32 saves of Konovalov, doubles of Abramov and Plotnikov and the return of Siberia: how the first matches of the 1/8 finals of the KHL playoffs went

Unexpected defeat of Metallurg

The first round of the Gagarin Cup started with a number of unexpected defeats for the favorites.

Supported the tradition and the current finalist Metallurg, who lost on the road to Avtomobilist.

However, in the course of the regular season, Ilya Vorobyov's wards looked no better than their opponents and eventually let him go to fourth place in the table.

In addition, they lost three out of four meetings to him.

This time the guests were close to achieving a positive result, but they were prevented by their own blunders.

At the end of the first period, Artyom Minulin, the defender of Magnitogorsk, who joined the attack, opened the scoring.

But shortly before the siren for a break, Alexei Maklyukov presented the puck to Georgy Belousov in a foreign zone.

The forward converted one-on-one and upset Vasily Koshechkin.

By the way, the goalkeeper became only the second hockey player who took part in all the Gagarin Cup draws along with Yevgeny Biryukov from Salavat Yulaev.

In the second 20 minutes, the teams exchanged goals again.

Nikolai Goldobin responded to an accurate shot by Nick Ebert.

But Metallurg, according to Vorobyov, was ruined by stupid removals, because his wards in this segment earned three small fines.

The last one was fatal.

As part of the hosts, the experienced Sergey Shirokov should be especially noted.

This year, he did not demonstrate high performance, but he shot in the playoffs at the most crucial moment.

At the very beginning of the third period, he mostly gave the pass to an empty corner to Curtis Valk, and then put an end to it, receiving a great cutting pass.

Magnitogorsk residents can only remember 2016.

Then they also started the first round with a defeat from Avtomobilist, but then they got together and not only knocked the opponent out of the fight, but also won the trophy.

A shameful end for the "Vanguard"

The winner of the Gagarin Cup-2021 Avangard also started with a misfire.

Omsk lost to Siberia at home in overtime - 1:2.

Unlike the parallel meeting, the match turned out to be not rich in goals, but it was replete with tough martial arts and clashes.

Illustrative statistics: for two, the opponents made 89 power moves, 50 of which were recorded by the Omsk team.

The hosts for most of the meeting owned the advantage and led the siege of other people's gates.

However, the guests competently acted as the second number and did not take risks.

And at the last frontier, Anton Krasotkin was good with 26 saves.

It was possible to break through it only three minutes before the end of normal time, and even then the goal turned out to be curious.

Aleksey Bereglazov randomly threw the puck from the left side from a fairly long distance, and it unexpectedly darted into the net.

The goalkeeper, closed both by his own and by others, failed to rescue his partners.

However, Novosibirsk did not think to give up and managed to escape in a difficult situation.

Having conceded, they immediately removed Krasotkin and, in unequal lineups, quickly achieved their goal.

After Taylor Beck's click, the post saved the opponents, but Alexander Sharov turned out to be the first to finish.

And in overtime, Andrey Martemyanov's wards completely snatched the victory.

In contrast to his counterpart, Vasily Demchenko did not play the best way, conceding the puck after a weak shot by Nikita Setdikov.

At the same time, the opponent blocked his view, and the judges even studied the repetition for a violation, but did not find it.

Working victory for CSKA

But in the West on Thursday there were no sensations.

For example, CSKA left Severstal no chance at home - 5:2.

At the same time, the Cherepovites could well be called an uncomfortable opponent for the Muscovites, because in the regular season they beat them three times.

Yes, and Sergei Fedorov called this team one of the best in the lower part of the conference.

The guests really spent the starting period at a high level.

They acted with the favorite on a collision course and were not inferior to him in anything.

And in the ninth minute, Robin Press completely brought them forward, having converted the first majority.

It seemed that with such a game, the team of Andrei Razin had a chance to create another sensation.

But the individual class of performers had an effect.

As soon as Mikhail Grigorenko restored the balance with a click from a long distance, less than a minute later Vitaly Abramov brought the army forward.

And immediately after the break, the red-blue shot again with a double, this time scoring twice in 24 seconds.

Abramov scored a double, and Sergei Plotnikov widened the gap.

Moreover, all the goals turned out to be almost identical - after a throw, one of the Muscovites substituted the puck on a penny, and Dmitry Shugaev turned out to be powerless.

In the end, 20-year-old Ilya Ivantsov closed the gap, and Severstal even removed the goalkeeper.

But shortly before the final siren, another author of the double, Plotnikov, put an end to it.

Only the extremely low attendance of the meeting upset me.

The stands of the CSKA Arena on a weekday evening gathered only 3,850 spectators with a capacity of 12,680.

Incredible luck "Dynamo"

In Nizhny Novgorod, on the contrary, there were no problems with attendance.

A few days before the match with Dynamo, several hundred people gathered at the box office near the Nagorny Sports Palace to buy tickets for the playoff games.

Moreover, the fans began to approach the stadium at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Unfortunately for the wards of Igor Larionov, it was not possible to please them, although the hosts did not deserve defeat.

So, they surpassed the opponent in throws - 33:21.

But the team was wasteful about their own moments, and Ilya Konovalov, who saved 32 shots, acted beyond praise.

Moreover, it was possible to use just not the most obvious chance.

At the end of the first period, the Avtozavodtsy fled to the counterattack in the minority, and Nikolai Kovalenko opened the scoring, taking advantage of the opponent's blot.

However, ten seconds before the break, Jordan Weale managed to restore the balance on the scoreboard.

The Canadian, having broken through on the front, beautifully beat his counterpart, then moved to the far post and delivered an accurate click.

And in the 27th minute, Maxim Dzhioshvili brought the Muscovites ahead.

He burst into someone else's zone at speed and sent the puck into the near nine.

Perhaps the decisive episode of the confrontation occurred shortly after that.

Sergei Goncharuk equalized, but the referees did not count the goal due to a microscopic offside.

Moreover, it took them about six minutes to watch the replay at the request of the guests.

In the final segment, Nizhny Novgorod stormed the gates of others, but could not upset Konovalov again.

Dynamo, having made only two shots in a period, managed to widen the gap - 3:1.

Thus, a new KHL record was set.

For the first time in the history of the Gagarin Cup, six out of eight opening matches of the first round were won by teams with a lower seeding: Admiral, Vityaz, Neftekhimik, Dynamo Minsk, Sibir and Dynamo Moscow.