The second encounter took place in a slimy fight. The judges scored a total of just six minutes of the penalty. As in the first match, the majority and minority brigades gave the hosts victory. The “Bolsheviks” of the “Sailors” responded with a furious, but ineffective assault on the gates of Bilyalov.
Before the second match, the coaches Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and Leonid Tambiev introduced fresh forces. The hosts had experienced defender Vasily Tokranov on the ice, replacing youngster Daniil Zhuravlev. The guests left striker Anton Berlev’s injured list, who was so needed in the first game. The nameless debutant moved to the first roles during the season, which was reflected in the series with Ufa. On Berlev’s account, the decisive goal sent the Yulaevites on vacation.
It was they who became the main figures in the first period. Tokranov scored a goal, committing two errors in the gate of him in one episode. At first he made an imprecise pass, then lost his bearings as the puck, after Berlev’s shot and rebounds, bounced and bounced across the tape. The defender tried to shake it (the puck, not the tape), but his stick hit the post and went blank. So the guests opened the account.
The Mariners drew the correct conclusions from Thursday’s loss and forgot their way to the penalty box. And the judges Viktor Gashilov and Evgeny Romasko raised the bar for rigidity and did not issue weak eliminations, as in the first match. The first to come out was the captain of the guests, Libor Szulak, only in the 26th minute. When the hosts burned 0:1. Or it could have been 0:2, if the “Admiral” striker Nikolai Chebykin had sent the puck a few centimeters to the right: “Ak Bars” was rescued by the post.
At the end of the first half, the “leopards” bristled, loosened their claws and for four minutes did not let the “sailors” out of the defense zone. Ilya Serebryakov once again proved that the league named him the best goalkeeper of the first round of the playoffs not because of his beautiful shape and last name. But even he only looked at the puck that he bounced off the center stick of hosts forward link Ilya Safonov. It’s easy for Maxim Afinogenov to hit from a meter: in the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic quarterfinals (1: 0), he scored Hasek from a distance ten times as long. And Safonov managed to miss.
However, midway through the second period, he was reinstated. He won the fight by a snout against fellow general Daniil Gutik and was rewarded with a pass from behind the gates by Dmitry Voronkov. Serebryakov did not know how to react to a throw from two meters.
And 5 seconds before the siren of the second break, Vadim Shipachev had to hold his head. The tireless captain Alexander Radulov put Russian Crosby into an empty corner, shot, but Serebryakov, on a football goalkeeper’s shot, managed to catch the puck on the edge of the pancake and it flew past the target.
In the third half, Bilyaletdinov’s team continued to melt the ice in the visiting zone. However, it was not possible to score on numerical equality. The “sailors” lay down with bones. For 8 kopecks before the siren, Chebykin hooked the glove of defender Nikita Lyamkin with a stick in the middle zone. Elimination! Also in the key he showed a “fish” with a gesture.
The “Mensheviks” competently and selflessly carried out the defense. But even so, they capitulated when the puck bounced towards Shipachev, who was standing on the starboard side, pinned it into the net. Serebryakov also reacted here, but only hooked the puck with a trap.
The Russian Crosby – that’s what Shipachyov is called – in the series with “Neftekhimik” and in the first match with “Admiral” did not ignite, he was criticized as the Canadian Baby Sid at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. But in the final of extra time with the Americans, the Maples captain scored the golden goal and immediately jumped from rags to riches. Today we will announce Shipachev as the main character.
The “sailors” did not give up, did not fall apart, did not fall apart. Almost three minutes before the end of regulation time, they got the only majority for themselves – poor Tokranov fouled.
The assault on Bilyalov’s possessions was impressive. The quartet of defenders pressed against the gate, while the “sailors” mainly tried to bring Shulak to the launch, who tirelessly shot at the target. But many of the shots from him were caught by the “leopards”.
The “Bolsheviks” would diversify the draw, they would try to attack on the right flank, but…
Ak Bars flies to Vladivostok with the firm intention of completing the series there in Primorye. The Mariners will try to return to Kazan. All tickets to the Fetisov Arena have long been sold out.
STATISTICS
Ak Bars (Kazan) – Admiral (Vladivostok) – 2:1 (0:1, 1:0, 1:0). Goals: Safonov, Shipachev – Berlev
Series score: 2-0 (3:2, 2:1, March 20, 22, 24*, 26*, 28*)
* If required.
