Favourites use home advantage in the East

01 Mar 2013 | Dennis Mende

All three teams with the better position in regular season, still fighting for their entry to the Eastern Conference semifinals, not only won for the second time in a row but all of them lead their series now.

Eastern Conference

Avangard Omsk (2) - Sibir Novosibirsk (7) 1-0 OT

It was a very close game between Avangard and Sibir with few really good scoring opportunities. Both teams rather tried to avoid chances of the opponents than creating their own opportunities. So it was no wonder that the game was tied 0-0 after 60 minutes. At the begin of overtime the guests appeared twice dangerously in front of the Avangard net but the home side was luckier. At 68:17 it was Dmitry Syomin who scored the game winner for Omsk after receiving a pass by Alexander Frolov who before faked a shot.

Avangard lead 3-2 in the series

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

The guests from Kazakhstan had the better start and scored after exactly nine minutes with their first power play of the match through Brandon Bochenski. The hosts were not shoked though and took over the initiative immidiately. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jan Bulis and Vladimir Antipov earned a 3-1 lead for the hosts even before the end of the first period. Until "half time" Jan Bulis and Deron Quint extended the lead with the man advantage to four for the more effective Russians. In a power play Roman Savchenko brought a bit hope back to Barys with a nice solo run through the Traktor defense and the following shot in the right corner. The guests invested more during the last 20 minutes but at 56:00 Kontantin Panov made everything clear for Traktor with a shot sniped into the right bottom corner while his team was shorthanded. In the last minute of regulation Dustin Boyd only made the result a bit more comfortable for Barys.

Traktor lead 3-2 in the series

Metallurg Magnitogorsk (4) - Salavat Yulayev Ufa (5) 2-1

Milan Gulas pathed the way for home side Metallurg with a double before "half time". Both times the assist came from Justin Hodgman. At the start of the third period Stefan Ruzicka cut the lead to the half for Ufa with his strike at 43:10. Two minutes later Metallurg took a timeout after they felt the increased pressure by the guests. Ufa continued with their pressure though but they couldn't force the equalizer anymore despite playing without their goalie in the last minute and with an additional skater.

Metallurg lead 3-2 in the series