SKA, CSKA suffer but win in OT

For Severstal Cherepovets their first match of the series against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl could have barely started worse. After only 31 seconds Denis Kazionov already received a game misconduct penalty for a very hard hit behind the net. And not enough - Alexei Kalyuzhny used the first power play to bring hosts Lokomotiv in front at 01:26. But Lokomotiv failed to add another one. Instead the guests from Cherepovets not only were the better team in the middle period but they also tied the game through Gennady Stolyarov at 26:22. In an even third period Vadim Shipachyov used a rebound after a shot by Stolyarov to score the 2-1 game winner for Severstal who now have a 1-0 lead in the series.

Dynamo Moscow showed a great performance at the start of the playoffs against Slovakian league newcomers Slovan Bratislava. Alexei Tsvetkov and Denis Mosalyov pathed the way for the home win in the first period before Michal Vondrka answered for Slovan at 26:39. Seven minutes later though Derlyuk restored the two-goal lead for Dynamo though. In the third period the home side used their dominance to add another two goals, both scored by Jakub Petruzalek, to have a solid 5-1 win.

Western Conference winners SKA St. Petersburg found themselves in the expected hard game against last-minute playoff participants Atlant Moscow Oblast. Despite a clear advantage in shots on goal of 35-16 in the regular time for SKA there were no goals. Guests Atlant even had the better chances and Gleb Klimenko could have decided the match for them with a bit more than a minute left to play in regulation when SKA goalie Ilya Ezhov lost the puck after he left his net to keep the puck in play - and Klimenko missed the empty net with his shot from the left wing. At the start of overtime Atlant's Oleg Yashin took a stupid penalty that led to the game winner by Patrick Thoresen in power play who gave SKA the lead in the series at 63:42.

And also the second best team in the West durign regular seasn, CSKA Moscow, had to wait until overtime before they beat Czech side Lev Prague. In a very even match Igor Radulov and Oleg Kvasha twice opeend the score for CSKA while Petr Vrana and Michal Repik answered for the Lions. In the playoffs CSKA were the clearly dominating team and after a tripping penalty against Nathan Oystrick it was Yakov Rylov who gave CSKA the late 3-2 game winner at 74:34.

All teams in the West have a chance to improve already tomorrow. Then the playoffs also start for the Eastern Conference. 

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