Athletistic/Hockey. In one of the quarterfinal series, SKA and Avtomobilist met. SKA took second place in the KHL Western Conference standings following the results of the regular season. In the first round, the St. Petersburg club met Torpedo and won in the series with a score of 4:1. The team lost the first game, but then went on to win four straight. The Avtomobilist finished in fifth place in the East of the League. In the 1/8 finals, the team faced last season’s finalist Ak Bars, winning the series with a score of 4: 1.
The SKA and Avtomobilist series started in St. Petersburg. Both matches at the SKA Arena ended in victories for the Yekaterinburg team. Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team won the first match with a score of 3:2 and the second with a score of 3:1. The third match took place in Yekaterinburg. The main time of the match ended in a draw 1:1, but in overtime the Avtomobilist won – 2:1. Thus, the Yekaterinburg club led the series with a score of 3:0 and was one step away from victory.
The fourth match of the series was played in Yekaterinburg in difficult conditions. The match was scheduled for Saturday March 23. The fact is that the day before a terrorist attack took place in the Moscow region. The terrorists entered Crocus City Hall and opened fire on people, then set the hall on fire. As a result, many sporting events have been canceled. However, the match between Avtomobilist and SKA took place. The St. Petersburg club won with a score of 5:2 and narrowed the gap in the series.
On Monday, March 25, the fifth game of the series took place. It took place in St. Petersburg. After the first period, Avtomobilist won with a score of 2:1. In the next 20 seconds, the St. Petersburg Army team scored three goals and led with a score of 4:2. However, towards the end of the period, the Yekaterinburg club lost a goal. In the third period of the match, Avtomobilist scored two more goals and won with a score of 5:4.
Thus, Avtomobilist won the series with a score of 4-1 and reached the 1/2 finals of the Gagarin Cup for the first time in history. The season is over for SKA. This year, the team didn’t even make it past the quarterfinals. This happened for the first time since 2014. Fans of the St. Petersburg club reacted to this situation. They left comments in the official club community on VKontakte.
Maxim Popov:
– Considering that the team played without a coach all season, the second round is a success. It’s a shame there are no changes.
Kirill Romashov:
– Skeptics and whiners are not ashamed today, but that’s okay – we will have more time to prepare for the Puchkov tournament!
Yuri Tomchak:
– We played and now let’s go to the sea to relax.
Sergei Katikov:
– Return Bykov, send Silver to Sochi!!!
Denis Marychev:
– “Avtomobilist” with a well-deserved victory in the match and the series! Well done, they played selflessly and wanted to win more. Well, SKA, unfortunately, is disappointed. No discipline, poorly managed team. This applies to this series. We are waiting for another season and new hopes for the better.
Vladimir Karpov:
– Rotenberg SHAME!!! Leave!!! There has never been a more mediocre coach in SKA…
Alexander Kuklachenko:
– Everything is natural, unfortunately! Just as usual! End of season. We are exhausted. All.
Olga Verjikovskaya:
“It’s a shame the season ended so soon.” The worst result in recent years.
Yaroslav Piatykh, Athletistic
Source: Sport
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.
