KHL playoffs: Late OT winner for Traktor - fast comeback for SKA

Western Conference finals, day 4

Dynamo Moscow (3) - SKA St. Petersburg (1) 2-6

Guests SKA needed some time to find into game #4 but then they were able to fully convince. In a rather even first period home side Dynamo went in front with their first real chance when Marek Kvapil used a rebound that guest goalie Ilya Ezhov allowed after a hard shot by Jakub Petruzalek from the right circle at 13:19.

At the start of the middle period the hosts doubled their lead with an early power play when Alexei Tsvetkov scored from short distance after a pass from behind the net by Denis Kokarev. Still SKA were the more active side and had the better chances which they finally started to use. At 32:28 Kevin Dallman brought hope back to the guests with a one-timer from a half left position into the right top corner. SKA continued with a lot of pressure and were rewarded with the equalizer through Mikhail Varnakov who scored with a rebound after a shot by Alexander Kucheryavenko from the right wing. Still the period was not over yet and Evgeny Artyukhin made ended the race to catch up with a goal from short distance after the puck came back from the boards after a shot from the right wing by Kevin Dallman at 37:26 - not even five minutes after their first strike.  

With the experience of recent matches - especially the very last one when the guests threw away a two-goal lead after 40 minutes - SKA tried everything to extend their lead early in the third period. At 45:09 it was Kevin Dallman with his second of the night who fired a hard blue line shot into the left top corner past Yeryomenko who saw more or less nothing as SKA forward Prucha stood immidiately in front of him. Just one and a half minutes later Dmitry Vorobyov scored from a central position after receiving the puck in the neutral zone. This was also the end of the working day for Dynamo goalie Yeryomenko and his backup Sharychenkov stepped onto the ice. Dynamo controlled the last minutes of play without creating real danger. When they pulled out their goalie with one and a half minutes left on the clock Teemu Ramstedt used an empty netter to make it half a dozen for SKA with 11 seconds left to play in regulation.

With this win SKA stay in competition and forced at least a 5th game that will take place in St. Petersburg on 30 March but for a win in this series they would need another three consecutive wins!  

Dynamo lead 3-1 in the series

Eastern Conference finals, day 3

Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) - Ak Bars Kazan (1) 1-0 OT

In a very even match both teams lacked to create real danger in front of each net so that it was a 0-0 draw after 60 minutes. In the overtime the picture did not change much so that the fans had to wait until 98:59 when Anton Glinkin scored the game winner for home side Traktor Chelyabinsk late in the second overtime with a real blast from the left circle into the right corner to take revenge for Traktor's overtime loss in the first match of the series in Kazan.  

After this win Traktor cut the deficit in this series to the half and they could even tie it already tomorrow afternoon during game #4 in Chelyabinsk!  

Ak Bars lead 2-1 in the series

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