Problems of the giants: CSKA lost to Lokomotiv in overtime, Ak Bars suffered a third defeat in a row in the Gagarin Cup

Ak Bars crash

The main sensation of the first round of the KHL playoffs is brewing in the series with the participation of the current vice-champion.

Before the start of the championship, the hockey community cautiously assumed that Ak Bars might experience problems in the confrontation with Avtomobilist, but hardly anyone expected this.

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team lost two home matches with a total score of 1:6 and went to Yekaterinburg in an extremely bad mood.

And there they witnessed how Avtomobilist forward Anatoly Golyshev gave one of the best performances of his career.

Until now, he had seven goals in the Gagarin Cup, and he scored the last two days ago - in the second meeting with Ak Bars.

And this time he burst into three at once, which no Avtomobilist representative had previously managed in the playoffs.

Yes, in all three cases Golyshev distinguished himself at close range, but under different circumstances.

First, he helped the hosts succeed in a five-on-three game, then he completed a multi-play with equal strength, and 28 seconds before the final siren, he cleared up all questions about the winner by hitting the empty target.

The guests responded to this with an accurate “shot” from Ilya Safonov from an awkward hand, upsetting the enemy for the first time in 112 minutes.

Thus, Ak Bars found itself in an almost hopeless situation, because in the entire history of the league only SKA managed to come back from 0-3 in the series.

In 2015, the army team lost to their teammates from CSKA, but miraculously managed to make a comeback.

And, if you believe Bilyaletdinov’s words, he does not rule out a repetition of this.

However, this will be extremely difficult to achieve if the leaders continue to look so bad.

And that evening, neither Dmitry Yashkin nor Vadim Shipachev, who reached the mark of 1000 matches in the KHL, entered their names into the protocol.

Confidence of Metallurg and problems of Salavat

In turn, for the second year in a row, one of the most titled teams of the championship risks failing at the start.

In 2023, “Salavat Yulaev” was sensationally beaten by “Admiral”, and now it cannot cope with “Traktor”, which a year ago did not even make it into the top eight in the East.

True, Viktor Kozlov’s team can safely complain about bad luck, because in terms of creating chances they are superior to their opponents.

Thus, in the third meeting, the Ufa team produced 3.48 expected goals (xG), while the Chelyabinsk team produced only 1.35.

But at the same time, Alexander Samonov was left out of action three times, while behind Zach Fucale’s goal the red light came on twice.

And largely thanks to the inspired play of Ivan Drozdov.

First, he brought Alexander Khmelevski into the shooting position, and then brilliantly opened up in front of the target and “shot” the goalkeeper.

It is noteworthy that the final score was set already in the 31st minute, and Traktor scored all three of its goals in just 13 and a half, taking the lead already in the 27th second (3:2).

Sergei Telegin and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev had two (1 + 1) points each, and the author of the winning shot was the highly experienced Vladimir Tkachev, who ran off to rendezvous with Samonov.

The confrontation in Khabarovsk ended with a similar score, however, this time the favorite prevailed.

“Metallurg” did not follow the path of “Salavat”, and although not without difficulty, they broke the resistance of “Amur” on the road.

Thanks to this, Magnitogorsk took the lead in the series and redeemed itself for the misfire two days ago (2-1).

By the middle of the second period, the teams scored twice, and the author of the decisive hit was 19-year-old Roman Kantserov, who had not previously scored in the playoffs (3:2).

At the same time, the most curious goal was recorded for the hosts' representative Viktor Baldaev, who was helped to enter his name into the scoresheet by two rebounds - from Ilya Nabokov's trap and Robin Press' stick.

And the most spectacular one is on Magnitogorsk striker Denis Zernov.

Neither the goalkeeper nor the shifted goal prevented him from performing a brilliant one-on-one approach.

Lokomotiv's willpower and SKA's spurt

At the same time, the intrigue is tightened even more in one of the most anticipated duels of the Western Conference, where the railroad workers demonstrate their unbending character.

After a 0:4 defeat in the opening match, many could have broken down, but the Yaroslavl team first took revenge on their own ice, and then on someone else’s they gave the fight to the current holders of the Gagarin Cup.

They not only outscored their more eminent opponents in the number of shots on target, but up until the 46th minute they were leading 2:0, having converted twice on the power play.

And this is largely the merit of two young athletes - Daniil But and Stepan Nikulin.

Both scored two points, but if the first showed himself as both a sniper and an assistant, the second focused on “carrying shells.”

And he brought not only a promising defender into a striking position, but also Georgiy Ivanov.

CSKA did not give up and restored parity in seven minutes.

And both times it was possible to take Daniil Isaev by surprise only after finishing off.

First, Pavel Karnaukhov watched for the rebound at the left post, and then Mikhail Grigorenko at the opposite post.

And thanks to this, he not only entered the top ten scorers of the tournament with four (2 + 2) points, but also sent the game into overtime, where the army team was not inferior to the railway workers since 2021 (if we are talking about the playoffs).

But three years later, this series was interrupted.

And Denis Alekseev contributed to this, turning into Lokomotiv’s main trump card.

Two days ago, it was he who scored the winning goal 23 seconds before the end of the second period, and now he did the same in overtime.

And in both cases, the striker did an excellent job on the spot, placing his stick under the throw from the blue line.

Apparently, SKA also took the initiative in the series.

Roman Rotenberg's squad was brutally beaten in the first home match, but first restored parity, and then were stronger on the road.

The first half of the match was entirely in the hands of the St. Petersburgers, who sent three unanswered goals into the opponent’s goal - Alexander Nikishin, Stepan Falkovskiy and Vasily Glotov scored once each.

Only after the second break did Torpedo come to its senses and tried to force a fight on one of the best teams of the regular season.

First, Vasily Atanasov reduced the gap, and then Vladislav Firstov responded to Alexander Kadeikin’s goal.

But in the end everything went wrong, as a result of which the Nizhny Novgorod residents were not even able to organize a full-fledged assault.

First, Sergei Goncharuk made an extremely careless pass to the blue line and hit his own goal, and then Bobby Lynch got sent off out of the blue.

SKA won with a score of 5:2 and took the second step towards the quarterfinals of the Gagarin Cup.

The stability of Avangard and the revenge of Spartak

Spartak also took the lead in the series, having stumbled in one of the matches on their ice.

And this benefited Alexei Zhamnov’s team, who gave their opponents a real dressing down on the road.

By the 13th minute, the Muscovites had upset Alexander Samoilov four times, and at the beginning of the second period they did it for the fifth time, forcing Severstal head coach Andrei Kozyrev to throw in backup goalkeeper Grigory Volkov.

And although he missed only twice, he was unable to save the Cherepovets from defeat.

As did the partners who organized three goals (3:7), among whom Kirill Pilipenko and Daniil Aimurzin (both 1 + 1) were especially active.

“Spartak” that evening was completely stronger both as a team and individually.

And this despite the fact that the leaders of the red and white, Nikolai Goldobin and Pavel Poryadin, did not demonstrate their best qualities, allowing their partners to come to the fore.

Alexander Belyaev and Alexander Pashin scored a double each, and three more scored two points each.

Andrei Loktionov and Mikhail Maltsev scored a goal and an assist, and Daniil Ivanov assisted twice.

Dmitry Rashevsky followed the example of his colleagues.

The Dynamo forward scored a double and not only brought the Muscovites victory over his teammates from Minsk (4:3), but also rose to first place in both the sniper and scorer race.

In the first, he shares the leadership with the aforementioned Golyshev, in the second - with Aimurzin, Khmelevsky, Shirokov and Josh Livo.

Among other things, Nikita Gusev scored his first points in the current Gagarin Cup (1 + 1).

Moreover, for this he needed only 89 seconds and two shifts in the majority.

But despite the success of its stars, the second meeting of the series was not an easy walk for Alexei Kudashov’s players.

During its course, they were in the role of catching up three times, and they hit the target much less often (24:33).

However, due to their class, they still put the squeeze on their opponents and set a new club record, winning 11 victories in a row in the KHL.

But if Dynamo needs to win two more times to reach the next stage, then Avangard only needs to crush Lada once.

In the first away match, Mikhail Kravets' team did not experience any serious problems and left Vladislav Podyapolsky out of action three times, while they themselves conceded once (3:1).

And the main creator of this success was Reed Boucher.

Already in the 22nd second, he brought the Omsk team ahead, and then took part in two other productive attacks by the guests (2 + 1).

Moreover, the American could well have scored a hat-trick if, after his excellent setup, the puck had not hit Valentin Pyanov.