Avangard Omsk has become the second team to reach the KHL conference semifinals after completing a 4-0 series shutout against Amur Khabarovsk on Monday.
Avangard won 3-1 away to take the series and progress to an Eastern Conference semifinal against either regular-season champion Traktor Omsk or Yugra Khanty-Mansiisk.
Dynamo Moscow is the only other team to complete a series shutout, beating Dynamo Minsk on Sunday.
Fears of another 4,500-kilometer journey to play away games against Amur, the KHL’s most easterly team, spurred the Omsk team on to victory, Avangard defenseman Martin Skoula told RIA Novosti.
“Everybody knows how far Khabarovsk is. We didn’t want to come back here. We just had to play the same way as we did over the series,” the 2001 Stanley Cup winner with the Colorado Avalanche said.
Avangard took a two-goal lead in the first period, with goals from Alexander Perezhogin and 2011 KHL top scorer Roman Cervenka.
Amur pulled one back when Martin Ruzicka scored early in the second period, but Yegor Averin completed Avangard’s dominant win 16 minutes later.
Skoula provided the assist for Cervenka’s goal, and said he was satisfied with his performance, but thought he could improve.
“It was above average. It can always be better,” he said.
Avangard feel they can challenge for the Gagarin Cup after their shutout win, he added.
“We’re pretty confident. We know we have a good team. Anything can happen in the playoffs, so we have to play well and have some luck.”
“Now we have to rest and get some good practice. We have to focus on our game, it doesn’t matter who we play.”
Skoula, 32, played 11 seasons in the NHL, lifting the Stanley Cup in his second of five seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.
He left the New Jersey Devils in 2010 and joined Avangard, where he has played 120 KHL games, scoring five goals and racking up 35 assists.
