Goaltender Vitaly Koval saved 34 shots as Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod overcame stiff resistance from Dynamo Riga to scrape a 2-0 win in the teams’ playoff decider.
Torpedo will now face Dynamo Moscow, who qualified March 4 with a 4-0 series win over Dynamo Minsk, when the semifinals start Tuesday.
Ruslan Zainullin gave Torpedo the lead after five minutes, firing in a rebound from a tight angle after goaltender Chris Holt parried Vladimir Malenkikh’s long shot.
The Latvian team pressured Koval, with 14 shots in the second period, but could not find a way through, and Torpedo sealed the win with 30 seconds on the clock with Mikhail Varnakov’s empty-net goal.
In Tuesday’s other Western Conference semifinal, regular season conference champion SKA St. Petersburg will take on last year’s beaten Gagarin Cup finalists Atlant Moscow Region.
Sunday sees a decider for the last place in the Eastern Conference semifinals as Metallurg Magnitogorsk hosts Barys Astana.
