Avangard Omsk is on the verge of a place in the Gagarin Cup final after beating Traktor Chelyabinsk 3-1 on home ice Wednesday to take a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference final.
Regular season champion Traktor put the hosts under pressure late in the game when Anton Glinkin struck to make the score 2-1 with seconds remaining, only for Avangard’s Roman Cervenka to ease the home fans’ nerves with an empty-net strike.
Avangard defenseman and 2001 Stanley Cup winner Martin Skoula told RIA Novosti that the hosts’ early goal allowed them to take advantage of the Traktor players’ nerves.
“When you get scored on in a game like this, I think the other team gets a little nervous and they start forcing the plays. I think we just capitalized on their mistakes,” he said.
Yegor Averin put the hosts ahead after 13 minutes from Anssi Salmela’s assist after a cagey first period that yielded seven shots from each team.
Halfway through the second period, Alexey Kalyuzhiny extended Avangard’s lead with help from Dmitry Semin.
Traktor laid siege to the Avangard goal in the third period, going 13-3 on shots, but could not find a breakthrough until Glinkin scored with just 51 seconds left on the clock.
Traktor coach Valery Belousov pulled ex-Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Michael Garnett to focus on attack, allowing Cervenka to seal Avangard’s win with an empty-netter with just 15 seconds remaining.
The Eastern Conference final continues Friday in Chelyabinsk before the action returns to Omsk on Sunday, if Traktor can avoid defeat.
The series winner will meet Dynamo Moscow in the final after the team from the Russian capital routed SKA St. Petersburg in a 4-0 series shutout after a 6-1 thrashing Tuesday.
