Massive brawl at the start of the KHL playoffs! Lada players attacked Avangard’s main stars
Pavel Panyshev March 1, 2024, 21:10 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Mikhail Kravets already admitted that he made a mistake by releasing the leaders on the ice at the wrong time.
The match of the first round of the 2024 Gagarin Cup ended in Omsk, in which the local Avangard hosted Tolyatti Lada. The match ended with a 5-1 victory for the locals. At first, the Togliatti team tried to resist, put active pressure, put pressure on the Omsk team, but the superior class of Mikhail Kravets’ team finally had its effect.
But the most interesting thing about the meeting happened at the end. Towards the end of the third period a big fight broke out between the Omsk team’s first line: Vladimir Tkachev, Ryan Spooner and Reed Boucher. It should be noted that the fight began after a hard blow to Tkachev’s legs by visiting defender Maxim Berezin.
As a result of the fight, Berezin received a six-minute penalty for rudeness and tripping, and Avangard defender Artyom Chmykhov, forwards Reed Boucher and Vladimir Tkachev, as well as Lada forward Donat Stalnov received two minutes for rudeness.
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After a big fight involving the first line of the Omsk team, Avangard striker Mark Verba took the next turn. A few seconds after the game resumed, Verba started a fierce fight with Lada defender Vladislav Semin.
This is the one who should have initially been released at the end of a match already won, and not Boucher, Tkachev and company. In a press conference, the Hawks coach admitted his mistake.
“First of all, I need to do the right thing here. They wanted the leading guys to finish as usual, but, apparently, we had to take care of them, then this fight wouldn’t have happened. It just so happened that they ran against Tkachev, against Bush. These guys have character, they will never give up or run away from any difficulty. Here I just wish they would react quicker to things like that, when they get hit in the ankle, and then get hit again. Here the reaction of those who are on site and monitoring this should be faster. The guys have no injuries, everything is fine,” Kravets said.
In Togliatti they promise that the inhabitants of Omsk will not have an easy road:
“They won’t have easy games.” Lada player talks about massive fight with Avangard leaders
“There was nothing on my part, on the contrary, I tried to calm the boys down. It happened spontaneously, the boys’ pride skyrocketed, I didn’t even understand how it all started. Then, when we went out to fight and saw a man who fights professionally, of course, we were already waiting, we were already preparing. They had to resist in some way, they chose someone stronger to defend the entire team. Yes, Semin was launched precisely under the direction of Mark Verba. We don’t have a plan like Verba, players who specialize in fighting,” said Lada coach Oleg Bratash.
We’ll see how this series plays out in the future, but it’s already clear that there’s more than enough chutzpah in the showdown. What does this mean? That the playoffs have really begun. Now we have seen this not in words, but in deeds.
