Throw Dronov and rebound from Villa: Metallurg snatched victory from Traktor 15 seconds before the end and reached the KHL final

If in the West the final series threatens to drag on for the maximum possible seven meetings, in the East it could have ended much earlier.

On April 11, Metallurg had a great opportunity to put an end to the confrontation with Traktor.

In many ways, the unexpected defeat in Chelyabinsk, committed by the wards of Ilya Vorobyov to the opponent a day ago, was decisive - 6: 0.

After him, they got a chance to close the series at home.

Anvar Gatiyatulin's team was forced to take risks and open up.

However, they won their only victory in the confrontation precisely in Magnitogorsk.

Therefore, they retained the hope of repeating this result.

Guests expected from the first minutes seized the initiative.

They tried to quickly pass the central zone and, at every opportunity, threw the puck on the nickel in the hope of a correction.

In the opening, Vasily Koshechkin had to work hard.

As a result, before the break, he made ten saves and never missed.

Sometimes luck was on Metallurg's side.

For example, Vyacheslav Osnovin miraculously missed the target after a pass from the front from a lethal position.

There were also enough unpleasant clicks from the sides, where the Chelyabinsk residents got more freedom.

However, gradually the hosts adapted to the opponent's game, and the course of the match began to resemble the previous one.

"Tractor" went forward, and the wards of Ilya Vorobyov responded with the most dangerous counterattacks.

Over and over again, they managed to run away to someone else's goal in a couple of long passes.

The team was always ready to take advantage of the slightest mistake.

And in the 13th minute Maxim Karpov punished the opponent.

Lawrence Pilut went solo and lost the puck in the opponent's area.

Yaroslav Khabarov immediately performed a great cutting pass to the striker, who confidently converted one-on-one and scored the third goal in the playoffs.

Having missed, "Tractor" was forced to open up even more than the owners used.

In the time remaining before the break, they could well increase the advantage.

And in terms of throws, Magnitogorsk eventually surpassed the opponent - 14:10.

But thanks to Roman Villa, Chelyabinsk remained in the game.

What is worth at least a save of the Czech with a pancake after Karpov's click into the near corner.

In the second period, the course of the match changed slightly.

Traktor continued to attack, while Metallurg responded with much sharper counterattacks.

However, the hosts, as before the break, could not boast of a good implementation.

If they were a little more precise, the intrigue would have died long before the final siren.

Will regularly rescued partners and caught courage.

So, he did not allow Andrei Chibisov to realize a one-on-one exit, blocking the near corner.

The Czech then trapped the puck after Anatoly Nikontsev shot from the left faceoff circle.

Sometimes Vorobyov's wards did not have enough luck.

For example, Brendan Leipsik miraculously missed the far corner from a lethal position.

In general, the team continued to operate reliably in defense and regularly organized fast attacks.

The guests allowed unforgivable gaps between the lines.

The more unexpected was their goal in the 34th minute.

The Chelyabinsk team pressed the tired team of opponents to the goal and brought the matter to a scoring shot.

Nikita Tertyshny powerfully clicked from the blue line, and Vitaly Kravtsov, after Koshechkin's save, sent a projectile into an empty net.

Immediately, Metallurg, due to the removal of Chibisov, remained in the minority.

But most of the guests failed to realize.

Moreover, Denis Zernov miraculously missed the target in a counterattack after an excellent transfer from his partner.

And in the end, Pilut, in a hustle and bustle on a penny, took out the puck almost from the line.

The third period turned out to be much more cautious.

The teams understood that any mistake could cost too much and acted extremely carefully in defense.

However, the Traktor hockey players regularly committed violations of the rules and spent a total of six minutes in the minority.

Only by a miracle they managed not to miss.

Guests fought selflessly and bravely threw themselves under the throws of rivals.

Continued to work miracles and Will.

What is at least his salvation after Leipsik's throw from the right circle.

Cech managed to move into the near corner and repelled the puck with an extended trap.

In the attack, for the time being, the Chelyabinsk team did little.

Even the removal of Pavel Akolzin as part of the hosts for hitting an opponent on the stick did not help.

Guests mediocrely spent two minutes and were marked only by a click of Sergei Kalinin with an uncomfortable hand in the near.

Koshechkin was on the alert and did not leave a gap between the shield and the bar.

However, Anvar Gatiyatulin's team spent the second half of the period more actively.

It was felt that the team did not want to bring the case to overtime, where the value of any blot increased multiple times.

The guests tried to throw the puck on the penny in the hope of a substituted stick or Koshechkin's mistake.

But Vasily acted reliably at the last frontier.

It seemed that overtime could not be avoided.

As a result, the outcome of the confrontation turned out to be absolutely incredible.

In the end, Metallurg pressed the tired opponent to the goal.

A couple more saves were recorded in Will's asset.

And when the offensive of the hosts almost died out, "Tractor" missed.

Grigory Dronov decided on a hopeless throw from the port side.

The goalkeeper, who had previously rescued partners more than once in more difficult situations, did not really see the moment, and the puck, ricocheting off his foot, planned Roman behind his back.

Only 15 seconds remained before the siren, and Traktor had practically no chance of escaping.

Chelyabinsk took off the goalkeeper, but lost the face-off in the central zone and even failed to bring the matter to a throw.

Thus, in five matches Magnitogorsk secured a victory with little bloodshed and made it to the final of the Gagarin Cup.

Now they will try for the third time in history to win the trophy in the confrontation with CSKA or SKA.