Game 1 - Sunday, February 21
(3) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 (1OT) (4) SKA St. Petersburg 2
Lokomotiv leads the series 1-0
Lokomotiv took first blood against defending champion SKA thanks to an overtime winner from Jiri Novotny. He snapped a 2-2 tie in the 75th minute, completing a slick break with an inventive finish, juggling the puck past Mikko Koskinen to snatch a hard-fought win. Loko came into a series with the weight of expectation behind it: a strong regular season had won Alexei Kudashov’s team many admirers, while SKA looked like a work in progress. That was certainly how the first period seemed to be playing out as the home team dominated most of the game. But SKA’s first power play saw Vadim Shipachyov fire the visitor into a 16th-minute lead. Evgeny Dadonov slipped the puck across the face of goal, leaving Alexei Murygin stranded as Shipachyov fired into a wide-open corner from a tight angle. Lokomotiv levelled in the middle stanza thanks to Denis Mosalyov but fell behind once again as Jarno Koskiranta got the vital touch on Anton Belov shot from the blue line. Loko replied right on the hooter, converting a delayed penalty thanks to Vladislav Gavrikov. The shot count after 40 minutes was 22-7 in Loko’s favor, but SKA powered up in the third to reverse the pattern of play. However, it couldn’t find a way past Murygin and the game went into overtime. Here, at last, the play was even with chances coming at both ends. But once Staffan Kronwall’s long pass picked out Daniil Apalkov, Loko’s leading scorer found Novotny in front of the net and his twice deflected effort found away past Mikko Koskinen to give Loko the edge.
Game 2 - Tuesday, February 23
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 SKA St. Petersburg 3 Series tied at 1-1
SKA resisted a Lokomotiv fightback to claim its first post-season win in defense of the Gagarin Cup. After seemingly cruising to victory at 3-0, third period goals from Daniil Apalkov and Staffan Kronwall made it a tense one-goal game for the last 15 minutes. Lokomotiv piled on the pressure, outshooting SKA 16-2 in the final stanza, but Mikko Koskinen kept the Railwaymen at bay as SKA levelled the series. The opening 15 minutes or so were also dominated by Loko, and only the post denied Dmitry Maltsev the opening goal in the fourth minute. But SKA held out and snatched the lead on 14:15 through Alexander Barabanov. It was a goal from nothing: Loko won a power play in SKA’s zone but Pavel Buchnevich hustled to turn over the puck in center ice and fed Barabanov. He got clear of the defense and slid his shot through Alexei Murygin’s five-hole to open the scoring against the run of play. SKA extended that lead in the middle session with Sergei Shirokov getting the second in the 28th minute before Jarno Koskiranta was first to the rebound from a Steve Moses shot to make it 3-0. But Loko fought back in the final stanza. First Apalkov forced home the rebound from his own shot in the 41st minute, then Buchnevich was expelled from the game for slashing at the Loko forward. On that power play, Kronwall cut the deficit to one as he teased away across SKA’s zone waiting for the shooting channel to emerge. Once he had a sight of goal, the defenseman picked out a wrist shot that travelled from the top of the circle to the back of the net.
(6) SKA St. Petersburg 3 (3) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0
SKA leads the series 2-1
Defending champion SKA made light of the continued absence of star forward Ilya Kovalchuk to ease to a 3-0 victory and take the initiative in the series.
A goal in each period, and 29 saves from Mikko Koskinen, gave the Petersburg team the win in front of its own supporters. Sergei Shirokov opened the scoring in the 15th minute, producing a neat finish to scoop the puck on the backhand and launch it past Alexei Murygin after Pavel Buchnevich saw his shot saved.
Subsequently Loko enjoyed more of the play until a second-period power play gave SKA the chance to double its lead. Vadim Shipachyov obliged, converting Evgeny Dadonov’s pass across the face of the net. Dadonov then created the third goal for Maxim Chudinov, delivering a pass off the boards for Chudinov to fire home a one-timer. Loko kept their shot count ticking over throughout the game, but the stats point to a high proportion of efforts from the D-men, highlighting the efficiency of SKA’s defense and the difficulty of creating clear chances in front of Koskinen’s net. After a regular season in which SKA’s back line was one of the most porous among the leaders in the West, there are now signs that the blue-liners are getting on top of their game at just the right time.
Game 4 - Friday, February 27
(6) SKA St. Petersburg 1 (3) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0
SKA leads the series 3-1
Defending champion SKA St. Petersburg moved to within one win of progressing to the Conference semi-final after edging past Loko. Mikko Koskinen claimed his second successive shut-out, making 25 saves to defend the slender advantage that Nikita Gusev gave his team early in the second period. Gusev seemed to have run out of options when he took the puck into the corner, but he swung round, exchanged passes with Vadim Shipachyov and ripped a one-timer down the narrowest of shooting channels to open the scoring on the power play in the 25th minute. Thereafter it was all about how Loko could react. Blanked in the same building two days earlier, and struggling to generate useful offense in the first period, the Railwaymen raised their game here. But once again, SKA defense did its job and limited the opportunities to get a good sight of Koskinen’s net. The Finnish goalie made 54 saves in his two shut-outs here in Petersburg and returns to Yaroslavl having kept Loko at bay for almost 135 minutes.Game 5 - Sunday, February 29
(3) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0 (6) SKA St. Petersburg 2 SKA wins the series 4-1
SKA goalie Mikko Koskinen stretched his unbeaten run to more than 194 minutes as the defending champion blanked Lokomotiv out of this year’s competition. Loko failed to score in either of its games in St. Petersburg as SKA took a firm grip on the series and even back on home ice in Yaroslavl the Railwaymen found themselves shunted aside by some powerful defense. That defensive stranglehold did not just involve Koskinen; it was a solid effort along the blue to limit Loko to just 14 shots in the first two periods. By the second intermission the visitor was already 2-0 up and heading for the next round and a match-up in Moscow against either CSKA or Dynamo. At the other end, Vadim Shipachyov opened the scoring on the power play late in the first stanza. He whipped the puck home from an incredibly tight angle after Nikita Gusev’s work behind the net saw Evgeny Dadonov squeeze a shot that was deflected out along the red line. At the start of the middle session Loko struggled to get its offense into the game at all, taking almost 10 minutes to test Koskinen. And it was SKA that found the way to goal again as Pavel Buchnevich unleashed a devastating wrister from between the hatchings off Alexander Barabanov’s pass. That was Buchnevich’s first ever playoff goal and the last marker of this series.
No comments:
Post a Comment