Avangard, Traktor and Ufa complete Gagarin Cup quarterfinals

Eastern Conference:

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

The hosts were the clearly better side from the very beginning. At 18:06 Anton Belov used their pressure to score the 1-0. During a fast counter he had given a pass to Alexander Perezhogin who was to the right. Perezhogin's shot was bocked by Sibir goalie Jeff Glass but Belov used the rebound to get the puck into the wide open net. Sibir caem out of the dressing rooms with a different image and they after only 47 seconds of the second period Nikita Zaitsev had the huge chance for the equalizer but his shot from the second post was cleared with a spectacular save by Avangard goalie Kari Rämö. The home side soon regained controll of the match and after a brilliant pass by Nikita Pivtsakin towards the blue line Alexenader Perezhogin used a break away to deke out Glass ont he left side and to score the 2-0. In the last 20 minutes Avangard concentrated on defending their small lead while Sibir lacked any real ideas how to extend the game to overtime. In the end Sibir pulled out their goalie for an additional attacker with less than two minutes to go but the result didn't change anymore - also because Avangard twice missed the empty net. With his 26 saves Karri Rämö earned his third shutout of the current playoffs already.

Outsiders Sibir gave Avangard a great fight over the full distance of seven games but in the end the favourites used their home advantage to qualify for the second round.

Avangard won the series 4-3

Traktor Chelyabinsk (3) - Barys Astana (6) 5-3

It was another close game in this series but in the end the higher scoring power gave Traktor the entry to the next round. The home side had the better start with two early goals through Maxim Yakutsenya and Maxim Karpov. At 15:00 Talgat Zhailauov cut the lead to the half for the Kazakhs. In the middle period Traktor made everything clear when Petri Kontiola (2) and Deron Quint scored for them to make it 5-2 while Brandon Bochenski had cut the lead to just one again. At 51:46 Konstantin Pushkaryov only was able to make it 5-3 but the guests couldn't force the equalizer anymore.

Traktor won the series 4-3

Metallurg Magnitogorsk - Salavat Yulayev Ufa 0-2

Due to a really disappointing performance Metallurg couldn't use their home advantage against Ufa. After an even first period the score was tied 0-0. In the middle period Ufa took over the initiative and earned the deserved lead through Nikita Filatov at 28:48. Despite 12-3 shots on goal in this period they couldn't extend their small advantage though. Magnitka also weren't able to put the guests under pressure when they had to during the last 20 minutes. Instead Ufa made everything clear through an empty netter by Alexei Kaigorodov at 58:46. Ufa goalie Iiro Tarkki only needed 17 saves for a shutout.

Salavat Yualyev have won the series 4-3

Playoff quarterfinals:

Western Conference:

(1) SKA St. Petersburg - (5) Severstal Cherepovets

Eastern Conference:

(2) Avangard Omsk - (3) Traktor Chelyabinsk

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