Avtomobilist vs Metallurg. Which opponent will be lucky in Yekaterinburg?
The cup confrontation between Avtomobilist and Metallurg moves to Yekaterinburg. The continuation of the semi-final series awaits fans on April 7, when the teams take to the ice at the Uralets Arena. At the moment the series score is 1-1.
For Avtomobilist, the current entry into the playoffs became the ninth in the history of the club, and for the first time the team climbed so far in the cup bracket. Before this season, Avtomobilist’s best result in the playoffs was the 2018/19 quarterfinals, where the Urals lost to Ufa’s Salavat Yulaev in a five-game series. In the current playoffs, Avtomobilist went through the first two rounds according to a similar scenario, knocking out Kazan Ak Bars and St. Petersburg SKA from the cup competition in five matches.
In the semi-finals, Avtomobilist's opponents were neighbors from Magnitogorsk, and here for the first time Nikolai Zavarukhin's team started the series with a defeat. In the first game, held in Magnitogorsk, Avtomobilist’s attack got bogged down in the hosts’ defensive formations, managing to convert only one shot out of 32 Ilya Nabokov’s shots were on target. This turned out to be not enough, by that time Avtomobilist was already losing with a score of 0-2, so Romantsev’s puck did not affect the outcome of the match. In the second match, Avtomobilist threatened Metallurg's defense noticeably less, hitting only 21 shots on target for the hosts, but the efficiency was noticeably higher. Da Costa twice, Golyshev and Romantsev once each scored four goals, to which the Metallurg hockey players were able to respond only twice.
Metallurg
Metallurg has a richer cup history than its semi-final opponent. The Magnitogorsk team has never missed the playoffs, winning the Gagarin Cup twice and losing twice in the finals. Metallurg's last cup triumph dates back to the 2015/16 season, when the team led by Ilya Vorobyov won an honorary trophy, beating the capital's CSKA in the final. The main star of that Metallurg was Sergei Mozyakin, who currently works on the team’s coaching staff.
Metallurg's opponents in the opening rounds of the playoffs were Khabarovsk Amur and Moscow Spartak. Metallurg managed to finish both confrontations in six matches, and the quarterfinal series against Spartak was remembered for the excellent performance of young goalkeeper Ilya Nabokov, who played three matches to zero. Nabokov was close to a clean sheet in the first game against Avtomobilist, but missed the only goal 42 seconds before the final whistle. In the second game, Metallurg was constantly in the role of catching up. Silantiev reduced the gap to a minimum in the third period, making the score 2-3, but Metallurg failed to equalize. The defeat is 2-4 and the series moves to Yekaterinburg with an equal score of 1-1.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Avtomobilist vs Metallurg
AvtomobilistFor Avtomobilist, the current entry into the playoffs became the ninth in the history of the club, and for the first time the team climbed so far in the cup bracket. Before this season, Avtomobilist’s best result in the playoffs was the 2018/19 quarterfinals, where the Urals lost to Ufa’s Salavat Yulaev in a five-game series. In the current playoffs, Avtomobilist went through the first two rounds according to a similar scenario, knocking out Kazan Ak Bars and St. Petersburg SKA from the cup competition in five matches.
In the semi-finals, Avtomobilist's opponents were neighbors from Magnitogorsk, and here for the first time Nikolai Zavarukhin's team started the series with a defeat. In the first game, held in Magnitogorsk, Avtomobilist’s attack got bogged down in the hosts’ defensive formations, managing to convert only one shot out of 32 Ilya Nabokov’s shots were on target. This turned out to be not enough, by that time Avtomobilist was already losing with a score of 0-2, so Romantsev’s puck did not affect the outcome of the match. In the second match, Avtomobilist threatened Metallurg's defense noticeably less, hitting only 21 shots on target for the hosts, but the efficiency was noticeably higher. Da Costa twice, Golyshev and Romantsev once each scored four goals, to which the Metallurg hockey players were able to respond only twice.
Metallurg
Metallurg has a richer cup history than its semi-final opponent. The Magnitogorsk team has never missed the playoffs, winning the Gagarin Cup twice and losing twice in the finals. Metallurg's last cup triumph dates back to the 2015/16 season, when the team led by Ilya Vorobyov won an honorary trophy, beating the capital's CSKA in the final. The main star of that Metallurg was Sergei Mozyakin, who currently works on the team’s coaching staff.
Metallurg's opponents in the opening rounds of the playoffs were Khabarovsk Amur and Moscow Spartak. Metallurg managed to finish both confrontations in six matches, and the quarterfinal series against Spartak was remembered for the excellent performance of young goalkeeper Ilya Nabokov, who played three matches to zero. Nabokov was close to a clean sheet in the first game against Avtomobilist, but missed the only goal 42 seconds before the final whistle. In the second game, Metallurg was constantly in the role of catching up. Silantiev reduced the gap to a minimum in the third period, making the score 2-3, but Metallurg failed to equalize. The defeat is 2-4 and the series moves to Yekaterinburg with an equal score of 1-1.
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