SKA and Torpedo scored everything that didn’t fly in the first game. Ak Bars leads 2-0, but there are a lot of questions for the judges

“Torpedo” and “Admiral” – all?

The second round, of course, is already inferior to the first in terms of entertainment and intrigue: Ak Bars and Admiral forced 3 goals out of themselves (although this was not such a defensive spectacle for rare gourmets as the day before in Moscow), and the score in two series became 2-0 – and it is possible that this flash mob will continue on Sunday.

But if we take hockey itself, then SKA and Torpedo arranged some kind of holiday, which almost ended with another goalkeeper’s goal.

It’s really nice to watch such a game, but so far there is no feeling that the attack will be the recipe for winning the Gagarin Cup-2023.

Kazan dominated almost the entire game and deservedly took a 2-0 lead

By Saturday, the coaches made one change in the squads: Anton Berlev returned to Admiral – the author of the winning goal in the series with Ufa, and Kazan replaced Daniil Zhuravlev with Vasily Tokranov, who played only in the first match with Neftekhimik. And in the end, both players became the heroes of the main episode in the first period: after Berlev’s shot and a series of ricochets, the puck fell behind Timur Bilyalov’s back, and Tokranov could not take it off the ribbon.

In the future, the Far East had exactly one scoring opportunity: almost immediately after the goal, Nikolai Chebykin hit the post. Ak Bars completely outplayed the opponent. Yes, it was difficult for the Kazan players to score – Nikita Serebryakov played very well, who made 34 saves.

But the “sailors” have very limited resources to fight Kazan. First of all, we are talking about the general level of skill and experience. The guests did not aggravate the game to such an extent that they often get the majority. The Far East had only one attempt at the end of the match (by the way, Tokranov retired),

Leonid Tambiev has gone through a lot in the VHL, put together a very decent team, which is nice to look at, which is trying to fight on equal terms with the conference leader, but this is not enough. We must again jump above our heads, and the Admiral already did it anyway.

He has not yet been able to beat Ak Bars, but now there will be two home matches for which you can try to fix something. In any case, the current Admiral is precisely the coaching team, and Tambiev has already proved to everyone that he can become a very decent coach in the KHL. There is no doubt that sooner or later he will get a chance in a team with a big budget and be able to make them a contender for the cup.

The “Admiral” again has questions for the judges

As in the first match, there were some controversial decisions here. Although in the playoffs the actions of referees are always considered under a microscope, after each game you can find 2-3 moments that could be interpreted in a different direction.

Several episodes have spread across social networks and telegram channels – and all of them are accompanied by angry comments in the spirit of “typical Kazan refereeing in the playoffs.” Let’s briefly analyze each of the points.

The first is the removal of Shulak on Radulov. Radulov gives the pass, by inertia knocks out the opponent’s stick, which flies right in the face – the judges give 2 minutes to the captain of the “Admiral” for playing with a high stick.