Atlant get last playoff ticket in the West

Atlant Moscow Oblast let no doubts arise over their will to make the playoffs when they beat Metallurg Novokuznetsk clearly with 5-0. Maxim Mayorov opened the score already after 33 seconds before Andreas Engqvist, Ivan Vishnvevsky and Gleb Klimenko decided the match even before "half time". At 50:25 Mikhail Glukhov added the fifth for the home side whose goalie Stanislav Galimov made 39 saves to get a shutout.

The success by Atlant would have been of no importance if Dinamo Minsk had won in regulation against Salavat Yulayev Ufa. The Belaraussians started extremly nervous and at 20:43 even lay behind after a power play strike by Miroslav Blatak. Afterwards the hosts had huge problems to create any danger in front of the guest net. After they became a bit impatient, Alexander Pankov used another power play to double the Ufa lead. Still there was no reaction by Dinamo but it came after a timeout with four minutes left to go. First Cory Murphy used a blast from the blue line to score the 1-2 at 56:47 before Janne Niskala's one-timer 24 seconds later gave Minsk the now well-deserved equalizer. In front of more than 15,000 fans who pushed their team, Dinamo now risked everything by pulling out their goalie for an additional skater and this was punished by Alexander Pankov at 58:17 - a win in overtime would have not been enough for Dinamo as Atlant had more wins in regulation which was the decisive factor. For Dinamo missing the playoffs is especially bitter as the team had the best chances of all three teams still fighting for the 8th spot (Dinamo, Atlant, Donbass) but lost their last two games on home ice against top teams Kazan and Ufa.

For Donbass Donetsk it was already clear before the start of their match against Lev Prague that they had misses the playoffs due to the Atlant win and their better number of wins in regulation. Still they showed good morale and turned around the late second-period guest lead through Aleksandrs Nizivijs. First Evgeny Dadonov sent the game into overtime with a shorthander at 49:17 and then Tuomas Kiiskinen was the only player to transform his penalty shot attempt and to give Donetsk the extra point. Despite missing the playoffs, finnishing 9th in the West is a great success for the Ukrainian league newcomers.

The other questions of importance was wether Avangard or Ak Bars would start the playoffs as winners of Eastern Conference. After a weak performance against an average Dynamo Moscow the hosts from Omsk lost with 0-3 after goals against through Alexei Tsvetkov, Ilya Gorokhov and Janne Jalasvaara (empty net). Although guest goalie Alexander Yeryomenko had to stop 32 shots for his shutout, there were barely really dangerous ones and Avangard couldn't avoid their fourth-consecutive loss at the end of the regular season.

The new Avangard setback was used immidiately by the team behind them, Ak Bars Kazan, who defeated Vityaz Chekhov on the road to end the regular season as leaders in the East. Georgy Belousov brought outsiders Vityas in front at 24:54 but less than a minute later Stepan Zakharchuk already had tied the match for Ak Bars. Alexei Tereshchenko and Janne Pesonen made everything clear for the guests in the last 20 minutes. The 2-3 through Vladimir Malevich in power play with five seconds left ont he clock, came too late for another answer by Vityaz.

Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk said goodbye to the regular season with another solid 4-0 win, this time against bottom side Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. At the end of the second period Vitaly Sitnikov opened the score for Yugra before Konstantin Glazachev, again Sitnikov and Alexander Rybakov left Avtomobilist chanceless during the last minutes of play. Yugra's Latvian goalie Edgars Masalskis made 30 saves for his shutout.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk failed to switch positions with guests Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Eastern Conference. After a 1-4 loss they ended the season as 4th while Traktor became 3rd in the conference. Yegor Dugin (2), Valery Nichushkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov grabbed an easy four-goal lead for Traktor. Metallurg only were able to score the consolation goal through Denis Platonov late in the second period.

Regular season champions SKA St. Petersburg ended the last match with an away loss against Barys Astana despite a two-goal lead. Tony Martensson and Alexander Osipov had brought SKA in front in the first period before Dustin Boyd, Nigel Dawes and Konstantin Pushkaryov turned the result around for the Kazakhs in the following 20 minutes. Still the second period wasn't over yet and Patrick Thoresen answered for SKA. Dmitry Upper and Maximi Spiridonov made everything clear for the hosts at the start of the third and the following goal by Tony Martensson for the 5-4 was not enough anymore for SKA.

Spartak Moscow won the city derby against CSKA with 4-2. In an eventful second period Vyacheslav Kozlov opened the score for Spartak before Viktor Kozlov and Janis Sprukts gave the guests a 1-2 until "half time". At the end of the period Jaroslav Obsut and Yegor Mikhailov restored the lead for Spartak though. At 53:30 Andrei Ankudinov decided the game.

In a game of two playoff teams that had little relevance for the league table, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk beat Severstal Cherepovets on the road. Yegor Milovzorov, Yaroslav Alshevsky and Andrei Subbotin gave the guests a lead three times, answered through Linus Videll, Pavel Buchnevich and Stanislav Yegorshev - the last one by Yegorshev, a shorthander, only came at 59:39 when Severstal had pulled their goalie out for an additional skater. In overtime Vitaly Shulakov only needed 22 seconds to give the extra point to Neftekhimik.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl disappointed their fans with their second consecutive home loss before the playoffs. Although Sergei Plotnikov earned the lead for Lokomotiv already at 06:05 they had to see how Sergei Shumakov, Jonas Enlund, Stepan Sannikov and again Enlund (empty netter) won the match for guests Sibir Novosibirsk. At 58:42 Vladislav Kartayev scored via shorthander for the hosts but the 2-4 came too late for another reaction.

Bottom side Amur Khabarovsk lost for the 5th time in a row when they travelled to Nizhny Novgorod to face local Torpedo. Vladimir Galuzin and Jonas Andersson grabbed a 2-0 lead for Torpedo until the start of the second period before Nikita Gusev answered for Amur before the second intermission. Pyotr Schastlivy restored the two-goal lead for the home side at 44:54 but Evgeny Orlov made it 3-2 for Amur at 51:08. In the last minute the guests tried it without their goalie but with an additional skater but without success.

Latvian side Dinamo Riga gave their fans reason for joy when they won their last home match against league newcomers Slovan Bratislava. The guests went in front already at 02:46 through Michal Sersen but Roberts Bukarts answered for Dinamo just two minutes later. Around "half time" Martins Karsums turned the match around before Jamie Johnson made everything clear with less than five minutes to go.

The pairs for the first round of the playoffs are the followng:

Western Conference:
SKA St. Petersburg (1) vs (8) Atlant Moscow Oblast
CSKA Moscow (2) vs (7) Lev Prague
Dynamo Moscow (3) vs (6) Slovan Bratislava
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (4) vs (5) Severstal Cherepovets

Eastern Conference:
Ak Bars Kazan (1) vs (8) Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
Avangard Omsk (2) vs (7) Sibir Novosibirsk
Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) vs (6) Barys Astana
Metallurg Magnitogorsk (4) vs (5) Salavat Yulayev Ufa

More information about the participants you will receive tomorrow. There will also be a "Cup of Hope" for the first time, involving all 10 teams who missed the playoffs. 

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