Fast forward to 2017. Five years on, Kudashov and Znarok are seeking more Gagarin Cup glory … but this time they stand in each other’s way. Znarok, who went on to defend his title in Moscow before taking up his position with Team Russia, is now behind the bench at SKA. Kudashov ended his playing career after Dynamo’s first triumph and spent two seasons as head coach at Atlant before moving to Lokomotiv in 2015. Now, both men are preparing for this week’s Western Conference Final as SKA faces Lokomotiv.
Oleg Znarok’s coaching career is well-known. His success at club and international level speaks for itself, while his spiky character has introduced a new, combative attitude to Team Russia after the patrician strategies of the Zinetula Bilyaletdinov era. At SKA, the lavish collection of exquisitely talented players on offense feels different to his previous club teams at MVD and Dynamo. But for all the thrilling talent on display, the Army Men are no soft touch when it comes to a battle. Maybe it isn’t co-incidence that Pavel Datsyuk, that most elegant of hockey players, picked up the first game misconduct of his career while playing under Znarok. Anyone involved with this coach understands that talent, no matter how outrageous, will never be enough to exempt any player from putting in the hard yards on the ice. Kudashov’s story is a bit different. Two seasons of struggle at Atlant saw financial constraints hamper the team. Twice, he fell just short of a playoff spot. When Lokomotiv came calling, it looked like a change of direction for the Yaroslavl team: no more big-name foreigners; instead, a calculated gamble on a rising star of Russian coaching. Now 45, Kudashov shows signs of delivering on that promise, and of helping Loko develop its own emerging talents. He’s spoken of his willingness to give serious game time to the leading products of the renowned Yaroslavl hockey school, and that has been rewarded with big performances from the likes of Pavel Kraskovsky, Yegor Korshkov and Alexander Polunin. That trio has impressed for club and country, playing as a single line at Lokomotiv and for Russia’s u20s. The elder two, Kraskovsky and Korshkov, also featured in Russia’s senior roster during the successful Euro Hockey Tour campaign. Polunin, already attracting attention from across the Atlantic, told IIHF.com earlier this season that Lokomotiv’s commitment to nurturing young talent was a big part of why he left Moscow to continue his development in Yaroslavl. “Because of the coaches’ trust, young players gain confidence and play better,” he said. “It’s very good because it helps me develop and grow better and faster.”
Pavel Kraskovsky
That young trio has played a valuable cameo role in the current playoffs, but Lokomotiv’s biggest strength so far has been its power play. It’s no coincidence that D-man Jakub Nakladal, a two-way player with a mighty slap shot, is the team’s leading goalscorer: partnered by Staffan Kronwall while Brandon Kozun pulls those power play strings, the Czech has emerged as a formidable weapon in post-season, three seasons after he helped defeat Lokomotiv at this stage while playing for Lev Prague. Kudashov has some injury worries: first-choice goalie Alexei Murygin missed the last two games of the series against CSKA and his fitness is uncertain ahead of Thursday’s opener in Petersburg. Kozun took a hit to the head during Grigory Panin’s rampage on Saturday and did not feature in the latter half of that game. Znarok, meanwhile, is without defenseman Vyacheslav Voynov, who has not featured since appearing in one shift in the final game of the regular season. 
Alexei Kudashov
Game 1 - SKA v Lokomotiv 5-4 OT - Thursday, March 23, 2017
SKA left it late, perilously so, to take the lead in this Western Conference Final series, snatching a dramatic equalizer with 10 seconds left to play, and going on to win it thanks to Patrik Hersley in overtime. The game seemed to be all but gone when Lokomotiv moved 4-2 ahead thanks to a quick-fire salvo from Max Talbot and Denis Mosalyov early in the third period. But SKA held its nerve, continued to create chances and hauled itself back into contention thanks to another successful combination from Vadim Shipachyov and Nikita Gusev before Jarno Koskiranta’s second of the night tied the scores on 59:50. SKA even overcame the loss of starting goalie Mikko Koskinen, who left the game 11 minutes into the extras due a problem with his kit. That brought Igor Shestyorkin to the crease for the first time in post-season, but the youngster offered no opportunities for Loko in his short spell on the ice Hersley’s second goal of the night won it in the 73rd minute. The Swedish D-man, who only moved from Lokomotiv to SKA in the fall, got the slightest of touches at the near post to deflect Nikita Gusev’s shot away from Alexander Sudnitsin in the Lokomotiv net. Gusev, though, was very much the architect, dancing away from his opponent on the edge of the circle and creating a shooting lane for himself to test the Loko defense once again.
All of that came after SKA made the brighter start and, aided by penalty trouble for Loko, took the lead early in the game. It came in the seventh minute, on the power play, when Anton Belov fired in a shot from the blue line. Jarno Koskiranta got himself free in the midst of a triangle of Loko D-men and swung out his stick to prod the puck down and past Sudnitsin in the visitor’s net.
It wasn’t until late in the period that Lokomotiv began to start asking questions of Koskinen, but hopes of gaining a toehold on the game were hampered by regularly penalties against the visitor. Loko’s offense was somewhat disjointed, and the home team looked the more likely to score further goals. But a flare-up in the 26th minute that saw Sergei Shirokov called for slashing and cause a fight in the process served to disrupt the rhythm of the game. Once the dust settled, Loko found a way back into contention. Rushan Rafikov’s long forward pass was flicked on by Yegor Averin on the red line and Dmitry Lugin went racing into the SKA zone on a two-on-one break that he converted himself. Two minutes later, Averin hit the net himself, taking Ilya Lyubushkin’s pass and surprising Koskinen with a shot from the deep slot. Lokomotiv led 2-1, SKA was left wondering how the game had suddenly leapt out of its grasp. Hersley briefly tied the scores in the 46th minute. His slap shot from the point, timed at 145km/h, came in as Loko’s Andrei Loktionov obscured Sudnitsin’s view of the stick. The puck beat the goalie low to his right. But Lokomotiv was scoring in flurries, and was soon back in front. Max Talbot broke down the left, exchanged passes with Petri Kontiola in the center and fired inside Koskinen’s near post from close range as Yegor Yakovlev sprawled in front of him in a desperate bid to block. Delight for the traveling support turned into delirium less than a minute later when Denis Mosalyov made it 4-2. The former Dynamo forward, like his head coach Alexei Kudashov, a Gagarin Cup winner under current SKA chief Oleg Znarok, had a simple finish off Emil Galimov’s pass after Vladislav Gavrikov forced a turnover as SKA tried to clear its blue line. That should have been enough for Loko to win it in regulation, especially after Vadim Shipachyov failed to test Sudnitsin with a good chance in front of the net. The forward went on the backhand, and could not generate enough power to overcome the goalie. It felt like SKA’s moment had passed, but in reality Shipachyov’s time was still to come. Another power play, and the forward linked up with Gusev once again, picking out the killer pass to enable his team-mate to shoot home. Then came the big drama. Koskinen watching from the bench, SKA throwing everything forward and, when time was almost up, Belov drilled the puck into the danger zone one last time. Koskiranta collected it and, with two touches, put it beyond Sudnitsin to tie the game in dramatic fashion. Game 2 - SKA v Lokomotiv 4-1 - Saturday, March 25, 2017
For the second game running, two goals from a former Lokomotiv player helped SKA come from behind to win in the Western Conference Final series. This time it was Sergei Plotnikov who delivered a double dose of trouble for Lokomotiv, the team he represented for three seasons for 2012-2015. His game-winner was a spectacular coast-to-coast effort, one of several highlights on a good day for SKA that also saw Ilya Kovalchuk score his 150th goal in Russian Championship play and Mikko Koskinen produced one of the saves of the playoffs. Yet the early exchanges were uncomfortable for SKA. The visitor, which had been just 10 seconds away from winning the opening game of the series before giving up a late equalizer and losing in overtime, was buoyed by the return of Brandon Kozun. The Canadian, who missed out on Thursday due to injury, helped inspire Lokomotiv’s offense in a lively first period in which Alexei Kudashov’s men dominated play. Indeed, it was only down to some superb goaltending from Koskinen that SKA escaped with just one goal in its net in the opening stanza. The Finn was hugely impressive, never more so than his stunning 16th-minute stick save to deny Denis Mosalyov after Daniil Apalkov’s defense-splitting pass left the goalie exposed. Mosalyov went high as Koskinen sprawled back into position and got his stick up to deflect the puck over the bar. Lokomotiv did open the scoring moments later, though, clinically converting a power play chance when Andrei Loktionov and Yegor Averin combined neatly to set up Dmitry Lugin for a shot at the unguarded side of Koskinen’s net. Not even the flying Finn could retrieve that one, and Loko went into the intermission 1-0 up. But it also began the second stanza one man down, and SKA took advantage quickly as Kovalchuk enjoyed another landmark moment. Vadim Shipachyov emerged from behind the net with the puck, and his pass sat up invitingly for Kovy to unleash a wrister from the right-hand face-off spot. Alexander Sudnitsin had no chance as the puck beat him on the blocker side and the home team had something to celebrate at last. Ordinarily, Kovalchuk’s milestone would have been the champagne moment, but Plotnikov had other ideas. His spectacular coast-to-coast effort in the 40th minute outshone his team-mate’s impressive achievement. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Plotnikov decided to take the game to his former club all by himself. Starting on his own goalline, the forward set off. Two Loko forwards went to meet him on the blue; Plotnikov breezed past as if they weren’t there. Two D-men also offered little resistance as a dangle took the forward past Jakub Nakladal and sent him in on goal. A backhand finish was too good for Sudnitsin. SKA was in front … and in some style. The Army Men wrapped up the game with two further goals midway through the third period, and Plotnikov was involved in both. First, his diagonal pass picked out Nikolai Prokhorkin at the far post and that was 3-1. Then Sergei Shirokov’s end-to-end pass released Plotnikov for a one-on-one with Sudnitsin; there was little doubt about the outcome of that duel as the impressive Plotnikov made it 4-1. After former Loko D-man Patrik Hersley scored four points in the opening game of this series, Plotnikov finished with three points against his old club today. The consolation for Lokomotiv might be that there is no other player on the SKA roster who has recently moved from Yaroslavl to Petersburg and might be looking to continue that vengeful streak when the action moves to Lokomotiv’s ice on Monday.
Game 3 - Lokomotiv v SKA 1-2 OT - Monday, March 27, 2017
SKA is just one game away from returning to the Gagarin Cup Final after grinding out an overtime win in Yaroslav, with Alexander Barabanov the unlikely overtime hero. Lokomotiv, hoping for improved fortune on home ice, led for much of a fiery game but, amid frayed tempers, lost out following head coach Alexei Kudashov’s ejection from the game. Kudashov was penalized following an incident midway through the third period when a bottle flew off the Loko bench and landed on the ice where SKA’s players were heading back to the sidelines. The coach, and his colleagues, insisted it was an innocent accident; the officials disagreed and awarded a minor penalty while sending Kudashov to the locker room. That same power play saw SKA draw level through Nikita Gusev. The forward, whose earlier error contributed to Pavel Kraskovsky’s opening goal for Loko, made amends in some style with the equalizer. Anton Belov shot from the blue line, Alexander Sudnitsin saved, but Gusev collected the rebound and stretched to slide it beyond the goalie. Overtime followed, and SKA killed a penalty before grabbing the winner thanks to a great goal from Barabanov. The forward, who hadn’t found the net in 37 previous games, picked up the puck in center ice and surged down the right flank, powering past his opponents before arcing in front of the net and squeezing his shot through a flurry of skate and leg as Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Kadeikin jostled for position on the slot. Barabanov’s first post-season goal settled the outcome of a fierce, sometimes perhaps too fierce, battle in game three of the Western Conference Final. The most memorable moment came midway through the game when a massed brawl broke out in front of the Lokomotiv net as the home defense took exception to some close attentions paid to goalie Alexander Sudnitsin. Staffan Kronwall was picked out as the instigator, and his clash with Ilya Kablukov was most watchable bout of the three scuffles that kicked off simultaneously. The undercard was made up of Jakub Nakladal flooring Yegor Rykov while Max Talbot and Alexander Khokhlachyov also grappled. It was all part of a simmering evening. SKA’s starting goalie Mikko Koskinen left the game in the 19th minute with an injury and seconds after that the home team’s Kadeikin got into a minor fight with visiting D-man Belov. And after the big fight at the halfway point, there was a further skirmish when Jarno Koskiranta reacted angrily to Mikhail Pashnin leading with his knee in a hit behind the Yaroslavl net. All the rough stuff rather distracted from a fine goal by young Pavel Kraskovsky. The 20-year-old produced a fantastic unassisted effort to open the scoring just before Koskinen’s injury, pouncing on the loose puck in center ice and leaving Dinar Khafizullin bewildered with some slick puck-handling before scoring on the backhand in a manner reminiscent of Pavel Datsyuk. SKA’s magic man is unlikely to feature again in this year’s playoffs after requiring an operation on the injury he picked up in the series against Dynamo, according to comments from club director Alexander Medvedev on R-Sport. Lokomotiv, though, may have unearthed another player capable of sprinkling a bit of sorcery on proceedings in the current series. It wasn’t enough to win the game, though. Kudashov’s penalty proved to be a turning point, and one that will doubtless be extensively discussed in the coming days, and SKA took advantage to move 3-0 ahead in the series. With just one playoff defeat so far for the Petersburg team, it will take something very special for Lokomotiv to repeat its shock victory over CSKA in the previous round; any revival must start with victory in game four on Wednesday.
Game 4 - Lokomotiv v SKA 1-2 - Wednesday, March 29, 2017
SKA St. Petersburg completed a sweep of Lokomotiv to become the first team to book its place in this season’s Gagarin Cup final. Not for the first time in the series, Oleg Znarok’s team found a way to win in a tight game, withstanding a final-period storm from Loko to edge a 2-1 verdict in Yaroslavl. The victory sends SKA to its second Grand Final in three years, while head coach Oleg Znarok etches a new chapter in the history books. He will take charge of a team in the Gagarin Cup final for a record fourth time, and has done so at three different clubs (MVD in 2010, Dynamo Moscow in 2012 and 2013, and now SKA). It took time for SKA to find its way into the lead in this one. Loko edged the first period without finding a way past young goalie Igor Shestyorkin as he made his first start of the playoffs. But the visitor established a foothold in the game in the second stanza, aided by penalty trouble for the host. In the end, SKA’s pressure paid off with a power play goal midway through the game to open the scoring. Dinar Khafizullin, far from prolific, was the unlikely goalscorer. The defenseman was the visitor’s third pick on the blue line for the power play, and proved to be third time lucky as he collected a Vadim Shipachyov pass and shot home from a central position to claim his first playoff goal of the season and only his second career strike in post season. That was a stark reminder of one of the key differences between the teams in this game, and this series. Lokomotiv squandered two power play chances in the opening stanza; SKA, without ever reaching the blistering standards seen in the regular season, found the net on its third numerical advantage and edged Loko closer to the exit. Khafizullin’s defensive colleague Anton Belov doubled the lead in the 35th minute, enjoying an unexpected amount of time and space to fire in a slap shot that beat Alexander Sudnitsin low to the glove side. Lokomotiv’s hopes of keeping the series alive were fading fast, and a penalty for Jakub Nakladal soon after seemed to pile further pressure on the host. Instead, though, the Railwaymen hit back on that penalty kill. For a moment, there were echoes of the team’s first-round series, when it managed three short-handed goals against Dinamo Minsk. First, Petri Kontiola broke free and hit the post. Then came the goal: Nikita Cherepanov’s pass out of defense for Andrei Loktionov; Loktionov’s switch into the center for Alexander Kadeikin, who finished from close range to give the home team renewed hope. That hope was almost fulfilled early in the third when Daniil Apalkov found himself wonderfully placed at the far post with Igor Shestyorkin out of position. The shot went wide of the mark. More chances followed. A crazy scramble around Shestyorkin’s net saw the puck trickle agonizingly past the post. Denis Mosalyov got a shooting chance right in front of SKA’s goalie; the attempt was blocked. Kontiola saw a shooting chance squashed by the combined impact of two opponents. The crowd roared its heroes forward, but it was turning into one of those nights where nothing would bounce kindly for Lokomotiv. When good fortune came, it was too late and at the wrong end: Ilya Kovalchuk fired wide of the empty net in the dying seconds, a kindly outcome that Loko needed in front of SKA’s net rather than its own. Not for the first time, fine margins made the difference as SKA marched on.
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