Just recently it seemed that SKA did not have the slightest chance of success in the series with Avtomobilist. The army team lost with a score of 0:3, and the fourth match was played away. However, at a difficult moment, when the opponents could have put an end to it, the St. Petersburgers prevailed thanks to Nikita Serebryakov’s 47 saves and had the opportunity to escape.
Moreover, they were supposed to play the next meeting at the SKA Arena, which was filled to capacity. Another victory could shake the self-confidence of the Yekaterinburg residents. It is largely symbolic that the only team in the history of the Gagarin Cup that managed to win the series, losing in the first three matches, is SKA. In 2015, the club under the leadership of Vyacheslav Bykov turned the confrontation with CSKA around. Now the team has the opportunity to repeat the comeback.
And Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team suffered a loss of personnel. Due to injury, defender Jesse Blacker did not go to the Northern capital. But Roman Rotenberg could count on almost all the strongest, with the exception of Alexander Nikishin. The headquarters did not change the winning composition. It was also very curious whether Avtomobilist would again bet on Evgeniy Alikin, who on March 23 was replaced in the starting period after missing two goals. As a result, Alikin ended up at the start.
The game itself took place under enhanced security measures. And Rotenberg promised to use all proceeds from ticket sales to help victims of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. In addition, the coach personally made a large donation.
It seemed that the army team would rush forward from the first moments, but the starting period turned out to be a failure for them. Before the two-time Gagarin Cup winners had time to create anything, they missed a curious goal. Alexey Makeev, taking advantage of Anatoly Golyshev's pass from behind the goal, threw at random, and the puck ricocheted off his opponent's leg into the net.
SKA immediately tried to organize a pile-up, but almost found itself in a catastrophic situation. “Avtomobilist” one after another launched several sharp counterattacks, each of which ended with a throw. And only thanks to Serebryakov the hosts remained in the game. First, the goalkeeper did not allow Brooks Macek to realize a clear one-on-one opportunity. Then Stefan Da Costa tried to go around Nikita and throw into the empty goal, but he shortened the distance in a timely manner. Finally, he interrupted the breakthrough of young Ilya Ovchinnikov.
At a difficult moment, Rotenberg’s squad completely unexpectedly restored its balance. Arseniy Gritsyuk decided to shoot from 12 meters out from under the defender and hit the top corner. And Alikin clearly did not expect this and did not help out his partners.
Now the Petersburgers staged the assault. At every convenient opportunity they tried to bring things to a head. But the opponents acted extremely selflessly and blocked 13 attempts in the first period alone, and during the entire confrontation - 33 shots versus SKA’s eight. If the field players were helpless, Alikin came to the rescue. What is it worth at least for Vasily Glotov to rendezvous with him, when Evgeny not only did not allow himself to be outwitted, but also did not allow Gritsyuk to finish off with a nickel.
It seemed that the teams would go into the break with an equal score, but SKA was let down by Artyom Sergeev, who slammed Da Costa into the boards. The guests had 79 seconds to convert the majority. Moreover, the double was designed by Makeev. Having received a pass on the right edge, he beautifully removed the defender creeping along the ice and sent a projectile between the legs of the stunned Serebryakov. However, it is likely that the puck simply fell off the hook.
And in the second period, the team from the Northern capital managed to turn the tide of an unsuccessful confrontation. Although, after returning from the locker rooms, the Yekaterinburg team had the initiative and did not allow the opponent to create anything, blocking all the free zones in their zone and lying under the pucks.
But their indiscipline ruined them. First, Sergei Zborovsky received a two-minute penalty for disrupting a one-on-one situation. The guests fought back quite calmly. But soon Zavarukhin’s players were left in the minority due to violation of the numerical strength. And here SKA took the chance. Marat Khairullin performed a brilliant transfer from the left circle to the opposite edge, and Mikhail Vorobyov immediately shot into the near corner.
Then the guests' actions became cloudy, because they managed to concede twice in seven seconds in equal strength. And again Khairullin showed himself excellently. He picked up the puck in his own half, beat his opponent beautifully and from under the second one made a clear shot into the near corner. Alikin apparently lost his own possessions.
And after the play in the central zone, Nick Ebert made an inexplicable mistake, giving the puck to Alex Galchenyuk. He instantly found Gritsyuk, and Arseniy beat the goalkeeper with a powerful throw and scored a double. Immediately the visiting staff replaced Alikin with Vladimir Galkin.
To the credit of the Yekaterinburg team, they did not give up and shortly before the break, as in the previous period, they converted the majority. Alexey Byvaltsev jumped out to rendezvous with Serebryakov, and Nikita managed to knock the projectile out from under his feet with his stick, but it also hit his skates. As a result, the victim himself reduced the gap, and Makeev cleverly blocked the goalkeeper’s view on the spot.
Just 21 seconds after the break, Avtomobilist restored the status quo as if nothing had happened. It is simply amazing how the team, finding itself in the most difficult situations in meetings with superior opponents, shows character. Moreover, Ebert distinguished himself, thus correcting himself for a scoring error. Taking advantage of a lucky rebound, he sent the puck off the crossbar into the far corner.
Logically, SKA, who found themselves on the brink, had to pull out the desired result with their teeth, but the St. Petersburgers had little success. They played as number one, but got bogged down in intense defense. And Galkin brilliantly took advantage of the chance, never missing a chance.
The guests' counterattacks looked much more interesting. Just look at Ovchinnikov’s unexpected shot from mid-range, which was reflected with great difficulty by Serebryakov. A little later, the goalkeeper caught the puck after a powerful wrist shot from Da Costa. The storm in the hosts' zone flared up and struck in the 52nd minute, when Andrei Obidin hit the far top corner with a neat throw from the left circle.
The owners had enough time to save themselves and they launched an assault. But the Ekaterinburg team still defended confidently and calmly blocked shots. At the same time, they themselves gave the opponents the opportunity to send the match into overtime. First, Byvaltsev received two minutes for throwing the puck. And then, shortly before the final siren, Semyon Kizimov made an absolutely unnecessary trip near someone else's goal line. Rotenberg immediately took a time out and removed Serebryakov.
But that didn’t help either. The hosts rolled the puck along the boards and could not get it to the goal. When it came to threats, Galkin acted above all praise. In the end, Kirill Vorobyov completely “killed” ten seconds by falling on the puck.
Thus, Avtomobilist, following Ak Bars, knocked out another favorite from the playoffs and for the first time in history reached the semi-finals of the Gagarin Cup. The army team suffered an absolutely deserved defeat and ended the fight.