“It was a good game,” Ak Bars’ head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov said following his team’s victory. “Everyone understands what we are playing for, as a team we were preparing for this game. The guys worked hard and played well, but so did CSKA. They were patient and worked well, thus not everything was easy for us. We didn’t surrender after being down 1-3 in the series as we understood our mistakes and fixed them.”
“Ak Bars played well with the puck, they always had a player in front of our shots, that’s a fact,” CSKA’s bench boss Sergei Fedorov declared. “We couldn’t create as many chances to give ourselves a chance to win. Everyone in our team is upset, but hockey is a fast game, we will worry and get together, make the necessary arrangements and get ready for the next game. As for last year’s mirror situation, when we came back from being down 1-3, Metallurg is a different team. We had a different experience. Yes, we lost the game, but we’ll regroup, we’ll try to prepare in the best way possible in order to show in the seventh game that kind of hockey that will bring results and excitation to the fans.”
17:00: Ak Bars vs CSKA
Series stand
The series is tied 3-3 (4:1, 0:3, 2:3, 1:2, 2:1, 3:0)
About the game
Ak Bars didn’t leave CSKA a chance with a tight defense and three goals scored as the Muscovites failed to beat Timur Bilyalov on 27 attempts, while Reideborn only had 10 saves. Artyom Galimov’s first tally of the playoffs was well-timed, as it ultimately was the game-winner for Ak Bars, who also had goals from Vadim Shipachyov (getting full advantage of Dmitry Kagarlitsky’s 300th KHL assist) and Nikita Dynyak – the latter on CSKA’s empty net. Tonight’s game can go either side, but CSKA has more game-seven experience and this may play a role in such a showdown.
Milestone alert
Ak Bars’ defenseman Vyacheslav Voynov may reach 200 KHL points (currently at 199).
Ak Bars’ forwards Vadim Shipachyov can get to 600 career assists (currently at 599).
Ak Bars’ forward Kirill Petrov lines up for his 800th career game.
CSKA’s forward Anton Slepyshev may reach 250 points in the KHL (currently at 248)
