Traktor qualified for Conference finals

Gagarin Cup Eastern Conference semifinals, day 5

Ak Bars Kazan (1) - Salavat Yulayev Ufa (5) 4-3 OT

The outsiders from Ufa gave Kazan again a big fight but in the end they lost the third consecutive match and trail Ak Bars 2-3 in this series. At 12:19 Jarkko Immonen brought the home side in front with a well-placed shot from the right circle. Five minutes later though the guests gave the answer through Alexander Svitov who scored the equalizer after a break away in a very entertaining first period. In the second period the game lost a lot of its speed but still Ilya Nikulin was able to restore the Ak Bars lead with a blue line shot into the right top corner during a power play for his team at 38:46. The third period started with a huge surprise when Igor Musatov scored for Ufa after only 14 seconds when the guests won the puck behind the Ak Bars net. With a deflected shot Ilya Nikulin used another power play to give Ak Bars a 3-2 lead a few minutes later. Still Ufa weren't beaten yet and Stefan Ruzicka tied the match again with just four minutes left when he hit the right top corner with a shot from the left circle. In the following overtime both teams wanted a fast decision and especially the guest defense was set under a lot of pressure. One of the dangerous Ak Bars attacks then let to the 4-3 game winner by Alexei Morozov who alone in the 1-on-1 with guest goalie Iiro Tarkki stayed successful and deked him out to the right side to score into the wide open net! In the previous pass the guest defense had slept completely!  

Now Ak Bars can win the series in game #6 in Ufa!

Ak Bars lead 3-2 in the series

Avangard Omsk (2) - Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) 0-4

Despite needing a win Avangard Omsk never really found a way to set guests Traktor Chelyabinsk under pressure in game #5. At 24:42 a fast attack led to the guest lead. Stanislav Chistov gave a perfect pass from the right wing towards the Avangard net and Maxim Karpov scored with a well-placed shot into the left top corner! In power play Jan Bulis with a one-timer from the right post and Maxim Yakutsenya with a shot from a central position after a pass from the right wing by Petri Kontiola extended the Traktor lead to three even before the second intermission. Avangard dominated the third period without creating too much danger before Evgeny Kuznetsov destroyed even the most unrealistic hopes by the home side when he hit the empty net at 58:36.

For Traktor goalie Michael Garnett it was the 4th (!) shutout in five matches of this series which made him the key player for Traktor.

Traktor won the series 4-1

Nadezhda Cup finals, day 2

Dinamo Riga (W14) - Amur Khabarovsk (E11)

Amur showed a clearly improved image in game #2 of the Nadezhda Cup final series in Riga but despite laying in front 2-0 and 3-1 they lost in regulation. With a double within nine seconds of the 10th minute Andrei Stepanov and Vyacheslav Litovchenko brought Amur in front before Juris Upitis cut the lead to the half at 24:47. Timofei Shishkanov restored the two-goal lead for Amur at 28:24 before Gints Meija made it 2-3 even before "half time". At the start of the middle period Andris Dzerins and again Juris Upitis turend the game around for Dinamo and gave the Latvians the second win in this series which continues in Khabarovsk.

Dinamo lead 2-0 in the series

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