The KHL regular season will end on Sunday, February 26. On West seven Gagarin Cup participants have been determined – SKA, CSKA, Torpedo, Lokomotiv, Dynamo Moscow, Vityaz and Severstal. Dynamo Minsk and Spartak are battling it out for the last ticket, while the Minskers need to score just one point in the final game to secure a playoff spot. SKA secured first place in the championship. CSKA, Lokomotiv and Torpedo continue to fight for the conference places from 2nd to 4th.
On East Ak Bars booked the top spot. Five other clubs – Avangard, Sibir, Avtomobilist, Salavat Yulaev and Metallurg – are fighting for places from 2nd to 6th. In addition to them, participation in the playoffs was also ensured by Admiral, which occupies the 7th place in the conference. Neftekhimik and Traktor fight for the 8th line.
The chances of advancing to the playoffs have already been lost in the West by HC Sochi and Kunlun. To the East – Barys and Amour.
The starting matches for the Gagarin Cup first-round series playoffs will take place on March 1 and 2.
“” spoke with a famous coach Vladimir Krikunov on the main characters and the losers of the final championship.
“I had no doubt that Ak Bars would trample Bilyaletdinov”
– In the West, as well as in the East, clear leaders were defined. Who looks better – SKA, who immediately took the lead from the start, or Ak Bars, who rose “from the ashes” in the second half of the championship?
– Yes, Ak Bars does not rise from its ashes. I told you, when they were not well – put Petrov in Shipachev and Kagarlitsky, and Vadik will fix everything himself in the link, there will be a normal troika. And Radulov doesn’t care where to play, he will always score his points.
Bilyaletdinov quickly realized what needed to be done – he gave Alexander a captain and lined him up with two young players. Here are the two trios and played. After all, nothing more is needed – neither arguing, nor swearing, nor fighting. Ak Bars has everything to win – line-up, conditions. Bilyaletdinov – calm, patient. It was clear that he would fix everything. This is where they screwed up.
– So who’s cooler now – SKA or Ak Bars?
– If we compare the compositions, then SKA has it even a little stronger. There Yashkin is in order with Zhafyarov, he has already scored so many goals. Khairullin added a lot after Neftekhimik. Everything would have been settled with Gusev. And then Nikita plays or disappears from the composition, there seems to be some kind of conflict. So Gusev is not superfluous, as a goalscorer he immediately showed himself. Admittedly, SKA goalkeepers aren’t that great, but they aren’t stronger at Ak Bars either. So the Petersburgs are a bit more powerful, in my opinion, and the Kazanians are more experienced. If they meet in the playoffs, it will be an interesting duel.
– CSKA in the last two matches impressed everyone with their performance – 15 goals! How to explain such an explosion?
– It’s something incredible. The army team seemed to have waited the whole season and at the end they showed everything they were capable of. I wonder what they will show against Dynamo in the next game.
“Spartak clearly rushed with Mironov’s resignation”
– The strongest quartet in the West has been determined for a long time. Are any of the second-four teams able to surprise in the Gagarin Cup?
– Barely. Severstal, Vityaz are also there, and, most likely, Minskers, and not Spartak. It will be difficult for them to beat the favourites. Only Dynamo Moscow can resist.
– Hard to imagine that SKA, CSKA or Lokomotiv will stumble in the first round. What do you think of Torpedo?
– Nizhny Novgorod has really performed less well lately. Out with CSKA collapsed 3:8. But Larionov’s team is playing. He does not go back and forth, namely that he plays, there is a good pass, opening for a partner. It’s always a pleasure to watch Torpedo games.
– Everyone loves Torpedo this season. But that’s the danger: will a good match in the playoffs help Nizhny Novgorod, where aggressiveness and rationalism still prevail?
– It is difficult to make predictions on Torpedo. I think SKA, CSKA and Lokomotiv will pass the first round without problems. But if the “Torpedo” hits the Moscow “Dynamo”, then “50 to 50”.
– Spartak have spent the season clearly below their abilities. Why, in your opinion?
– The club rushed with the resignation of Boris Mironov. Apparently they were in a hurry to remove it. I’m sure they would make the playoffs with him. And when three head coaches in a season is too much.
– Moreover, not only the coach has changed, but also the tactics.
– Certainly. As a result, we are now back to where we started the season. You had to endure failures with Mironov, and everything would be fine. And then, if you really change, then for something worthwhile, some kind of experienced specialist. And Grishin is not a figure of the head coach of Spartak, he has generally worked too little in adult hockey, let alone the KHL. It was the wrong decision from the start. Here Ak Bars, in a difficult situation, did not rush anywhere, they asked Khaidyarych for help, and he fixed everything. Experience is such a thing, either you have it or you don’t.
– Which of the Eastern leaders, excluding Ak Bars, looks the most battle-ready before the start of the playoffs?
Everyone is strong there. Maybe Sibir doesn’t look like one of the playoff favorites. A lot will depend only on the last matches, when the places in the table will finally be determined. From who will meet who in the first round. Second place in the East guarantees access to the Admiral, and it’s worth fighting for. Because the rest of the leaders will immediately have to start fighting each other in the playoffs.
“Maybe Magnitogorsk specifically leaked the match to Neftekhimik so that Traktor wouldn’t be allowed to play in the playoffs?”
— Why did Magnitogorsk lose ground at the end of the regular season?
– I do not understand the Urals all season. The impression is that the team is not giving their best, as if saving forces. But when on Wednesday they led Neftekhimik 3: 1 and missed the victory, and even in a situation where in the East the whole ranking is suspended by two points … In the same place, any defeat immediately lowers you by three or four positions. “Avangard” was at the bottom until recently, won three games in thin and immediately second in the East. And Magnitogorsk plays like he doesn’t need anything at all, it’s unclear what he does. There seems to be something wrong with the team. Vaughn Ryabykin was arrested and fired a month later. For what? Why?
But the main thing is that the players do not tense up. They play as they go. It turned out – well, it didn’t work out – well, okay. As if it were not a championship, but friendly matches. They do not go to the door, having the majority, they cannot enter the zone, in overtime they concede a goal in eight seconds. Maybe they merged Neftekhimik on purpose to keep Traktor out of the playoffs? Two teams from the Chelyabinsk region, they probably face each other. Even with the score 3:1 in favor of Magnitogorsk, I said that with such a game Neftekhimik would smash them. And it happened.
– How to explain the failure of the season at Traktor, which risks losing its last chance to participate in the playoffs tomorrow?
– There, last season, the whole game was based on foreigners. And when they left, there was no worthy replacement for the leaders, the team fell apart.
– Who surprised you in the regular season?
– “Admiral”, which reached the playoffs in advance. It was really hard with his composition. It’s clear that they didn’t play very well, but Tambiev gave the result. And the team was led to believe that they were capable of accomplishing this task. “Admiral” beat many strong clubs during the season. Well, “Cupid” was walking around all the time. A little, it was not enough for the playoffs.
– So “Amur”, unlike “Admiral”, tried to play on the attack. Is it more difficult?
– Certainly. But the Khabarovsk team still played well, they fought until the end.
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Watch live broadcasts of KHL matches on the federal channel , thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
