PreviewThe unpredictable against the reliable – CSKA vs Jokerit The teams have only met once before in playoff action, with CSKA sweeping the Finns in the opening round last year. However, that series was closer than the 4-0 scoreline might suggest – three of the four games went to overtime; CSKA relied on finding ways to win tight games rather than blasting its opposition out of the building. Both rosters have undergone some changes since then. CSKA rebuilt extensively in the summer after Igor Nikitin replaced Dmitry Kvartalnov as head coach, and worked hard to bring promising young Russians back from North America. The likes of Mikhail Grigorenko and Sergei Kalinin have repaid that investment for club and country. In Helsinki, the key capture was 18-year-old talent Eeli Tolvanen, a player whose mere presence on the ice sends a thrill of anticipation around the Hartwall Arena.
Playoff progress For Jokerit, it’s all been about Tolvanen. Five goals in five games and, crucially, a double strike to wrap up the series against HC Sochi in game five. Tolvanen tied that game up on 57:00 and grabbed the OT winner to set this match-up, and he’s playing like a man who can make a difference in any game.
However, he faces a stern test against a CSKA defense that allowed just one goal in its sweep of Spartak. That wasn’t just about good goaltending from Ilya Sorokin; the Red-and-Whites struggled to generate offense at any stage in the series, and its solitary tally was a late goal in a 1-3 loss in game three. Despite a 6-0 blow-out in the opening game, this CSKA team isn’t all about dazzling offense: it’s a gritty defensive unit capable of blunting most weapons.
Prospects
It’s a fascinating duel in the offing: Tolvanen’s verve and finesse seeking to unpick a robust defense. In reality, though, this is more likely to be about consistency against unpredictability. Jokerit’s season has been characterized by a mix of great performances and surprising struggles. Even in its series against Sochi, it alternated between back-to-back 7-2 victories and desperate struggles in overtime. CSKA’s progress has been altogether calmer throughout the season, but the Army Men must beware the ability of Jokerit to conjure the unexpected.
Game 1 - March 16 - CSKA v Jokerit 4-0
This game pitted two teams that had enjoyed a tighter tussle than last season’s sweep might suggest, and it ended in a comfortable home victory for last season’s victor. The game began with an early goal. There were just over two minutes played when Greg Scott collected the puck after Geoff Platt won a faceoff, and he immediately fired past Ryan Zapolski to open the scoring. Jokerit was left chasing the game, and struggling to make a mark on CSKA: in the first period, the Finns mustered just two shots at Ilya Sorokin’s net. The visitor fell further behind a minute before the intermission when Valery Nichushkin came steaming down the left wing and whipped a dangerous pass towards Mikhail Grigorenko at the back door. The pass never reached its intended target; a Jokerit skate deflected it into the net.
After struggling for 20 minutes, Jokerit managed to raise its game for the middle frame. Chances were limited at both ends, but the Finns managed to get a toehold in the game, even if they could not make an impression on the scoreboard. The relief, though, was temporary. Three minutes into the final stanza, Sergei Andronov made it 3-0. Jokerit’s defense may be unhappy about the amount of time and space Ivan Telegin enjoyed in the corner before picking out a pass for the unmarked Andronov in the deep slot. The defense was concentrated in front of the net, but could not deploy a solid block; CSKA extended its lead. With CSKA in buoyant mood, a 5-on-3 power play was the last thing Jokerit wanted to face. And, perhaps inevitably, the Army Men took advantage late on to make it 4-0. Kirill Kaprizov fed Sergei Shumakov between the hash marks, and the forward had no difficulty firing home his team’s final goal of the night. A hugely encouraging start for CSKA, which has now conceded just one goal in five playoff games and restricted Jokerit to 18 shots on the night. For the visitor, like Spartak in the previous round, the urgent question is how to build offense against a team that seems almost impregnable at the back.
Game 2 - March 17 - CSKA v Jokerit 2-0
So, how exactly does one score on CSKA. For the second game in this series, and the fifth in this year’s playoffs, the Army Men blanked the opposition. It wasn’t that Jokerit failed to generate offense – having learned from yesterday’s 0-4 loss, the Finns fired in 28 shots, compared with 18 in the first game. But there was still no way past Ilya Sorokin for Eeli Tolvanen & Co.
Sorokin now has five shut-outs from six playoff appearances, conceding just one goal – a late consolation effort to Spartak’s Lukas Radil late in game three of that first-round sweep. The 22-year-old has faced 128 shots, with a 99.2% success rate and a GAA of 0.17. Numbers like that add up to a team that is almost unbeatable, and so far in these playoffs the Muscovites have not been seriously threatened in any game.
At the start of this game, CSKA pressed hard. On Friday, Jokerit struggled to compete in the early stages, and the game was all-but decided after 20 minutes with the home team two goals to the good. This time, again, the play was largely in one direction, but Kari Ramo held firm in the Jokerit goal and there was evidence that his team was more ready to fire in shots on its rare forays up the ice. CSKA looked stronger, but there was no score at the first intermission. However, this team is not just about strong defense and solid goaltending. There’s some real offensive flair on the roster too, and that’s how the Army Men got their lead five minutes into the second period. Valery Nichushkin did superbly, collecting a backhand pass from Alexander Popov and holding off the attentions of Sami Lepisto. There looked to be little on for the Russian international, with Lepisto successfully ushering his man away from the immediate danger zone, but Nichushkin’s vision saw him thread a pass to the far post where Mikhail Grigorenko got to the puck ahead of Pekka Jormakka to open the scoring.
The second, killer goal, came six minutes into the final frame with the teams playing 4-on-4. Sergei Andronov hared down the right wing and showed great composure to send Ramo sliding across his crease in anticipation of a shot to the far post. With a gap opening on the short side, Andronov shot into the net just before he crashed into the piping himself. Against a team with a defense as solid as CSKA’s, a two-goal lead looked like an insurmountable obstacle. And so it proved. The Finns pressed, created opportunities around Sorokin’s net, but could not find a way back into the game.
Game 3 - March 19 - Jokerit v CSKA 2-1 OT
Olli Palola found the answer to Ilya Sorokin as Jokerit inflicted CSKA’s first post-season defeat in a bruising encounter in Helsinki. After scoring the game’s opening goal, the forward provided the screen as Matt Gilroy’s point shot flashed past Sorokin in the 18thminute of overtime. That converted Jokerit’s second power play of the extras and hauled the Finns back into contention in the series. It also laid a ghost from last season’s playoff encounter between the two teams, when Jokerit took the game to overtime on three occasions, but lost every one. Earlier, Palola had denied Sorokin a KHL playoff record when he opened the scoring in the 32nd minute of this game. The CSKA goalie had gone 213 minutes, 51 seconds without allowing a goal, just 89 seconds short of Mikko Koskinen’s mark of 215:20 from the 2016 post season. Palola pounced to fire home the rebound after an Eeli Tolvanen shot bounced off the CSKA goalie’s pad, and midway through the second period, Jokerit had its first goal of the series. More importantly, CSKA was down in a game for the first time in this year’s playoffs, and deservedly so following a string of minor penalties that handed the Finns the initiative in the middle frame.
Earlier, too, Jokerit might have got in front in this game. Eeli Tolvanen’s one-timer was blocked for Niclas Jensen, but the Dane hesitated with the goal at his mercy – to shoot, or not to shoot? - and ultimately put his effort into the crowd. Tolvanen finished the period by drawing a big blocker save from Sorokin, but there was nothing to separate the teams at the intermission.
After Palola’s goal, however, Ramo found himself the busier of the two goalies. Jokerit’s cause wasn’t helped by a match penalty for Tommi Kivisto for a somewhat harsh-looking slashing call as CSKA piled on the pressure, but Ramo was in fine form. A lightning glove save just before that penalty and a big save from Valery Nichushkin in the final seconds of the frame were among the goalie’s highlights as he helped his team kill a 3-on-5 situation and take its lead into the second intermission. But CSKA tied the game early in the third period after a goal that had a slice of luck to accompany it. Mikhail Pashnin’s point shot wasn’t unduly threatening, the traffic in front of the Jokerit net was not unusually busy, but a deflection off a home defenseman lifted the puck past Ramo and tied the game. In the third period, CSKA had forced four face-offs in the Jokerit end within the opening 90 seconds and the pressure paid off for the Muscovites.
Shortly afterwards, Jokerit was up against it when Jesper Jensen became the second player to be ejected from the game. The home crowd in Helsinki reacted angrily to the call, with Jensen’s departure accompanied by a chorus of jeers and even a few objects thrown onto the ice, but there could be little argument after the defenseman led with his shoulder and crashed right into Sergei Shumakov’s face. However, even with CSKA enjoying a five-minute power play, there were few big chances at either end as the game moved into overtime.
In the extras, Geoff Platt had a great chance to win it for CSKA after Ramo allowed a big rebound. The home net was wide open, but Mika Niemi kept Platt away from goal and saved his team. Jokerit found itself under increasing pressure, though, reduced to four active defensemen after Niclas Andersen ran into problems and joined his colleagues Jensen and Kivisto on the sidelines. But it weathered the storm and took its opportunity when it came, breathing new life into the series.
Game 4 - March 20 - Jokerit v CSKA 1-2
CSKA is one step away from reaching the Western Conference Final after edging a hard-fought 2-1 verdict in Helsinki to go 3-1 up in the series. The Army Men suffered an overtime loss in Monday’s match-up, but responded in determined style. Now CSKA can wrap up the series on Thursday back in Moscow – where, so far, Ilya Sorokin has yet to allow a goal in this year’s playoffs.
Jokerit, meanwhile, continues to grapple with the challenge of beating CSKA’s impressive young goaltender. Once again, the key challenge for the Muscovites’ opponents is getting pucks to the net and firing in meaningful shots: a striking feature of Sorokin’s many post-season shut-outs has been how few saves he has needed to make for many of them. The first period of tonight’s game encapsulated the problem. The Finns, lifted by yesterday’s victory, worked hard to seize the early initiative. However, despite having much the better of the play, it managed just six shots at Sorokin. Only one of those, a wrister from Eeli Tolvanen in the 13th minute, offered a serious test to the visiting goalie, although Peter Regin felt he made have won a penalty shot when tripped by Nikita Nesterov early on.
The middle frame changed all that. The pace of the game picked up, and CSKA quickly moved ahead. Mikhail Naumenkov’s point shot was turned in by Alexander Popov in the 22nd minute as Karri Ramo was left unsighted. But that lead was short lived: Steve Moses fired in a shot from the blue line, Jesse Joensuu put up a screen and Jokerit was level. Gradually, though, CSKA began to tighten the screws. Geoff Platt forced a big save from Ramo, Sergei Andronov tested the Finn with a huge slap shot and Jokerit was struggling to stay in the game. A too many men penalty slowed the visitor’s march, and the host kept the scores level until the intermission.
The final frame began at a frantic pace, with the play – and the errors – flashing from one end of the ice to the other. There were crunching moments, such as Joensuu’s hit that flattened Alexei Marchenko against the boards or the facial injury that forced Ivan Telegin to the locker room. In keeping with the fast and furious action, the winning goal came from an unwelcome deflection: Andronov slung the puck into the danger zone in search of Valery Nichushkin, but it was Sami Lepisto’s skate that sent it past Ramo to put CSKA in front once again. Once again, the Army Men effectively stifled the home offense in the closing stages: despite searching for a tying goal, Jokerit was limited to just six shots on goal in the final period. When Lepisto departed on a minor penalty late in the game, home hopes went with him: CSKA will look to close it out in Moscow.
Game 5 - March 22 - CSKA v Jokerit 1-2 5OT
CSKA and Jokerit played out the longest ever game in KHL history, going into an unprecedented fifth period of overtime before Jokerit finally grabbed a precious win to keep this series alive. Early in the fourth period of extras, this encounter went beyond the 2014 match-up between Lev Prague and Donbass Donetsk, a game won by the Ukrainian team after 126:14 of action.
The game was decided on 142:04 by Mika Niemi. At that point, the time was 1:34am in Moscow and more than six hours had elapsed since the first puck was dropped at 7:30 the previous evening. Although Niemi’s goal brought an end to this game, it extended the series: Jokerit survived its first visit to the last-chance saloon, and takes the action back to Helsinki on Saturday with a chance to tie this Western Conference Semi-Final. That opportunity is all down to Niemi, who finally managed to take his chance and decide this meeting when Sami Lepisto’s feed enabled him to beat CSKA’s Ilya Sorokin and put the game to bed at last. For CSKA, the frustration was huge. Over the course of this epic game, the Army Men fired in 82 shots at Karri Ramo. But the Finnish goalie produced a huge game, beaten only by a wonder-goal from Kirill Kaprizov and later, illegally, after losing his helmet in an overtime collision with Geoff Platt. Ramo’s 81 saves set another KHL record. Jokerit came into the game knowing that only victory would keep its season alive. Moreover, it knew that nobody had scored on CSKA in Moscow so far in this season’s playoffs. The first matter was to snap that shut-out sequence, and the visitor managed it inside four minutes. First, Ivan Telegin took an interference penalty, handing Jokerit a power play chance. Then, after Niklas Jensen’s shot flashed wide and thudded back off the boards, Brian O’Neill was on the spot to slot home the rebound and give his team a vital lead. However, a moment of magic from Kaprizov tied the game up midway through the opening session. There wasn’t much on when he went behind the net, looking to create something on the wraparound. There was even less on when he got tangled up with Jesper Jensen – back in the Jokerit team after suspension – and stumbled into O’Neill. Yet, while sprawled on the ice, Kaprizov had the presence of mind to get a backhand shot off and score over Ramo’s shoulder to make it 1-1. That was the youngster’s first goal in 18 games. In the second period Jokerit upped the pace, looking to establish a lead that could enable it to take this series back to Helsinki on Saturday. In the 29th minute, the visitor believed it had got in front when Lepisto fed Eeli Tolvanen and the youngster advanced to the right-hand face-off spot before unleashing his wrister and beating Ilya Sorokin. However, earlier in the play, a Jokerit man had strayed offside; an appeal from the CSKA bench saw the goal ruled out and the score remained tied until the second intermission.
The home team had the better of the third period but Jokerit defended bravely. Nine shots blocked by the visitor helped to frustrate CSKA, and one nice piece of skill from Steve Moses almost created an opening to put the Finns back in front. At the other end, Ramo stood firm under fire and the game moved on to overtime. The extras were rather more evenly-matched, with both sides playing cautiously and probing for that decisive moment. Jokerit went close when Lepisto’s shot was turned onto the post before Tolvanen’s effort was charged down as Sorokin lost his stick. At the other end, CKSA’s best opportunity came on a power play late in the first period of overtime. Kaprizov was desperately close to forcing home the winner, but seconds later Sorokin had to be at his best again to snuff out Niemi’s solo rush and keep the action going ever deeper into the extras. And shortly after the game moved into record-breaking territory, Roman Lyubimov thought he had won it – and the series – for CSKA when he stuffed the puck home from close range after a Platt rush left Ramo sprawling across the crease without his helmet. Jokerit immediately appealed, and the video confirmed a foul on the Finnish goalie. As the clock ticked towards 1am in Moscow, the game continued until Niemi had the final say.
While reigning champion SKA Saint Petersburg was booking its place in the Western Conference final with a repeat of last year's win over Lokomotiv, there was no sign of anything unusual on the cards in the other semi-final in Moscow. Home team CSKA, 3-1 ahead in the series and seeking to wrap things up in front of their own supporters, and Jokerit, hoping to prolong its season and take the Muscovites back to Helsinki, scored a goal apiece before the first interval. Few imagined this would be followed by six goalless periods and a marathon of endurance. Before the overtime deadlock was finally broken in the 143rd minute, there had been two phantom golden goals, as each team joyfully celebrated scoring the winner before harsh reality, delivered by the video goal judge, cruelly wiped out the goals. Soon, hockey fans in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk could wake up and watch a live broadcast of a Gagarin Cup playoff match over breakfast, before Mika Niemi's goal ended the game and extended series.
While no-one expected a record-breaking epic, we should concede that if any pairing were to test the longest-game record, then the smart money would go on CSKA-Jokerit. Two of the previous games in this series were settled by the odd goal, and while last year's series between the pair only stretched to four games, all of them were closely-fought battles decided by a one-goal margin. The previous record belonged to a clash between two exciting teams who are sadly no longer with us - Lev Praha and Donbass Donetsk, who back in 2014 slugged it out for 126 minutes and 14 seconds. On Thursday, the Army Men and the Jesters added more than a quarter-of-an-hour to this total, and the scoreboard clock finally stopped at 142:09.
Hero of the Day. Mika Niemi
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “Most heroic hero of the day,” as while the word, hero, is overused in today's emotional media climate, few would dispute that all the participants of this gladiatorial contest fully deserve the title. It is extremely hard, physically and mentally, even for professional, top-level athletes to play two hockey matches on consecutive days, but the men from the Russian and Finnish capitals played the equivalent of two consecutive games in one night. With more than twenty minutes to spare. When it was all over, the shots-at-goal tally read 84-48, and popular veteran netminder Karri Ramo had set a new KHL record with 83 saves(!) while the ice-time recorded by some of the skaters, most notably defensemen Sami Lepisto of Jokerit (52:19) and Mat Robinson of CSKA (54:12), more resembled the figures usually enjoyed by goaltenders. The contest was finally settled in dramatic fashion by Helsinki forward Mika Niemi, with his first goal of the current playoffs.
Coincidence of the Day. Petteri Wirtanen and Roman Gofman.
Among those who spent the night of the 22nd and the morning of the 23rd of March, 2018, on the rink at the CSKA Ice Palace, smashing the endurance record set four years ago by Lev Praha and Donbass Donetsk, were two of the participants of that epic Czech-versus-Ukrainian struggle. Petteri Wirtanen, Jokerit's 31-year-old defenseman, was then wearing the colors of the Donetsk team and spent more than 41 minutes out on the ice, while referee Roman Gofman was on duty in both epic encounters.
Goal of the day. Kirill Kaprizov
This selection raises the obvious question, why give the goal of the day accolade to the opening strike by the team which eventually lost, rather than to Niemi and the fatal blow he struck in the fifth period of overtime? The latter was certainly more important in the confines of the single game, but Kaprizov's strike is an ominous sign of things to come during the 2018 knockout stage. The 20-year-old forward ended February as the Army Men's second-highest scorer and starred as the Russia team became Olympic champion, but for his previous goal in the tenth KHL season we have to go all the way back to December the 29th, 2017. Now, after drawing a blank in 17 matches, the youngster's scoring touch has returned. It is unlikely to go away anythime soon.
Game 6 - March 23 - Jokerit v CSKA 3-4CSKA moved into the Western Conference Final, setting up another Army showdown against SKA next week. But the Moscow team had to battle hard to subdue Jokerit as the Finns led twice in this game before running out of steam in the closing stages.
Following Thursday’s epic battle, which ended in the fifth period of overtime when Mika Niemi finally brought the game to a close, Jokerit opted to rest goalie Karri Ramo. The Finn made 83 saves in Moscow, but did not dress for Saturday’s encounter as Ryan Zapolski returned to the crease. Zapolski, though, was the first goalie to concede, beaten in the 13th minute by Andrei Kuzmenko. The play started with Roman Lyubimov, who saw an overtime goal ruled out on Thursday, attempting to force something on the wraparound. The puck was cleared to Alexei Marchenko, who set up Kuzmenko for a close-range finish to the top shelf that left the American netminder with no chance.
Jokerit knew it had to win this game, and rallied to lead at the end of the first period. Two goals in 51 seconds turned the game upside down. Tommi Huhtala tied the scores before Eeli Tolvanen arrived at the back door to tuck away Brian O’Neill’s pass from the right. That tally took the young Finn to six goals for this playoff campaign, equalling Vitaly Kravtsov of Traktor in this year’s post season and claiming a share of Valery Nichushkin’s all-time goalscoring record for a junior in the KHL playoffs. However, Tolvanen’s first goal in this series would not, ultimately, be enough to extend his season with Jokerit.
CSKA began the second period on the power play and quickly tied the game – albeit with a stroke of good fortune. Mikhail Grigorenko passed the puck into the danger zone, but it was a big deflection off Oliver Lauridsen’s skate that took it beyond Zapolski’s despairing attempt to hook it off the line. Jokerit moved ahead again in the 24th minute, with CSKA’s stand-in goalie Lars Johansson beaten by his fellow Swede John Norman after Pekka Jormakka’s feed wrong-footed the visiting defense.
Sadly for Jokerit, that was as good as it got. CSKA knew that wrapping up the series on the night could make a huge difference to its recovery time, especially after the draining exertions of that Moscow epic and raised its game to get back in front. Kirill Petrov fired home the tying goal after Alexander Popov won an attacking face-off, then Johansson pulled off a great save to stop Norman scoring on the rebound after Petteri Wirtanen’s effort stretched the Army’s defenses. The winner came thanks to the determination of Sergei Andronov. One of the less-heralded players for CSKA and Russia’s national team, he demonstrated his value with the 4-3 goal shortly after the midway point of the game. Battling away at a face-off, he eventually emerged with the puck and took it to the goalline. Advancing on the net from a tight angle, he rode his luck to get a looping deflection off Tommi Kivisto’s stick and saw the puck loop over Zapolski’s shoulder and into the net.
Jokerit had plenty of time to find a tying goal, but lost Huhtala when he picked up a game misconduct for his angry reaction after a too many men call. That slowed the home team’s progress as the second period drew to a close, and the third began with Jokerit unable to generate pressure on a power play of its own. CSKA maintained its discipline on defense, limiting the Finns to just six shots in the final frame and held on for victory in the game and the series. A Conference Final between CSKA and SKA will be the third meeting between the two at this stage in the last four seasons. CSKA won the last one, in 2016, sweeping SKA before falling to Metallurg in the Gagarin Cup Final.
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