KHL - Playoffs - Round 1 - CSKA Moscow v Jokerit - CSKA Win Series 4-0

Game 1 - CSKA v Jokerit 4-2 - Tuesday, February 21, 2017

A fast start from CSKA left Jokerit with too much to do, but the final outcome was overshadowed by a series of brawls late in the game. For Jokerit, which was criticized for not being tough enough after last season’s first-round loss against Torpedo, the evident willingness to mix it might offer some consolation. But the truth is that the Finns’ hopes of getting something from this game were all but over inside seven minutes. A combative start from the visitor spilled over into an early penalty against Brian O'Neill, and from the power play Bogdan Kiselevich exchange passes with Stephane Da Costa before firing home the opening goal. Despite the game starting half an hour later than Lokomotiv’s meeting with Dinamo Minsk, Kiselevich also claimed the first goal of this year’s post-season. Things quickly got even better for the home team, with Greg Scott making it 2-0 on 6:05. Jan Mursak tidied up a loose puck behind the net and brought play back out in front where Scott glided into the danger zone to shoot past Ryan Zapolski. Jokerit improved, but could not find a way back into the game until midway through the second period when Antti Pihlstrom scored against his former club. But Kiselevich quickly responded to make it 3-1 with his second of the night. Only in the third did the visitor start to really stretch CSKA. Mika Niemi rattled the post after 45 minutes, then a desperate challenge by Grigory Panin resulted in a penalty shot for Tommi Huhtala. But Huhtala could not beat Ilya Sorokin as the young goalie calmly dropped his blocker on the puck, and the two-goal advantage remained. The importance of Sorokin’s save was underlined two minutes later when a powerful Ville Lajunen shot made it 2-3, but Vladimir Zharkov had the final say with an empty net goal to seal the win. That wasn’t the end of the action, though. Two separate rumbles in the last 20 seconds left both penalty boxes full to overflowing. Both teams finished with five players in the bin, while Oliver Lauridsen and Pavel Karnaukhov got an early look at the showers. Game two on Thursday promises to be a bruising encounter.

Game 2 - CSKA v Jokerit 2-1 OT - Thursday, February 23, 2017

CSKA will be wondering why it needed overtime to get the better of Jokerit after dominating the second game of this series. The Army Men generated far more offense in the first 60 minutes, but gave up a power play goal to Tommi Huhtala in the third period and allowed Jokerit to tie the game with its only shot on goal in the final stanza. The visitor was more adventurous in overtime, knowing that merely inviting pressure could only end in eventual defeat, but despite a lively start to the extras Jokerit struggled to get into CSKA territory. And, even if the home team was not always able to generate clear shooting opportunities, the pressure eventually told. Sergei Andronov was the man in the right place at the right time to force home the game-winner on 71:15. Igor Ozhiganov fired in a shot from the blue line, and Vladimir Zharkov battled for the rebound on the slot. The puck bounced off a Jokerit defenseman and dropped kindly for Andronov, who stuffed it into the net to win the game and put CSKA in control of this series ahead of Saturday’s game in Helsinki.
Both teams finished the previous game in a fired-up mood after a series of skirmishes in the dying seconds of CSKA’s 4-2 victory. Once the dust – and disciplinary action – had settled, it was the home team that seemed to be less affected by sideshow from game one. CSKA had the better of the opening session without managed to convert a 14-5 shot count into a tangible advantage. But the home team got the lead it deserved early in the second, thanks to a superb pass from Valery Nichushkin. He collected the puck on his own blue line, and turned away from the defenseman who was trying to pressure him. A combination of vision and precision saw Nichushkin fire a diagonal pass to pick out Maxim Mamin on the other blue line, and Mamin got in front of Rasmus Rissanen before beating Ryan Zapolski in the visitor’s net.
That should have been enough. CSKA’s defense was limiting Jokerit to half chances and the host seemed by far the more likely team to score again. But a penalty on Artyom Sergeyev early in the third period halted that momentum and brought Jokerit level. Charles Genoway was the architect, advancing from the blue line, drawing Vladimir Zharkov out of position and slipping the puck back to Huhtala. The Finn needed no second invitation, slapping home a one-timer from the face-off spot to make it 1-1.

Game 3 - Jokerit v CSKA 3-4 OT - Saturday, February 25, 2017

A second overtime win in successive games moved CSKA to within one victory of wrapping up this series, while Jokerit was left frustrated once again. After tying 3-3 in regulation, CSKA came out for the extras in determined mood. Kirill Petrov hit the post in the first minute of overtime but Jokerit’s reprieve was short-lived as Jan Mursak claimed the game-winner. Andrei Svetlakov brought the puck out of the corner and spotted Mursak making a dart into the danger zone from the blue line. A perfectly-weighted pass found the Slovenian international in a shooting lane and his whipped the puck past Ryan Zapolski to win the game. The early exchanges were all about Stephane Da Costa. The French international opened the scoring in the 16^th minute, getting the vital deflection on Artyom Sergeyev’s shot from the point. Then his assist early in the second period helped Maxim Mamin deflect a Bogdan Kiselevich shot past Ryan Zapolski to make it 2-0.
Jokerit, knowing that defeat here would all but end its playoff campaign, rallied. Brian O’Neill scored a power play goal to halve the deficit before Tommi Huhtala tied it up early in the third period. CSKA responded within 62 seconds, Alexander Popov claiming a power play goal. Valery Nichushkin’s shot deflected against the inside of the post, and Popov was alive to the opportunity and pushed the puck into the empty net. However, it wasn’t enough to win it. A well-worked power play goal from Ville Lajunen, who found space in the right-hand circle to despatch O’Neill’s pass, brought the scores level and took the game into overtime. But Jokerit’s hopes that it would carry the greater momentum into the extras were hampered by a penalty that carried over the 60-minute mark, enabling CSKA to take the game to the Finns from the start and force a winner quickly.

Game 4 - Jokerit v CSKA 0-1 OT - Monday, February 27, 2017

Jokerit made CSKA wait for its place in the second phase of this season’s playoffs, but an overtime winner from Geoff Platt was enough to break the deadlock in this one and take Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team through in four games.
It deep into overtime, and this encounter was still awaiting its first goal. Platt, aggrieved over an earlier marker that was ruled out, chased down a Mikhail Naumenkov pass from the blue line as it thudded into the boards. Coming back on the wraparound, his first attempt found Ryan Zapolski’s pads, but the second stuffed the puck beyond the goalie. A video review confirmed that Zapolski’s resistance, which amounted to 39 saves, was over. CSKA was safely through.
Each game in this series has got closer, and with CSKA on the brink of winning the series, this one proved tighter than ever.
The first period was a distinctly cautious affair, with Jokerit reluctant to expose itself to the visitor’s counter-attacks while CSKA was happy to wait for the home team to try to raise the tempo. In the second, things started to liven up, with the Army Men fired by a sense of injustice after a 25^th-minute goal was ruled out. Alexander Popov thought he had opened the scoring when he pressured Jokerit’s defense into an error then forced the puck into the net, but the video review ruled that he had kicked it over the line. Unluckily for Popov, Russia’s football season restarts next weekend. And CSKA was on the wrong side of the TV once again in the third when Platt tucked away the rebound from his own shot, only to be pulled up for goalie interference. Jokerit was struggling for good looks at Ilya Sorokin’s net, but managed a couple of testers from Ville Lajunen in the last minutes as the game headed into overtime. The pattern of regulation proved to be the pattern of overtime. CSKA had more of the puck and more of the chances, although a dangerous breakout from Jesse Joensuu might have won it for the Finns not long before Platt’s goal. For the second year running, though, CSKA made it through the opening round without losing a game despite being taken to overtime more than once by its opponent. The Moscow team now has more than a week to recover before starting its next series on March 8.