SKA St. Petersburg moved to one win of the KHL Western Conference final with a 5-1 demolition of Atlant that extended its lead in the seven-game series to 3-1.
The visitors opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period Monday through Dmitry Dalinin and Alexander Kucheryanko before scoring another three in the final two periods via Viktor Tihkonov and Patrick Thorensen.
They survived the ejection of Fyodor Fedorov for gross misconduct to move to the brink of the final, though not before Patrik Zackrisson registered on the Atlant score sheet in the dying minutes.
“Tonight SKA was another team than in third game of the series," head coach Milos Riha said, referring to a 2-1 overtime defeat to Atlant in the previous game. "We played with more passion, with good skating. I think today was only one team on the ice.”
SKA can seal it on Wednesday and will look to avoid last year's scenario when Atlant put together three straight wins to snatch the final berth.
“We remembered what we did last year in Atlant. Now we are focused this year and will try to do everything to win next game. We haven't won anything yet, that’s why we need to keep working,” SKA goalie coach Jussi Parkkila said.
In the other semifinal, Dynamo Moscow tied its series against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod at 2-2 after stealing a 3-2 win in the capital.
Dominik Granak put Dynamo ahead on a power play before Torpedo took the lead through Alexei Ugarov and Dmitry Makarov. Early in the third period Jakub Klepis tied it before Konstantin Gorovikov scored the winner.
