Super comeback! Avangard recovered from 0-2 in the match of the year and tied the series with Lokomotiv
Vladimir Laevsky March 28, 2024, 21:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Lokomotiv failed the match. Now the fate of the series will be decided in the seventh game.
Avangard took a risk by firing Mikhail Kravets during the series with Lokomotiv and was able to return the series to Yaroslavl. Before the teams’ sixth game, the score was 3-2 in favor of the railroaders. And Omsk could go on vacation today.
And the beginning became a real nightmare for Avangard. Lokomotiv pressed and did not look much better than the guests. And the way the Yaroslavl team opened the scoring is a complete mockery!
Eight seconds before the end of the first half, Lokomotiv got a throw-in in the rival zone. A few passes and defender Martin Gernat finds himself alone in a killer position. A powerful shot leaves the goalkeeper no chance: 1:0! 0.2 seconds before the end of the period!
You can watch the video on the official KHL website. Video rights belong to KHL LLC.
The start of the second half was not the best for Avangard either. Lokomotiv trapped the Omsk team in their zone, Maxim Berezkin jumped into the area and shot at the far post. From there, Maxim Shalunov put the puck in the net. It seems that guest goalkeeper Pavel Khomchenko didn’t even notice that he had missed! “How did the puck go through the goal?” -read his reaction.
0:2 in the 23rd minute of the decisive match of the year. Nothing worse can be imagined for Avangard.
But the inhabitants of Omsk did not give up. In the 28th minute, the Omsk goalkeeper made a great save, managing to save his team from the third goal. Then the guests carried out their attack. Lokomotiv goalie Daniil Isaev caught the puck behind the goal and knocked it down; The first to do so was Tomas Yurcho. The Slovak with an accurate pass found Nikolai Prokhorkin, who had broken into the zone, showed with all his appearance that he was going to throw and made a cross pass! Igor Martynov “opened” Isaev. 1:2!
You can watch the video on the official KHL website. Video rights belong to KHL LLC.
This goal seemed to inspire Avangard. Omsk put serious pressure on the hosts, locked them in their zone and started rolling the puck. Ryan Spooner passed to Vladimir Tkachev, who chased several opponents, and passed to the left flank to Semyon Chistyakov. Five Lokomotiv players were close, but none (!) covered the defender. Semyon calmly took the disk, processed it, approached Isaev and threw it. 2:2! The Yaroslavl hockey players did not even immediately realize that they were lost, they continued to work on the episode.
But it was a goal. A goal after a terrible mistake by the Lokomotiv defense. Chistyakov had so much free time that, without exaggeration, he would have had time to order a cup of coffee. The railroaders paid for his terrible defensive performance in this episode. Igor Nikitin’s reaction spoke for itself.
And Avangard came back from 0:2 in 96 seconds!
But Lokomotiv did not stop doing strange things there. At the end of the period, the Yarslavites suffered eliminations and were left with three against five. Omsk started the play and there were only seconds left in the 20-minute period. Vladimir Tkachev moved from blue to the left flank to Spooner, Ryan held the puck and fired across the box. Prokhorkin on the right responded to the pass and put the ball into the goal! 3:2 three seconds before the end of the second half!
You can watch the video on the official KHL website. Video rights belong to KHL LLC.
In the third period, the Yaroslavl team should have pressed, but the home team felt they were much closer to conceding the puck. At least at the beginning of the playing period.
In the last minutes, Lokomotiv rushed and overtook the opponent. However, he was unable to benefit from this. And Isaev continued to keep the railroad workers in the game with his super stops.
As a result, Avangard maintained the lead and came back from 1-3 in the series. The teams took the series to seven games, for the first time in the current playoffs. Can Avangard lead its comeback to a decisive victory? Or will Lokomotiv bounce back and reach the playoff semi-finals for the first time in many years? Everything will be decided on March 30 in Omsk.
