CSKA joins Spartak in the Western Conference semi-finals after completing a sweep of Lokomotiv. Igor Nikitin’s team once again struggled to solve Ivan Fedotov and the Railwaymen’s head coach was unable to win a single game against his former club.
After Saturday’s extended encounter, Monday’s game was potentially the end of the line for Lokomotiv. Down 0-3 in the series, Igor Nikitin’s men had no further margin for error despite pushing CSKA close in all three games. The difference, fundamentally, came down to goaltending: while Loko’s was good, Ivan Fedotov was exceptional in the CSKA net throughout. Today, the home team continued with 22-year-old Daniil Isayev between the piping after he replaced Eddie Pasquale for Saturdays epic 126-minute encounter.
For Lokomotiv the stakes could hardly be higher, and that might explain why the home team took a penalty in the first minute of the game. In his eagerness not to be bested, Alexander Yelesin grabbed Takhir Mingachyov’s stick and earned himself two minutes in the box. CSKA was quick to take advantage, wheeling out its power play strike force and delivering the opening goal 13 seconds later. Nikita Nesterov found Mikhail Grigorenko in the right hand circle and he centred the puck for Vladislav Kamenev to beat Isayev.
Back at full strength, Lokomotiv almost found an immediate equalizer when Yegor Averin’s backhand shot dinged back off the piping. A few minutes later, Artyom Anisimov raced away on the counter attack but Ivan Fedotov, not for the first time in this series, proved to be an impenetrable wall in the CSKA net. The home team had to wait until midway through the first period before it could tie the scores. But when Pavel Kraskovsky forced a small defensive lapse in the CSKA zone, he was able to set up Yegor Korshkov for a powerful one-timer from between the hash marks that not even Fedotov could stop.
However, CSKA was the dominant force in this first period and quickly restored its lead. Konstantin Okulov’s improvisation in the Lokomotiv zone helped him pick out the overlapping Vladislav Provolnev and he roasted a wrist shot in off the underside of the crossbar to make it 2-1.
In the second period CSKA controlled much of the game without adding to the scoring. This was a fine display of game management, with Loko unable to generate much danger in front of Fedotov even when helped with a couple of power plays.
The outcome was settled early in the third when the Muscovites got their second power play goal of the evening. Sergei Plotnikov inadvertently blocked Nesterov’s point shot, but as he fell he instinctively knocked the puck out to the right-hand circle where Grigorenko was waiting to shoot into the unguarded corner of Isayev’s net. Nesterov then completed a hat-trick of helpers when his long shot was fumbled onto the slot by the goalie and Pavel Karnaukhov reacted first to put away number four.
Almost immediately, Lokomotiv had a power play and with it, perhaps, one last chance to stay in the game. However, CSKA killed the penalty and calmly ran down the clock to book its place in the next round.
