SKA St. Petersburg crushed Atlant Moscow Region 4-0 on home ice to take the lead in their KHL Western Conference semifinal series.
In the other game late Tuesday, Dynamo Moscow recorded a 1-0 away win at Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod to upset the regular season form book in their series opener.
Atlant knocked out SKA in last year’s playoffs, but SKA’s status as regular season Western Conference leader told Tuesday as it dominated 28-15 on shots and scored all four goals on even strength.
SKA took the lead after 17 minutes against last year’s beaten Gagarin Cup finalists when 20-year-old forward Vladimir Tarasenko latched onto Igor Makarov’s long pass to slot past Atlant goaltender Konstantin Barulin.
The host team extended its lead in the second period with goals from ex-Vancouver Canucks wing Fedor Fedorov and Phoenix Coyotes prospect Viktor Tikhonov.
With ten minutes of the game remaining, Tony Martensson set up his Sweden international teammate Mattias Weinhandl for SKA’s fourth.
In Nizhny Novgorod, Sergei Soin was the hero for Dynamo, the last Moscow team left in contention for the Gagarin Cup, with a solo strike four minutes into the second period.
Dynamo goaltender Alexander Yeryomenko saved 21 Torpedo shots to preserve his team’s lead.
SKA and Torpedo will play their second home games of the series Thursday.
Wednesday sees the semifinal series openers in the Eastern Conference, as regular season champion Traktor Chelyabinsk hosts Ak Bars Kazan and Avangard Omsk takes on Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
