Sibir strikes out Ak Bars

After Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Barys Astana, brave Sibir Novosibirsk join the semifinalists in the East after a win over Ak Bars in second overtime. It leaves Torpedo and Salavat as the lone teams still battling for the next round spot as they'll go to Game 7.

Sibir Novosibirsk - Ak Bars Kazan 3:2 2OT (Sibir won series 4-2)

When Stepan Sannikov finally slid the puck across the goal line at 85:42 the arena in Novosibirsk exploded with jubilation. They witnessed history. Sibir made their first-ever playoff series win and will proceed to the semifinals. After a scramble in front of Emil Garipov Sannikov kept his head cool and after repated efforts finally ended the excruciating series for Bars. After such magnificent regular season this wasn't the way they wanted to finish their season.

After a scoreless first period Ak Bars scored a pair in the second through Evgeny Medvedev at 31:56 and Alexander Svitov at 34:28 both getting their first powerplay tallies.

In the third it was all Sibir who made it square and forced the overtime. At 42:08 Dmitry Kugryshev cuts the lead to half and merely two minutes later Alexander Kutuzov levels things up, forces the overtime and marks the beginning of the end for Ak Bars.

They couldn't resist Sibir who proved brave and tough to break, too tough for one of the best teams of the regular season. Mikko Koskinen was consistently ruling the crease with 34 saves on 36 shots.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod - Salavat Yulaev Ufa 6:2 (Series tied at 3)

A shutout in the third period and four goals during those final 20 minutes lifted Torpedo high enough to jump across the obstacle called Salavat Yulaev and force the Game 7. 

The Finnish connection was again effective on the home side. Altogether the three Finns collected seven points, Jarkko Immonen and Sakari Salminen picking up two goals apiece and Jusso Hietanen adding two assists on the last two tallies.

Torpedo were more concrete throughout the game but the end of the first period was a special story. After not having scored a single goal in 19 minutes - there were three in that last one. Denis Parshin and Jarkko Immonen built up on a 2:0 lead but before the buzzer Dmitry Makarov cuts the lead to half heading for the first intermission.

Yegor Dubrovsky squares things up before the second break as Salavat put on an effort to bring them back in the game. And things on ice didn't look so benevolent for Torpedo in those times.

In a span of 10 minutes in the third frame - from 47:54 to 56:47 Torpedo sequenced four goals commencing with Vladimir Galuzin's effort before the Finnish show had begun. Sakari Salminen strikes twice in a row and Jarkko Immonen seals the deal as far as Torpedo are concerned.

Salavat's players let their nerves do the work when they started trailing forcing brawls on the ice but Sibir just weren't responding to them. In the second period Torpedo had 5 penalties which allowed Salavat to even the score.

Still, at 59:23 Sergei Sentyurin and Brent Sopel did something unusual and unfamiliar for KHL rinks - they dropped the gloves and decided it was time to settle things down the hockey way. Sentyurin came out glorious and both were assigned 5 minutes major penalties.

Ivan Kasutin led Torpedo to the win with 29 saves, 93.5 SVS%.

Game 7 of the series will be played March 18.

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