Game 1 - Sunday, February 21
(4) HC Sochi 1 (5) Dynamo Moscow 4 Dynamo leads the series 1-0
Sochi came into the play-offs full of confidence after an impressive regular season lifted the team to fourth place in the table. But up against a Dynamo team with rather more post-season experience, Vyacheslav Butsayev’s men suffered a damaging opening defeat. It was the blue-and-white defense that held all the cards here. The first three goals came from blue liners, with Juuso Heitanen opening the scoring before Dmity Vishnevsky scored in the last minute of the first and second periods to open up a 3-0 lead. Ilya Shipov, one of the younger players to break through at Dynamo this season, made it 4-0 when he wrapped up a slick passing move involving Maxim Karpov and Artyom Fyodorov late in the third. Sochi got a late consolation goal when Yegor Morozov deflected a Renat Mamashev slap shot past Alexander Yeryomenko to deny the goalie a shut-out, but the key questions in this game had already long been answered.
Game 2 - Tuesday, February 23
(4) HC Sochi 2 (5) Dynamo Moscow 3 Dynamo leads the series 2-0
Dynamo holds all the cards in this playoff first round series after picking up a second win on the road at Sochi. Goals from Daniil Tarasov, Vladimir Bryukvin and Maxim Karpov were good enough to send the Blue-and-Whites back to Moscow with a 2-0 advantage in the series. However, Sochi will look back at an incident late in the first period that could have changed the direction of the game. The scores were tied at 1-1 when Andre Petersson forced his shot past Alexander Yeryomenko from an acute angle but the goal was ruled out by the video official because the first 20 minutes were already complete. Things got worse for Sochi midway through the second period when Bryukvin made it 2-1. The forward collected a pass from Alexander Tereshchenko on the face-off spot and saw his chance to whip a wrister over Konstantin Barulin’s shoulder and into the far corner. That snapped the 1-1 parity established when Denis Kazionov deflected a shot from former Dynamo D-Man Janne Jalasvaara past Yeryomenko to cancel out Tarasov’s early opener. Karpov made the game safe for the visitor in the 56th minute, skating one-on-one with Barulin and winning the duel to make it 3-1. Sochi got one goal back when Mikhail Anisin fed Petersson for a marker within regulation time, but there was no time to complete the recovery.
(5) Dynamo Moscow 3 (4) HC Sochi 0 Dynamo leads the series 3-0
The Blue-and-Whites are just one win away from progressing to the Conference semi-final after blanking Sochi in Game 3. But the comfortable scoreline belies the difficulty the home team had in putting this clash to bed after snatching the lead late in the first period. Ilya Shipov got that one, forcing home the rebound after Maxim Karpov saw his shot saved by Konstantin Barulin. Subsequently, though, the game hit something of a trough. Chances in the middle stanza were hard to come by as the teams managed just eight shots on goal between them. The final stanza was also a stop-start affair, disrupted by frequent minor penalties on both sides, but Ansel Galimov wrapped up the win for Dynamo with two goals in the last four minutes. Alexander Yeryomenko made 23 saves for his first post-season shut-out of this campaign. Earlier in the game Sochi was hampered by the loss of former Dynamo man Mikhail Anisin was expelled for spearing. The visitor survived that penalty but the loss of an offensive outlet disrupted Sochi’s prospects.
Game 4 - Friday, February 27
(5) Dynamo Moscow 1 (2OT) (4) HC Sochi 0 Dynamo wins the series 4-0Dynamo Moscow became the first team to confirm its place in the Western Conference semi-final after completing a 4-0 sweep of HC Sochi. But it took a long time to break down the Black Sea team in an extended stalemate in Moscow. Regulation time came and went without a goal, the first period of overtime was still blank. Finally, on 93:09, Dynamo captain Alexei Tereshchenko stopped the clock with a power play goal to win the game and the series.
Tereshchenko was the man who won the penalty after being hooked by Andre Petersson, and he converted the opportunity when he forced the puck home on the backhand after Andrei Mironov’s shot was saved and Alexei Kokarev fired the rebound against the post and into Tereshchenko’s reach. Dynamo enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges but struggled to maintain its high tempo as the first period wore on. That enabled Sochi to get a toehold in the game and make it through to the first intermission with the scoreboard still blank.
From that point on home goalie Alexander Yeryomenko was the busier of the two netminders. Dynamo managed just 10 shots on Konstantin Barulin in the remaining 40 minutes of regulation time as both teams played it cagey. Evgeny Skachkov’ rattled Yeryomenko’s post for Sochi; Dynamo youngster Kirill Pilipenko attempted an audacious lacrosse-style wraparound that failed to come off. Yeryomenko finished the game with 44 saves; Barulin stopped 36 shots.
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