While Yaroslavl “Lokomotiv” is taking a break after winning Chelyabinsk “Traktor” and awaits their opponent in the final of the Gagarin Cup, Ekaterinburg “Avtomobilist” and Magnitogorsk “Metallurg” are creating a real hockey boom in the parallel semi-final series. After their third match – perhaps the best of the entire playoffs – it was difficult to imagine an even crazier scenario for the Ural confrontation. But the teams showed that they still have something to surprise. Especially “Avtomobilist”.
First of all, the coaching staff of Nikolai Zavarukhin literally shocked with their decision to replace the goalkeeper: instead of one of the best goalkeepers of the playoffs, Evgeniy Alikin, Vladimir Galkin came on. This was truly strange – before this, Galkin had not played a single game in the tournament as the first goalkeeper and only appeared three times during the matches in the previous series. As it turned out later, the experiment was unsuccessful.
After only five minutes from the start of the match, Galkin missed two goals and went to the bench. Nikita Grebenkin and Alexander Petunin very quickly brought Metallurg ahead and created what seemed to be a comfortable advantage in the score of the playoff match.
“”I did not regret this decision. There were questions about goalkeepers, they decided to release Galkin. He is not to blame for the missed goals. The guy was ready to play. But it happened that way. And no, I didn’t notice my hockey players that they play differently when Vladimir plays in goal,” Nikolai Zavarukhin spoke about this situation at the post-match press conference.
For Alikin, the match also did not start in the most successful way. As soon as Evgeniy entered the game, Danila Yurov drove the puck into the goal with a mocking shot from a negative angle and a ricochet from the goalkeeper.
3:0 after seven minutes of the meeting looked like a death sentence for Avtomobilist. Fans, experts and journalists even joked that Lokomotiv administrators had already started looking for tickets to Magnitogorsk and booking hotel rooms as a bold hint that Andrei Razin’s team would return home comfortably and complete the series by reaching the finals. And how wrong we were all…
Avtomobilist promptly scored one goal, which was psychologically extremely important for the Yekaterinburg team. She in fact returned Zavarukhin’s team to what seemed to be a lost match. “Metallurg” seemed to believe in their success too early and positioned themselves rather imposingly in front of their goal, giving too much free space to Stefan Da Costa. A master of his level punishes such mistakes instantly. Today – including.
After the goal, “Auto” noticeably increased the pressure and settled in the opponent’s zone, time after time creating a danger at Ilya Nabokov’s goal. It was the Metallurg goalkeeper who kept his team in the game, but for the time being. At the end of the first period he was outwitted by Semyon Kizimov.
Subsequently, both teams began to play more carefully. The closer to the end of regular time, the more closed and cautious it is. This approach became especially relevant after Anatoly Golyshev’s goal. One of the main heroes of Avtomobilist restored the status quo in this playoff draw, after which the opponents tried to do everything to prevent a mistake that could become fatal.
But it still happened. Igor Geraskin's sloppy cross pass on the opponent's blue line led to a two-on-one counterattack by Avtomobilist seconds before the end of regulation time. Brooks Macek and Stepan Khripunov ruthlessly turned it into a winning goal for Avtomobilist.
“”Nothing happened. This happens. The guy didn't see it, started making a pass, passed it to someone else. What now? We took risks, we wanted to win. I put the guys at the end who had the puck in the opponent's zone for the entire third period and attacked. But they ran into counterattack. I won’t shoot anyone. I once joked about Nabokov, you got hooked on it. That’s it, the topic is closed. Can Geraskin lose his place in the main team for such a mistake? Have you made mistakes in your life? You’re still alive. Such is life. You blurted out something wrong, but you weren’t kicked out of work. Hockey is a game where someone makes mistakes. Someone clearly makes mistakes. That’s how the stars aligned. But Geraskin, if you remember the regular season, was one of the decisive actions led us to first place in the East. Thanks to this, we are fighting in the semi-finals. Therefore, Geraskin is fine, let him take risks,” Andrei Razin stood up for the player at a press conference, discussing this situation with a journalist.
To be corrected Metallurg had only seven seconds of errors. Razin's team spent this time with an empty goal and six field players. Did not help. Golyshev with an accurate throw secured the most important victory for Avtomobilist.
5:3 in the match and 2-2 in the entire series, which returns to Magnitogorsk. The winner of the Ural confrontation is becoming less and less obvious.
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