Three series over the full distance in the East

Eastern Conference quarterfinals, day 6:

Sibir Novosibirsk (7) - Avangard Omsk (2) 3-0

By concentrating on the basics and defending well Sibir stayed alive in the series against favourites Avangard. Jonas Enlund brought the hosts in front already at 04:53 but they had to wait until 46:56 when Kristian Kudroc doubled the Sibir lead in power play just when Avangard played with their biggest pressure. With less than two minutes left in regulation Stepan Sannikov made everything clear with an empty netter.

Series tied 3-3

Barys Astana (6) - Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) 4-2

Petri Kontiola and Alexander Shinin brought Traktor in front twice until the start of the second period but the Kazakh home side Barys answered through Petri Kontiola and Nigel Dawes. At 46:13 Fyodor Polishchuk even turned the game around completely in favour of Barys. Now Traktor increased their efforts significantly but had no success. Instead they had to see how again Dawes scored the 4-2 with an empty netter.

Series tied 3-3

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

Ufa and Magnitogorsk both played terrific ice hockey and both teams wanted the win 110%. Igor Mirnov and Alexei Kaigorodov brought the home side in front during the first 20 minutes before Justin Hodgman and Alexander Korolyuk answered for Magnitika at the start of the middle period. At 36:17 Denis Khylstov restored the Ufa lead before Milan Gulas scored the 3-3 exactly one minute later. Still the period was not over yet and again Denis Khlystov and Brent Sopel gained the two goal lead back for the hosts. The guests were the more active side during the last period but they only were able to cut the lead to one through Milan Gulas at 57:23. They tried it without their goalie and an additional attacker during the last minute of play but it was too late for the equalizer.

Series tied 3-3

All three playoff series will be decided on Tuesday.

Nadezhda Cup first round:

The rules for Nadezhda Cup are quite tricky. Two teams are out of competition despite tying their series. Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk had a 3-3 after 60 minutes against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. In the following overtime Sergei Demagin only needed 182 seconds to win the match for Yugra and to tie the series 2-2. This was not the end of the game though as now a shootout had to find the winner of the series. There it was Alexander Streltsov who transformed the decisive penalty shot for the guests from Yekaterinburg.

A clearly improved Donbass Donetsk had a 2-0 lead against Dinamo Riga through Sergei Varlamov and Dmitry Kagarlitsky until 07:22 already. Dinamo were able to keep the game close in the following time and they scored the 2-1 through Roberts Bukarts at 47:37. The Donbass win meant that the Ukrainians tied the series 2-2. In the following shootout for the series win it was again Bukarts who gave the Latvians the entry to the next round.

Also a close game but without shootout drama was the one in Novokuznetsk. Local side Metallurg lay behind against guests Amur Khabarovsk 0-2 through goals by Andrei Stepanov and Nikita Gusev before they answered through Alexander Mereskin and Konstantin Shabunov before the second intermission. With a double in the 45th minute Alexander Loignov and again Andrei Stepanov pathed the way for the guest win. Alexei Yefimov only was able to score the 3-4 at 48:51. In the last minute of regulation Metallurg pulled out their goalie for an additional skater but the result didn't change anymore.

Nadezhda Cup semifinals matchups:

(W14) Dinamo Riga - (W10) Dinamo Minsk

(E12) Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg - (E11) Amur Khabarovsk

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