Avangard Beats CSKA In The Opening Game

The Gagarin Cup final is officially underway and Bob Hartley and his team have earned their first victory. They defeated CSKA Moscow on road with a score of 4:1.

The Omsk side has been impressive on the road during the playoffs winning seven out of nine games. It didn’t look good for them early on as CSKA applied a lot of pressure and outshot their guests with a wide margin of 17:5. Although CSKA had the edge on ice Avangard came out of the first period with the lead when Yegor Chinakhov managed to beat Lars Johansson with an absolute rocket. The speed of the puck reached 144 km/h.

In the second period, the game slowed down a bit which allowed Avangard to even things out on the playing field. Omsk finally looked awake and ready to play. The team managed to create two high-danger scoring chances while shorthanded. After killing the penalty Avangard managed to double their lead when Kirill Gotovets’ shot found the back of the net.

Hello, Kirill Gotovets!#GagarinCupFinal pic.twitter.com/eALLb6tu2m

— KHL (@khl_eng) April 18, 2021

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CSKA came out angry early on in the 3rd and it took only 61 seconds for Andrei Loktionov to dangle through Ville Pokka and then put the puck past Simon Hrubec pulling the Moscow team back within a goal. However, Avangard wasn’t ready to give up and they renewed their two-goal lead. Reid Boucher received a beautiful cross-crease pass from his teammate and simply put the puck into an empty corner.

It’s like an empty-netter by Reid Boucher 🇺🇸!#GagarinCupFinal pic.twitter.com/7xgB2e4p6c

— KHL (@khl_eng) April 18, 2021

CSKA pulled their goalie early attempting to save the game but unfortunately for them just three and a half minutes before the final buzzer Ilya Kablukov shot the puck across the ice and it landed into the empty net clinching Avangard’s victory in the opening game and a 1:0 lead in the series.

Game two will be played on Tuesday in Moscow.