Away teams day in the East

Eastern Conference

Neftekhimik NIzhnekamsk (8) - Ak Bars Kazan (1) 2-3 OT

For Neftekhimik today's match against Ak Bars was a must-win game and so they started with a lot of offense without creating too many big scoring opportunities. At 27:22 Alexei Morozov used a rebound at the second post to give the guests from Kazan the lead in power play - at this point very surprsing. Neftekhimik soon was over the shock and they tied the match at 31:29 through a power play goal by Vitaly Shulakov who tried it from the blue line. The hosts stayed the more active side but they had to see how Janne Pesonen restored the Kazan lead just five minutes later out of the blue with a precise shot into the right bottom corner during a break away. At 42:46 it was Petr Koukal who scored with another power play, also from the blue line. This goal extended the match to overtime where both teams lacked power after a while. The match was already deep in the second overtime when Lauris Darzins used a rebound from a sharp angle to score the game winner for Kazan and give them a sweep in this series. Neftekhimik fighted well in all four games but in the end the higher class on the Kazan bench gave the favourites the entry to the next playoff round.

Ak Bars have won the series 4-0

Sibir Novosibirsk (7) - Avangard Omsk (2) 2-5

Sibir were the better side during the first 20 minutes and everything looked like they should continue their winning streak against Avangard but suddenly Dmitry Syomin brought the guests from Omsk in front with a shorthander at 24:14. After a pass by Alexander Frolov he used his own rebound for the 0-1. Only three minutes later Alexander Nikulin scored the equalizer in a break away before Sibir used their dominance the next break away strike by Artyom Voroshilo at 36:10. Despite the momentum being on Sibir's side, Avangard fought back with a precise shot by Kirill Lyamin into the top left corner and a shot from a sharp angle by Anton Kuryanov with just 16 seconds left in the second period. In the following 20 minutes Avangard became the stronger side and didn't allow much anymore in front of their own net. Instead Andrei Ivanov with a blast from the blue line and Pavel Valentenko from the faceoff circle made it a solid 5-2 win to tie the series. Now Avangard have the home advantage back.

Series tied 2-2

Barys Astana (6) - Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) 2-3

Home side Barys blew away a two-goal lead not only in this match but also a two-win lead in the whole series. Fyodor Polishchuk at 05:41 and Nigel Dawes at 24:41 brought the Kazakhs in front before Vyacheslav Belov and Maxim Karpov answered for Traktor until "half time". With his strike at 47:25 Yegor Dugin even won the match for Traktor! After winning the first two matches in Chelyabinsk, two consecutive home losses and the return of the home advantage to Traktor are a bitter pill to swallow for Barys. Much depends now on the crucial 5th game in this series.

Series tied 2-2

Salavat Yulayev Ufa (5) - Metallurg Magnitogorsk (4) 2-3

The hosts from Ufa had everything under their controll against Metallurg in the first 40 minutes and were in front 2-0 after goals by Brent Sopel and Andrei Zubarev. After Cal O'Reilly's early third-period goal in power play the scenario first didn't change much. Ironically the equalizer, again through O'Reilly, at 56:39 came just seconds after Ufa had taken a timeout. But Magnitka had still a huge surprise left and with only four seconds left in regulation Mats Zuccarello won the match for them and tied the series to give the team from Magnitogorsk the home advantage back.

Series tied 2-2

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