Avangard holds on to take opening game

The Gagarin Cup Final began in earnest on Friday afternoon, and it was the home side, Avangard Omsk, who struck first blood in the opening game of the series. Dinamo Moscow played their typical defensive brand of hockey as promoted by head coach Oleg Znarok, but they struggled to generate chances in front of Karri Rämö, who only had to make 21 saves for his teams 2:1 victory. There was controversy at the end of the game, as the arena clock froze with 0.6 seconds left in the game, and after Avangard had already celebrated and went to the dressing room, both teams had to come back out onto the ice in order to play out the time.

Dinamo managed to kill off an early Leo Komarov penalty, but in the fifth minute of the game, Roman Červenka scored his 12th goal of the playoffs, finally breaching Alexander Yeryomenko after the Dinamo netminder had made a number of good saves. Avangard outshot their opponents 17-10 in the opening period, but despite this number, Dinamo's offensive threat was minimal. Avangard were outplaying Dinamo in every aspect of the game.

The second period represented the defensive battle which most observers thought this series would be, as the two teams only mustered eleven shots between them. Avangard started the period off the better team, but it would be Dinamo who would score the only goal of the game, as Leo Komarov managed to squeeze the puck between Rämö's pad and the post, tying the game in the 31st minute. Dinamo began to create more chances towards the end of the period, and they went close on the powerplay, as Marek Kvapil rattled the pipes with a fizzing shot.

Avangard needed to re-assert their dominance in the third period, and they managed to re-take the lead four minutes into the period. Yeryomenko managed to stop a  Roman Červenka, but Alexander Perezhogin beat Janne Jalasvaara to the rebound and tapped it into the net to the delight of the 10,318 in attendance. However, it was by no means game over, and Dinamo began to dominate puck possession, but they simply could not find a way to beat the imperious Karri Rämö. Dinamo only managed to pull Yeryomenko with 18 seconds left on the clock, but it was Avangard who would hold on to the victory, despite the anti-climax due to the confusion surrounding the arena clock.

Omsk now have a 1:0 lead in the series, with the second game scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 12:00 C.E.T  

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