Bitter playoff losses for newcomers Lev and Slovan

Western Conference

SKA St. Petersburg (1) - Atlant Moscow Oblast (8) 7-0

Continental Cup winners SKA simply overrun their opponents. One day after a hard fight and a 1-0 overtime win, the hosts had far less problems with Atlant than expected. Late in the first period Alexander Kucheryavenko deflected a shot by Artemy Panarin. With a double within just 34 seconds at the start of the second period Kevin Dallman and Mikhail Varnakov made everything clear for SKA. But not enough Anton Burdasov, Kevin Dallman with his second, again Burdasov via penalty shot and Viktor Tikhonov made humiliated the guests with a 7-0 win. After the 4th goal against the guests changed their goalies - Volkov substituted Galimov - but this stayed without much effect.

No goal, no win - that is the bitter result of the two away games for Atlant. It will be a tough job for them to come back into this series.

SKA lead 2-0 in the series

CSKA Moscow (2) - Lev Prague (7) 3-2 OT

For Czech league newcomers Lev Prague the journey to the Russian capital ended with another very bitter overtime loss. In a close match CSKA opened the score through their top star Alexander Radulov at 14:56 in power play - at this point CSKA had scored all their goalies with the man advantage. The guests turned the result around through Nicklas Danielsson and Michal Birner until the start of the third period but at 57:58 it was Yakov Rylov who sent the game to overtime with a very late strike. The game winner for CSKA then only happend in the second overtime when Igor Grigorenko was successful at 89:36.

CSKA lead 2-0 in the series

Dynamo Moscow (3) - Slovan Bratislava (6) 3-2 OT

After the huge package they received in the series opener, Slovan Bratislava showed a clearly improved performance but once more they stayed without success against Dynamo. Jakub Petruzalek only needed 01:14 to get the home side in front but the guests answered with goals through Mario Bliznak and Roman Kukumberg in the second period. Just two minutes later Alexei Sopin tied the match again for Dynamo though. After a scoreless third period, the game went into overtime. There it was again Sopin who scored the game winner at 71:46 and leaves the Slovakians in a really tough situation.

Dynamo lead 2-0 in the series

Lokomotiv Yaroslav (4) - Severstal Cherepovets (5) 2-1

Also the second match between Lokomotiv and Severstal was a close one and it again ended with a 2-1 - in favour of Lokomotiv this time though. Daniil Apalkov brought the home sidein front during the first period but at 38:41 Alexander Ryazantsev tied the match for Severstal. Unlike yesterday Lokomotiv found a way back into this match and Staffan Kronwall scored the game winner for them at 41:01. The guests from Cherepovets tried it early without their goalie but with an additional skater. They couldn't force the equalizer anymore though and now the series is tied after two matches.

Series tied 1-1

Eastern Conference

Ak Bars Kazan (1) - Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (8) 5-1

During their playoff start Ak Bars showed a great performance against Neftekhimik. Janne Pesonen and Lauris Darzins pathed the way for the hosts in the first period. Still Yegor Milovzorov was able to cut the lead to the half around "half time" despite Neftekhimik being a man short. Before the second intermission Latvian forward Darzins scored his second of the day to restore the two-goal lead. Alexei Morozov and Denis Golubev underlined Kazan's playoff ambitions with goals in the last 20 minutes.

AK Bars lead 1-0 in the series

Avangard Omsk (2) - Sibir Novosibirsk (7) 5-0

For Avangard it was a tough start into the playoffs against outsiders Sibir who kept the game open during the first period. At 25:06 Tomas Zaborsky broke the ice with his goal for the hosts before two stupid penalties against Nikita Zaitsev late in the middle period were punished by Igor Volkov and Pavel Valentenko who made everything clear in power play. The Sibir penalty killing stayed disappointing in the last 20 minutes when Alexander Bumagin and Alexander Popov even made it 5-0 with the power play strikes number 3 and 4 for Avangard.

Avangard lead 1-0 in the series

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

Traktor suffered the first real surprise in this year's Gagarin Cup playoffs when they lost in overtime against Kazakh side Barys Astana. The hosts came back three times but in the end Roman Starchenko scored the game winner for Barys at 74:34. Before Brandon Bochenski (Barys) and Konstantin Panov (Traktor) had made it 2-2 after 40 minutes. Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev restored the guest lead in the third period but at 58:10 Maxim Yakutsenya sent the match to overtime.

Barys lead 1-0 in the series

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

Despite an early double in the 8th minute through Mats Zuccarello and Dmitry Kazionov for Metallurg, the guests from Ufa answered still in the first period through two goals by Sergei Zinovyev. At 28:04 Antti Pihlström even brought the guests in front for the first time. Magnitka didn't give up and came back through Viktor Antipin in the third period. In the following overtime Alexander Svitov only needed 82 seconds to give Ufa the game winner and thus the important away win.

Salavat Yulayev lead 1-0 in the series

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