The Metallurg and Lokomotiv series are already available considered historical. In addition to the fact that Magnitogorsk and Yaroslavl met for the first time in history in the final of the Gagarin Cup, a number of other points can be noted:
- “Magnitogorsk” for the first time began the final confrontation of the KHL season with a victory. In their previous four finals, the Steelworkers lost the opening matches of the series;
- Metallurg's winning goal came during a power play. With the implementation of the “extra” for Andrei Razin’s team in this playoffs, everything is very sad, but at the crucial moment the special team gave results;
- For the Yaroslavl team, low performance (no more than one goal per game) and losing a lead is a rarity in the current playoffs. But in one match, Igor Nikitin’s team “hit the jackpot.”
Another trouble for Loko was the loss of Maxim Shalunov. The star forward of Yaroslavl missed the entire third period of the first match due to injury, and also found himself out of the lineup for the second game. Ivan Chekhovich also dropped out of the lineup – Yaroslav Likhachev and Daniil Tesanov came out instead. “Metallurg” did not have any changes – Yegor Yakovlev did not have time to recover for the second meeting in Magnitogorsk.
The second game in Magnitogorsk also took place without any special changes in structure compared to the first match. Although “Lokomotiv” shot at the opponent’s goal more often, it was “Metallurg” who had the time advantage in attack for most of the match. The game, also for 2/3 of the meeting, was, if not boring, then extremely tense and uneventful. Of these, we can highlight Georgy Ivanov's one-on-one with the Magnitogorsk goalkeeper after a cool through ball from Rushan Rafikov, Ilya Nabokov's save after Maxim Berezkin's shot, Alexander Petunin's tricky flick, Denis Zernov's cool pass with subsequent save from Daniil Isaev and, of course , disallowed goal by Alexei Maklyukov. An accurate shot from a distance by the Metallurg defender was canceled due to offside, which Nikita Mikhailis had been caught a little earlier.
As in the previous match, the first two periods of the second game ended with a score of 0:0, and the third 20 minutes began with an early goal. This time Metallurg opened the scoring. Denis Zernov beat Andrei Sergeev at speed and brought the counterattack to its logical conclusion, scoring already in the 21st second of the period and scoring his sixth goal in the last five playoff games.
The fundamental difference was the lack of a prompt response. If Magnitogorsk reacted immediately to the missed goal in the first match, then Lokomotiv played for their goal only at the very end. And that one was not counted!
The Yaroslavl team claimed to play with a numerical majority in the “6 on 4” format after Makarov Khabarov was sent off for playing with a high stick against Alexander Polunin – the same one who brought the fatal penalty for Loko in the first meeting. However, the judge canceled this penalty after watching a video replay. In the “6 on 5” format, Igor Nikitin's charges were still able to find a way to the goal when Ivanov was able to drive the puck into the net from close range a second before the end of regulation time! It seemed that a crazier outcome could not be imagined. But hardly.
By the time the goal was scored, the timer on the media cube of the arena in Magnitogorsk was already showing zeros. The referees, as expected, checked to see whether the puck had time to completely cross the goal line before the end of time. On the same replay, the referees saw that Lokomotiv defender Martin Gernat made a hand pass in someone else's zone, which is a violation of the rules. It was this episode that served as an argument for the judges to cancel the goal, although it is worth emphasizing that the referee forgave Metallurg forward Danila Yurov for a possible foul on Gernat.
Subsequently, Lokomotiv had no time left for a comeback. 1:0 — “Metallurg” hasn’t lost to the “railroad” team on its home court since October 2013 and increases its advantage in the series (2-0). Never before in the history of the KHL has the Gagarin Cup gone to a team that lost the first two meetings of the confrontation. The series moves to Yaroslavl, where a lot will be decided. If not all.
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