An embarrassing overtime defeat in the fifth game of the decisive KHL playoff series put Metallurg in a difficult position.
In order not to let the confrontation finally drag on, Ilya Vorobyov's wards needed to beat CSKA on his site and interrupt not the most pleasant tradition.
After all, they had never won the sixth meeting of the Gagarin Cup final before.
In 2014, Magnitogorsk lost to the Prague "Lion", and two years later they could not cope with the Moscow army team.
Yes, in both cases they eventually managed to win the trophy, but it is unlikely that the hockey players wanted to go through the hassle of a decisive confrontation.
Was not interested in this and the coach of the guests, who decided to slightly redraw the composition before the most important meeting.
And both replacements could seem quite adventurous.
Mikhail Pashnin returned to the base, having only been on the ice three times in the current playoff draw.
In November, an experienced defender was injured and had to undergo surgery, after which he recovered for a long time, and in the series with Avangard he unsuccessfully took on an opponent's throw.
The place was given to him by Yaroslav Khabarov, who finished the previous match with a negative indicator of utility (“-1”).
Also, forward Arkhip Nekolenko, who showed himself rather brightly, did not get into the application.
In games with CSKA, he scored a goal and three assists, but this did not save him from being transferred to the reserve.
Pavel Akolzin was called to compensate for the absence of the forward, who scored a total of three points (1 + 2) for the entire tournament.
Sergei Fedorov did not change the winning combination of hockey players and turned out to be right.
The hosts immediately crushed the opponents and opened the scoring already three and a half minutes after the starting whistle.
Vladislav Kamenev rolled into the opponent's zone without resistance and performed a throw on the goal, and a few seconds later he was again in the shock position.
Sergey Plotnikov brought his partner into the operational space, and he deprived Vasily Koshechkin of the chance to issue a shutout in his 150th match in the KHL playoffs.
Metallurg quickly recovered, rushed forward and created several great chances in a matter of minutes.
Brendan Leipsik attacked twice from a penny, Denis Zernov threw from a lethal position, but Ivan Fedotov repeatedly confirmed the status of the most reliable goalkeeper of the tournament.
Even the optional removal of Pavel Karnaukhov did not help restore parity.
The CSKA forward held Artyom Minulin at the side and spent two minutes on the bench.
But if the special brigade of Magnitogorsk played extremely unsuccessfully in the majority, then the Muscovites took advantage of their chance.
The same Pashnin went to the penalty box, and Mikhail Grigorenko recalled his sniper skills.
The ex-forward of "Columbus" was left without guardianship in the right face-off circle and "shot" into the near corner in touch - the puck went right under Koshechkin's hand.
Moreover, Plotnikov again acted as an assistant, having dealt well with two defenders.
Metallurg took time to recover.
The next few minutes turned out to be difficult for Magnitogorsk, but another removal in CSKA helped them take a breath.
This time, Andrey Svetlakov went to the penalty box, but again he failed to squeeze something significant out of this.
Closest to the goal was Linus Widdel, but he missed the empty corner after a cross from Egor Yakovlev.
Excessive charge for the fight continued to interfere with both teams in the second period.
First, Laipsik got two extra minutes of rest, and then Sergey Andronov and Karnaukhov followed his example.
In unequal compositions, CSKA looked more confident again.
Largely due to this, the army team seized the initiative and literally swept away Metallurg in the second period, surpassing it twice in throws (14:7).
At times it seemed that the guests were about to fall apart, but like a bolt from the blue, Andrey Chibisov's goal struck.
The forward did everything himself - he burst into the zone, threw and finished off, interrupting a dry streak of ten meetings.
Magnitogorsk closed the gap 38 seconds before the end of the second period and in the third they were ready to rush in pursuit of the army team, but Josh Curry ruined everything.
The clash with Claes Dahlbeck turned out to be so tough that the Swede lost his helmet and was forced to go to the sub-tribune, and the judges wrote out “5 + 20” to the Canadian almost without hesitation.
Fedorov's wards had plenty of time to bring the score to a large one and decide the outcome of the confrontation, but did not succeed.
The selfless actions of the defenders, coupled with the excellent game of Koshechkin, helped Magnitogorsk not to miss and keep the intrigue.
As a result, the goalkeeper of the guests, who failed the starting segment, made 31 saves - five more than his counterpart Fedotov.
In the remaining time, the hosts gave the opponents enough opportunities to bring the case to overtime.
Svetlakov again left his partners to defend four, but Magnitogorsk could not confirm the status of the best team in the Gagarin Cup in terms of the implementation of numerical superiority.
The shock link could help turn the tide of the match, but it also looked unusually faded.
Nikolai Goldobin, Philippe Maillet and Laipsik made only seven shots on goal for three and were left without points in the third game in a row.
At the end of the meeting, CSKA put up an impregnable defense, which even the appearance of the sixth fielder in Metallurg did not help to break through.
Muscovites kept the winning score and extended the final series for the seventh match.
Thus, the winner of the Gagarin Cup will be determined on April 30 in Magnitogorsk.