Berlev’s pass and goals into an empty net: Admiral, Ak Bars and SKA advanced to the next round of the KHL playoffs

Sensation from "Admiral"

The first round of the current Gagarin Cup is extremely unpredictable.

Almost all the favorites faced difficulties.

What are at least two defeats of the current owner of the CSKA trophy from Severstal.

It would be unfair if such a playoff did without a major sensation.

And it was the departure of Salavat Yulaev.

Ufa, who took second place in the Eastern Conference, seemed to have to calmly pass the "Admiral", which only at the last moment made it to the top 8.

However, in the course of the series, Viktor Kozlov's wards constantly had to win back, and after a home defeat in overtime (3:4), they stopped a step away from the abyss.

Vladivostok residents, on the contrary, believed in themselves and were ready to strike a decisive blow in their native walls.

They took to the ice with a crazy desire and attitude, while the opponents looked scared.

This also affected the quality of the game.

The team of Leonid Tambiev significantly rerolled the opponent - 37:24.

Especially serious advantage in this indicator was in the second period - 17:4.

Not even the goal of Alexander Chmielewski in the majority shortly before the first break did not break the team.

The American rolled out from behind the gate and sent the puck on target from a penny past Nikita Serebryakov.

In the second segment, the assault on the Admiral bore fruit.

Moreover, by an irony of fate, Pavel Shen, a native of Ufa and a pupil of Yugra, who spent one season at Salavat Yulaev, managed to restore balance with a powerful click from the left side to the near nine.

A few minutes later, Ivan Yemets was the first to finish.

After the break, the score was equalized again.

However, the guests did not get much that evening.

Standing apart is only the game of Chmielewski, who managed to issue a double with almost identical shots from behind the gate.

Serebryakov, who had repeatedly rescued partners before, this time made mistakes.

The denouement came two minutes and 39 seconds before the end, when the hosts had a decisive counterattack.

Ilya Yezhov coped with an opponent's shot from an average distance, but released the puck directly at Anton Berlev, who had no right to miss such a chance.

And after the final siren, Tambiev admitted that the author of the winning goal went on the ice with an injury and actually played on one leg.

The specialist himself, after the end of the meeting, fell into the arms of assistants, but only shook his head in bewilderment, as if not believing what had happened.

You can understand his emotions, because "Admiral" for the first time in history made it to the second round of the Gagarin Cup and arranged a real holiday for the Primorsky Territory.

The character of "Ak Bars"

And the most combative in the East turned out to be the confrontation between Neftekhimik and Ak Bars.

Each derby of Tatarstan took place in a tough fight and was full of skirmishes, fights and deletions.

However, Kazan coped with the pressure, defeated the neighbors at home in the fifth match and stopped a step away from getting into the conference semi-finals.

But it quickly became clear that Nizhnekamsk was not broken by a major defeat.

With the support of their own fans, they immediately rushed forward, demonstrating a desire to take revenge.

And already at the 42nd second, their mood turned into a goal.

The hosts won the throw-in in someone else's zone, Anthony Camara received a pass outside the gate and immediately found Ansel Galimov on the penny.

The guests' response was swift.

In the next retaliatory attack, Kirill Panyukov, after transferring Kirill Semyonov to the right flank, moved forward and threw Andrei Tikhomirov under the shield.

Thus, the teams, having scored twice in one minute and two seconds, set a new record for the KHL playoffs rate of fire.

The previous achievement also belonged to Ak Bars, which in 2016, together with Salavat Yulaev, scored two goals in 65 seconds.

"Neftekhimik" continued to have an advantage in the future and could repeatedly upset Timur Bilyalov.

However, he acted beyond praise and parried 12 clicks only in the starting segment.

Wards of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov also created chances in counterattacks.

For example, Nikita Lyamkin, kissing from the blue line, almost broke the crossbar.

And yet, after the break, the Nizhnekamsk team came forward again.

On the second attempt, they managed to realize the majority.

Dmitry Voronkov received a minor disciplinary fine for tripping.

And Andrei Chivilev had less than a minute to distinguish himself in unequal compositions.

The more unexpected was the turning point in the game in the final period.

After a tough conversation with the coach, the guests returned to the ice with a completely different attitude and immediately unleashed a flurry of attacks on the gates of Andrei Tikhomirov.

Under such serious pressure, the goalkeeper eventually faltered and made a mistake, unable to cope with the click of Konstantin Luchevnikov from the blue line.

The author of the goal should also be thanked by Voronkov, who blocked Tikhomirov's view on a penny.

And in the 51st minute, Ak Bars took the lead for the first time.

This time, Dmitry Kagarlitsky burst into the opponent's zone during a counterattack and threw himself from under the defender into the far one.

It is curious that in addition to Alexander Radulov, Bilyalov scored a point for performance in this episode.

In the end, Neftekhimik removed the goalkeeper, but only allowed Voronkov to hit an empty target and put an end to it - 4:2.

Kazan, despite the desperate resistance of the opponent, stepped further, where they will measure their strength with the Admiral.

SKA pressure

SKA in a similar situation managed to beat Dynamo Minsk on the road and advance to the next round.

Moreover, the match in the capital of Belarus also began without buildup.

No sooner had the referee made the starting throw-in as Mark Barberio broke the rules.

But the Petersburgers, instead of scoring, conceded in the minority.

Vladimir Alistrov picked up the puck in someone else's zone, made a pass along the right edge, delivered a powerful click, and then was the first to finish off.

A minute later, at the end of the majority, the guests also distinguished themselves.

Vasily Glotov moved from the boards to someone else's penny and pushed the puck under the pads to Alexei Kolosov.

As in previous meetings of the teams, there were enough hard clashes.

For example, Alexander Nikishin hit his opponent in the face with a stick in his debut and was sent off for four minutes.

Roman Rotenberg was extremely dissatisfied with this decision and demonstrated that his opponent was feigning.

The intensity of emotions was so great that sometimes it got to their own.

So, SKA striker Damir Zhafyarov was knocked down after a collision with teammate Mikhail Pashnin.

Fortunately, hockey players did not forget about attacks.

Already in the ninth minute, Mikhail Vorobyov put an end to a beautiful combination and for the first time brought the guests ahead.

Surprisingly, Dynamo in the middle of the match again played in the minority.

The defender of St. Petersburg out of the blue made a loss in his own half, and Igor Martynov immediately brought Sergey Sapego to the throw.

And yet the last word in the second segment remained with the favorite.

Andrey Pedan knocked out Kolosov with the strongest click from an average distance.

In stock, the Minskers still had a whole 20-minute, but frankly they didn’t have enough strength for it.

A large number of deletions also affected, because the hosts spent almost a whole period in the minority.

It is not surprising that in this segment they made only eight shots on target, becoming more active only in the end.

But in the last seconds, Marat Khairullin said his word again.

In the previous match, he scored a double with throws into an empty net, and this time he hit the target once and brought SKA to the conference semi-finals.