Avangard sweeps out Amur

05 Mar 2012 | Roman Solovyev

Avangard became the first team of the East to go to the 2nd round of the KHL playoffs. Barys, Traktor and Ak Bars have one step to end their series in the next game.

Amur 1-3 Avangard (Avangard wins series 4-0)
The Amur tale ended in the 4th game of the first round in Khabarovsk. Avangard began the first period so aggressive and earned a 2-goal lead to 08:59 with Alexander Perezhogin and Roman Cervenka accurate shots. Amur managed only to score in the beginning of the second when Martin Ruzicka used a pass from Igor Ignatushkin. At 37:08 Kirill Lyamin fed up a backhand pass to Yegor Averin who closed the game with the score 1-3, and the series 0-4 in favor of Avangard.

Barys 4-1 Metallurg Mg (Barys leads series 3-1)
Barys has only one step to make the biggest sensation in the first play-off round in KHL. Metallurg d-man Daniil Markov in the middle of the first fired from far distance to open the scoring. The Barys comeback started within seconds. Dustin Boyd and Konstantin Pushkaryov scored in the seconds during a 3 minute span to turn the score into Barys account. Jonas Junland made it 3-1 with a blue line shot at 52:17. Kevin Dallman closed the game during some flurries near Ahonen’s net at 55:39. Barys got a 2-game lead in the series and next game in Magnitogorsk can be the last.

Salavat Yulaev 0-3 Ak Bars (Ak Bars leads series 3-1)
Ak Bars made an unbelievable thing after winning the second game in Ufa. At 09:02 Artyom Lukyanov added the puck to the net being first on the rebound after Grigory Panin’s bar shot. Ak Bars scored again in the end of the second with a Josef Straka backhand goal. With 26 seconds to play in the third Alexei Morozov scored an empty-net goal and now Ak Bars returns home with a 3-1 lead in the series and a chance to beat their arch-rivals in the first round. Finnish goalie Petri Vehanen played a great game this night with 40 stopped shots he made a big deal to Ak Bars win.

Yugra 3-6 Traktor (Traktor leads series 3-1)
Yugra had a chance to tie the series, but one period again helped Traktor to rally. The first 5 minutes became a nightmare for Traktor when Maxim Belyayev and Sergei Demagin beat Michael Garnett in the net. On a breakaway Vladimir Antipov with a high shot cut Yugra’s lead at 13:13. The last 5:30 of the second and the first minute of the third decided this game. In the second Traktor scored three times. Stanislav Chistov beat Mikhail Biryukov twice and then Antipov made a double. Jan Bulis and Konstantin Popov ended another Traktor comeback in the third. It wasn’t the final score, Sergei Demagin in the end of the game made a double 3-6. During two games in Khanty-Mansissk Traktor made two great comebacks and showed themselves that they have character.