Gusev's seven points, four overtimes in the CSKA match and the saves of 41-year-old Eremenko: what do you remember about the first week of the KHL playoffs

Dry wins for CSKA and Traktor

Due to the situation in Ukraine, the first participant in the quarterfinals of the KHL playoffs was determined even before it began - the Finnish Jokerit refused to fight for the trophy, which is why Spartak automatically received a ticket to the next stage.

A week later, two more teams joined him.

It took CSKA and Traktor the minimum required number of matches to break the opponents' resistance.

But if the army team extended their unbeaten streak in the first round to 32 meetings, then the Chelyabinsk team only for the third time in their history took over in the Gagarin Cup.

Until now, Traktor's success has been associated with the 2017/18 season, during which Anvar Gatiyatulin's wards dealt with Neftekhimik and Salavat Yulaev in turn.

This time, Nizhnekamsk residents also fell under the hot hand of the second team of the East.

But if four years ago they were able to soak the score in the series, then this time they lost dry.

At the same time, it cannot be said that the nominal underdogs did not give battle to the enemy.

The Bears took the upper hand only with a minimal difference in the score, and in the third game it went to overtime.

The same can be said about the confrontation between CSKA and Lokomotiv.

In two meetings, the army team did not experience any particular problems and defeated rivals with the same score 4:1, while in the other two the winner was determined in extra time.

Separately, it is worth noting the first duel in Yaroslavl, which included four overtimes, and the decisive puck was abandoned only at the 126th minute 43rd second.

A little more than a quarter of an hour (142:09) was not enough to reach the record.

As for the railway workers, such a result was extremely disappointing for them.

So far, they have only once lost dry in the KHL playoffs - in 2017 they could not do anything with the crowded SKA in the Western Conference finals, after which they twice overcame the barrier of the first round.

Under the leadership of Igor Nikitin, it was not possible to repeat the success.

Taking into account last year's final with Avangard, the ex-mentor of CSKA lost seven times in a row in the Gagarin Cup.

Confidence of SKA and Avangard

Three more teams are one step away from reaching the semi-finals of their conferences.

But if SKA is completely superior to Dynamo Minsk in terms of the quality of the game and deservedly leads with a score of 3:0, then the same cannot be said about Avangard.

In the first match, the Omsk team broke the resistance of Ak Bars only in overtime, and in the third match they miraculously left the gate intact.

The Kazan team overran the enemy more than twice (43:19), but failed to take Shimon Grubets by surprise, and they themselves missed twice.

True, the second time the puck flew into an empty target.

Particularly disappointing is the performance of Ak Bars in the majority.

In three matches, the wards of Dmitry Kvartalnov had 11 opportunities to realize the excess, but did not use any of them.

Moreover, having one more hockey player, they allowed Timur Bilyalov to be upset twice.

“The Avangard goalkeeper looks good, we can’t beat him, we need to find the key to him.

You have to be smart, and then everything will change.

I understand that everyone in my team is awesome performers, but so far we can’t cope with it, ”Championship quotes Kvartalnov.

SKA has no problems with the implementation, which has already hit the gates of Dynamo Minsk 14 times in total.

In the first match, the Petersburgers upset the enemy eight times, and scored three times in the remaining two.

In attack, Nikita Gusev and Andrey Kuzmenko looked especially bright.

The first chalked up seven points (2 + 5), and six of them in one game, which became a new record for the Gagarin Cup, and the second one less (4 + 2), which allowed the partners to become leaders in the playoff scorer race .

Their main competitors are CSKA forwards Konstantin Okulov (3 + 3) and Sergey Plotnikov (2 + 3).

One step away from the passage to the next round is Metallurg, which also includes bright performers.

One of them can be called Denis Zernov, who became the author of the first hat-trick in the current playoff draw.

It took him only 16 minutes and 16 seconds to force Barys goalkeeper Yoni Ortio to capitulate three times.

Subsequently, the Kazakhs could not recover from this blow and lost 2:5.

And it is likely that this match was decisive in the confrontation.

At the start, the team from Nur-Sultan created a sensation and turned out to be stronger away (3:2), but subsequently lost three times in a row.

The problems of Barys in defense again reminded of themselves.

During the regular season, he was in the top 6 most passing teams in the league, and did not change himself in the postseason.

His liability already includes 18 missed goals - the worst result among contenders for the trophy.

Longing for the legionnaires of Salavat and the problems of Dynamo

One of the most intense was the duel between Salavat Yulaev and Sibir, two teams that suffered more than others as a result of the mass departure of legionnaires.

Ufa residents have already lost five players, and Novosibirsk - three, and most of them were stars not only of the club, but of the league as a whole.

Goalkeepers Juha Metsola and Harri Syateri were in the top 5 in terms of saved shots (among those who had 20 meetings or more), while Markus Granlund and Sakari Manninen were among the top 35 scorers and scored just under one point per game on average.

“Naturally, everyone experienced sad feelings.

Because not just good, strong hockey players left, but also good, cool guys.

We in the team discussed this moment, talked, all this was taken as normal ... Naturally, the guys who left the team had a significant role.

But this is the moment when you need to redistribute the roles within the team, ”said the head coach of Salavat Yulaev, Tommy Lyamsya.

It is not surprising that without the Finnish diaspora, Salavat Yulaev no longer looked so confident.

Although the Ufimians were stronger in both home meetings, they won the first of them with a minimal difference, and in the second they almost missed a three-goal advantage.

In Novosibirsk, the hosts stood like a wall and allowed only one of 37 shots on goal to be realized.

As a result, everything was decided in the third overtime, where Valentin Pyanov succeeded.

Dynamo also found itself in a difficult situation.

Vadim Shipachyov and company failed the start of the series and twice lost to Severstal on their ice.

In attack, the game more or less stuck, but problems with discipline ruined everything.

In the first two matches, the blue-and-whites earned a total of 28 penalty minutes and allowed the opponents to convert the majority four times.

The goalkeeper did not save either, which was especially evident in the second home game.

At the start of the meeting, Ivan Bocharov failed to repel any of the three shots on goal, and only missed twice as many - 3:6.

Before leaving for Cherepovets, Dynamo were in a desperate situation, but managed to get the most important away victory.

One of the main creators of success was the most experienced Alexander Eremenko.

The 41-year-old goalkeeper replaced Bocharov at the gate and saved 21 shots, conceding only once.

At the same time, the Muscovites themselves threw three times.

There was no luck either.

Although the winning goal was credited to Eric O'Dell, in fact, Severstal forward Joonas Nyattinen became its author.

He tried to stop the breakthrough of the Canadian in the fall, but instead he only finished off the puck into the net.