Loko to face Salavat in Gagarin Cup semi

Wednesday brought two game sevens and both were as close as the series that brought us here. In Ufa, Salavat Yulaev saw Spartak claw back an 0-2 deficit before winning 3-2 on a late Alexei Vasilevsky goal. And it was a similar story in Yaroslavl, where Lokomotiv got up 2-0 before Avangard forced overtime. Here, Alexander Polunin decided the series in the 87th minute.

Vasilevsky pots Ufa’s winner again

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3 Spartak Moscow 2 (1-0, 1-1, 1-1)

(Salavat Yulaev wins the series 4-3)

Down 1-3 in this series, Salavat Yulaev completed its recovery to advance to the 2025 Gagarin Cup semi-final with a tight victory over Spartak in game seven. For the 2011 champion, it’s the first return to the last four since 2019. For Spartak, the wait to get beyond the second round of a KHL playoff continues.

The revival of Viktor Kozlov’s team certainly captured the imagination in Ufa. Today’s game was the hottest ticket in town and the arena could have been sold out many times over. Those lucky enough to get seats saw their team continue without Josh Leivo and he was joined on the sick list by defenseman Sergei Varlov. That brought Alexander Komarov back into the team after a long absence. Kozlov also switched up three of his four attacking lines.

Spartak made changes as well after dropping two games in a row. Alexei Zhamnov freshened up his attacking combinations in search of the goals that could prolong his season.

The early exchanges saw Salavat Yulaev playing on the front foot. Driven by desire, character and raucous support in the arena, the home team went out to take the game to Spartak. It didn’t always work flawlessly, but an energetic start to the action limited the visitor to a counterattacking game.

Ufa’s ambition was rewarded late in the opening frame. Nikita Yefremov sat for tripping and the first power play of the night saw Sheldon Rempal open the scoring after Alexander Chmelevski’s effort came back off the glass and dropped kindly for him.

In the second period, the tension increased. There were evident nerves on both sides and both sets of players found themselves gripping their sticks a little too tight. Despite an absence of fluent hockey, Salavat Yulaev managed to increase its lead in the 35th minute: Vladislav Yefremov produced a tennis-style shot to bat the puck past Artyom Zagidulin. However, just before the hooter Spartak pulled a goal back. Pavel Poryadin and Nikolai Goldobin’s connection delivered a great set-up for Ivan Morozov and he converted the chance to make it 2-1 with 20 minutes to play.

In the final stanza, the pressure kept building. And when Salavat Yulaev picked up an unnecessary too many men penalty in the 48th minute, Spartak had the puck in the net. This time, though, Kozlov challenged the play and the video review upheld his claim for offside. Having survived one tying goal, Ufa was undone once the play went back to equal strength when Daniil Orlov’s long-range wrister got past Semyon Vyazovoi in the home net.

However, Spartak could not kick on after wiping out that 0-2 deficit. In the 56th minute home defenseman Alexei Vasilevsky got forward and restored his team’s lead with a well-placed shot beyond Zagidulin. It turned out to be the second time in as many games that the 32-year-old got the game-winner – not bad for a man who had just five playoff goals prior to this series!

Polunin wins it in double OT

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Avangard Omsk 2 2OT (1-0, 1-0, 0-2, 1-0)

(Lokomotiv wins the series 4-3)

Alexander Polunin’s goal in the second period of overtime was enough to send Lokomotiv through to the 2025 Gagarin Cup semi-final. Last year’s runner-up now faces a showdown against Salavat Yulaev in its bid to make it back-to-back finals.

Polunin struck on 86:31, snapped a 2-2 tie. Daniil But launched a raid on Nikita Serebryakov’s net, only to be repelled by the Avangard goalie. However, the young home forward retrieved the puck and eventually managed to play it back towards the puck – from where Polunin emerged to rifle home a lethal snipe from the top of the circle.

That finally ended Avangard’s resistance in a game that saw Serebryakov make 55 saves before he succumbed. Yet the visitor came close to a big fightback – both in this game and the series.

It was hardly a surprise that this clash went the full distance. Lokomotiv was comfortable on top of the regular season standings and lost just nine games in 2025 before this series began. Avangard, meanwhile, had just six regular season losses since the turn of the year, reflecting the consistency that Guy Boucher injected into a talented but unstable roster in Omsk.

And in this game, he added resilience as well. Lokomotiv got up 3-1 after dropping the first game only to see the Hawks fight back. Then, in today’s decider, the Railwaymen opened a 2-0 lead in the first two periods. The stats from this season show that, generally, when Igor Nikitin’s team take a lead into the third period there is no way back. Avangard proved otherwise.

It had seemed that the home team was set fair for victory. Alexander Radulov opened the scoring after 12 minutes – with Avangard unable to muster a shot at Daniil Isayev before allowing that goal. And midway through the second period Yegor Surin doubled the lead, giving a scoreline that better reflected Loko’s control of the play. A shout count of 33-7 indicated the extent of the home dominance, and that well-known ability to close out games had most in Arena 2000 making plans to meet Salavat Yulaev in the next round.

But 2-0 is often known as the slippiest lead in hockey – and that’s how it proved tonight. Avangard had nothing to lose and piled forward. Loko’s usual defensive composure was shattered. In the 49th minute, Vladimir Tkachyov darted around the net and sent the puck to the left-hand circle where Evgeny Kulik was on hand to blast a shot to the top corner. Kulik, 31, only made his first playoff appearance in game four of this series. This was the third game in a row where he found the net and, once again, he proved instrumental in reviving his team’s fading hopes of progress.

It was clear that Loko was rattled – so much so that Nikitin called a time-out 10 minutes into the third. However, words alone would not halt Avangard’s fightback: in the 58th minute, Boucher used his time-out and Nikita Serebryakov – a virtual spectator in the third – stayed on the bench. With six skaters, the Hawks found the breakthrough when Konstantin Okulov redirected Damir Sharipzyanov’s shot past Isayev to tie the game.

However, in overtime Lokomotiv managed to regain its earlier control. The home team had the better of the first stanza of the extras before Polunin popped up with the winner in the 87th minute.