare the score, but instead they gave the initiative to Avangard. And in the seventh minute it became noticeable how seriously the guests were nervous. One of the Muscovites rolled out on the ice ahead of time and forced the judges to punish the team for violating the numerical strength. The Omsk had a two-minute power play on a shock, and Reed Boucher, Korban Knight and Klim Kostin had excellent chances to widen the gap, but Johansson kept the intrigue.

An equal fight proceeded on the court until the siren about the end of the second period. CSKA was a little more active, but it was not possible to arrange an assault on Grubec's goal. The Avangard defenders continued to selflessly take punches on themselves and by the end of the 20-minute had already 20 blocked shots. Damir Sharipzyanov, Alexey Bereglazov and Oliver Kaski were especially zealous. Sometimes the puck still reached the goalkeeper, but the Czech was determined to issue the sixth shutout in the playoffs.

By the beginning of the third segment of the meeting, the "dry" streak of the army team in the final series reached 105 minutes 39 seconds.

And at first, their determination was visible to finally unseal the gates of the "hawks".

Moreover, in both episodes, Grubets played above all praise.

First, he miraculously left the trap in the right place and took the puck after the substitution of Pavel Karnaukhov, and then did not let Brendan Lipsik get to the pass of Maxim Sorkin.

However, once again Grubetsu had to come into play only at the end of the period.

The next 14 shots on his goal were blocked by partners, and in the remaining cases the reigning champions lacked accuracy.

All questions about the winner could be removed by Goncharov, but his solo breakthrough ended with a hit to the bar.

Even the incontinence of the Avangard players did not help CSKA to get out of the critical situation. Four minutes before the final siren, Denis Zernov and Ville Pokka earned minor penalties with a difference of 12 seconds and left their three partners against five opponents. But they miraculously kept the gate intact. On this, the forces of the army ended, and the final assault did not work. The Hawks survived and not only won the sixth match, but also won the Gagarin Cup for the first time in their history.