Svetlakov's fatal foul and Fantenberg's powerful throw: how SKA snatched victory over CSKA and took the lead in the KHL semi-finals

The fifth meeting between SKA and CSKA was supposed to be a key one in the fight for reaching the Gagarin Cup final.

In front of her in the series, equality was established - 2: 2.

Accordingly, the winner was one step away from triumph in the Western Conference.

Petersburgers had an excellent chance to succeed.

First, they returned home.

Secondly, they were in a great mood after the previous meeting in Moscow, where they won - 3:2.

They also played into the hands of the return to service of key defender Mikko Lehtonen, who a day ago for the first time in the current playoff draw did not get into the squad due to health problems.

A short pause was enough for the Finn to come to his senses.

In addition, Roman Rotenberg made only one change in the composition: he moved Georgy Solyannikov from the fourth link to the third.

But Sergei Fedorov seriously redrawn the roster.

In the top three forwards, Sergei Plotnikov was joined by Anton Slepyshev and captain Sergei Andronov.

In the second, Mikhail Grigorenko was joined by Konstantin Okulov and Vladislav Kamenev.

Finally, Pavel Karnaukhov ended up in fourth with Semyon Pankratov and Vitaly Abramov.

The first half of the starting period completely remained with SKA.

The hosts had the advantage and tried to impose their hockey on the guests.

They sought to create gaps in the opponent's defense by performing a large number of diagonal passes in a foreign zone.

At the same time, almost every attack ended in a throw.

In the fourth minute, the Muscovites, in addition, remained in the minority.

Nikita Nesterov went to the bench for the bandwagon.

It seemed that the Petersburgers got an excellent opportunity to open an account, but most of them did not realize and almost missed from Okulov, who jumped into the operational space and struck a click right at Lars Johansson.

But in equal composition, the Rotenberg team created one of the most dangerous moments.

The Muscovites got caught on the shift, and Danila Moiseev pulled out one on one with Fedotov, but failed to outplay him.

And in the middle of the period, CSKA suddenly took the lead.

And again, the third link proved to be excellent, which regularly creates problems for the opponent in this series.

Alexander Popov, although he did not score himself, competently left the puck to Svetlakov, and he from the left circle of the face-off sent it to the near nine over Johansson's shoulder.

SKA managed to recoup only shortly before the break.

The team earned another majority and still took advantage of it, although it did not sell.

The Petersburgers again did not act very well, but when Claes Dahlbeck had already jumped onto the ice, they still punched Fedotov.

And the goal turned out to be funny.

Alexander Volkov from behind the gate sent the puck to a nickel in the hope of a rebound, and from the goalkeeper's ammunition it ended up in the net - 1:1.

CSKA fans waited for the second period with anxiety, because in this segment Muscovites conceded seven goals in the previous matches of the series with SKA.

Keeping the unfortunate statistics in mind, the guests themselves began to play more actively after the break.

If before that they acted with an eye on the opponent, now they have seized the initiative.

Wards Fedotov turned up the speed and with losses in a foreign zone, they immediately turned on high pressure.

A large number of won face-offs helped not to let the opponent out of the zone.

The pressure of the guests was growing and eventually resulted in an absolutely natural puck Svetlakov.

The striker, taking advantage of the perfect transfer from Bogdan Kiselevich, calmly hit the near corner and scored a double.

After that, the game finally opened up, as the Petersburgers were forced to go forward.

Often they managed to overcome the pressure of opponents and run away into fast attacks.

Moments began to emerge already at the gates of Fedotov.

In particular, Anton Burdasov missed a great chance.

From the left side, he had a click along an unusual trajectory exactly at the far post.

But at the end of the period, SKA again managed to level the score.

The guests failed to get out of the zone, and Stepan Falkovsky, intercepting a pass from Klas Dalbek, brought Moiseev to the throw.

CSKA saved Fedotov, but the puck still ricocheted into the net from the attacker.

The referee did not count the goal, but then went to watch the replay for deliberate foot play.

A few minutes later, the referee pointed to the center, not seeing a violation of the rules.

And a minute and eight seconds before the siren for a break, Rotenberg's wards again earned the majority for hitting Vladislav Provolnev with a club in the face of Vladislav Tsitsyura.

However, the capital's army team, by tradition, in the minority played unmistakably.

It seemed that in the final period, SKA would go forward as hosts, but in fact the guests again took possession of the advantage.

They literally crushed the opponent with high pressure and did not let him out of their zone.

Moments began to emerge one by one at the Johansson goal, but the guests lacked a bit of luck.

For example, Maxim Sorkin from a lethal position hit the crossbar.

Following Anton Slepyshev broke into a rendezvous with the Swedish goalkeeper, but failed to beat him.

The Scandinavian left the shield in the near corner and rescued partners.

On top of all the troubles, the Petersburgers for the first time in the match were in the minority.

Andrey Kuzmenko went to the penalty box.

Traditionally, the Red-Blues took advantage of the majority not in the best way and even allowed Moiseev and Bardakov to organize a two-on-two exit.

The powerful snap of the latter, not without difficulty, parried Fedotov with his shoulder.

Immediately, a great chance to score a hat-trick was missed by Svetlakov, who failed to push the puck from a meter under Johansson.

Finally, the Swede miraculously parried Okulov's most dangerous throw into the top nine with a club handle.

In the third period, Lars became one of the main characters in SKA and did everything for his team to win.

CSKA missed its opportunities, and the hosts rarely penetrated into someone else's zone.

Everything seemed to be going to the first overtime in the series.

But everything was decided by one gross mistake of a person who led the Muscovites forward throughout the meeting.

The author of the double Svetlakov out of the blue in the middle zone broke the rules on Bardakov and earned a fine.

Rotenberg's wards got a little less than two minutes to implement the majority and still got their way.

70 seconds before the siren, Oscar Fantenberg sent the puck under the crossbar with a powerful shot without a chance for Fedotov.

And for the Swede, this goal was the first in the playoffs and so important.

The Fedorov team had enough time to escape, but the Petersburgers worked reliably on the defensive.

The replacement of Fedotov for the sixth field did not help either.

SKA hockey players fought back and with the final siren fell on the ice without strength.

They scored a major victory in the match, during which they lost twice in the score, and stopped one step away from reaching the final of the Gagarin Cup.

CSKA can only take revenge on April 12 in Moscow.