Exciting playoff day in the East

Eastern Conference

Ak Bars Kazan (1) - Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (8) 3-0

Favourites Ak Bars won also their second home match against Neftekhimik due to a very effective third period. In the first 40 minutes of the game there was little hockey as the game was constantly interrupted by many, many penalties, including a very doubtful game misconduct at 25:48 against guest goalie Matt Dalton for slashing. From this point on back up goalie Maxim Sokolov stood between the posts for Neftekhimik. At 44:49 Niko Kapanen deflected a pass from the right wing by Nikolai Zherdev with his skates past Sokolov for the at this point surprising Ak Bars lead. Ten minutes later Zherdev was also involved in the next Kazan goal when he made a pass from behind the net that was deflected from the skates of Neftekhimik defender Mamashev into his own net. When the guests risked everything during a late power play by pulling out their goalie for an additional skater, Ilya Nikulin used a long clearance from next to the Ak Bars goal for the empty netter to make it 3-0! Home goalie Konstantin Barulin was awarded an assists for this play and later he also earned a shutout for stopping all the 30 shots he faced.

Ak Bars lead 2-0 in the series

Avangard Omsk (2) - Sibir Novosibirsk (7) 0-1

Only one day after a solid five-goal win hosts Avangard suffered a lot against Sibir and in the end even lost the match. Nikita Zaitsev used a 5 on 3 power play late in the middle period to get the guests from Novosibirsk in front with a one-timer from the blue line into the left bottom corner. This turned out to be the game winner as Avangard found no answer anymore. Sibir clearly improved their penalty killing - in game #1 of the series they received 4/5 goals shorthanded and today they kept Avangard 0/3. With 28 saves and a shutout Sibir goalie Jeff Glass was a key player to tie the series.

Series tied 1-1

Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) - Barys Astana (6) 3-5

24 hours after an overtime win in Chelyabinsk, guests Barys Astana showed that this was not a great exception. Today they were incredibly effective and won despite being outshot 41-16. Nigel Dawes became by far the man of the match for the Kazakhs. First he twice brought the hosts in front during the first period - Valery Nichushkin and Petri Kontiola had scored the equalizer for Traktor until the start of the second period - before he restored the Barys lead with a double around "half time" to collect four goals in this match. Alexei Litvinenko even added another one for Barys at 34:41 in power play. Traktor had huge problems to score despite the large shoting advantage and only could make it 3-5 through Valery Nishuchkin in the last 20 minutes. Now the situation is very complicated for Traktor and they need at least one win in the following two games in Astana or they are out already despite the home advantage in the series.

Barys lead 2-0 in the series

Metallurg Magnitogorsk (4) - Salavat Yulayev Ufa (5) 2-0

With a double at the start of the second period Alexander Korolyuk and Sergei Mozyakin pathed the way for a 2-0 home win of Metallurg Magnitogorsk that ties the series against Salavat Yulayev Ufa. The guests were the more active team but failed to score in the following time so that Magnitka goalie Georgy Gelashvili who made 25 saves earned a shutout.

Series tied 1-1

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