Russia's KHL Set to Go with Best of 7 Gagarin Cup Final

Apr 5, 2011
Marcus Hondro

Scoring Star Alexander Radulov at KHL (Outdoor) All-Star Game in Red Square. - Photo Courtesy Gosha Images (USA).

Russia's Gagarin Cup final is set to go. The KHL's version of the NHL Stanley Cup has Salavat Ulaev, led by Alexander Radulov, up against Atlant Mytishchi.

The finals match-up for the 2010-11 Gagarin Cup in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League was set Tues. April 5th, 2011 when Salavat Ulaev UFA deeated Metall.Magnitogorsk 1-0 to win their best of seven semi-final, four games to three. Metall. Magnitogorsk, a club lead by veteran Sergei Federov, had won game six to take the series to the limit.

Salavat wins the Eastern Conference and now plays Western Conference winners, Atlant Mytishchi in the final; Atlant beat Pavol Demitra and Lokomotiv in their semi-final, 4-2, winning game six in an 8-2 rout. It's the third year of the 23 team league and the first time that either of these teams have reached the playoff final.

KHL Upsets in 16 team Gagarin Cup Playoffs

Salavat Ulaev was 2nd in the regular season with 109 points while Atlant Mytishchi was 8th overall with 91 points. As in the NHL, the top 16 clubs in the league make the playoffs. Metall., who were fifth in the league with 100 points, had upset the regular season champs, Avangard Omsk (118 points; lead by Jaromir Jagr), in the quarter finals, four games to three.

In their game seven win over Metall., Salavat got the only goal it would need at the 6:21 mark of the third period from 1996 Toronto Maple Leaf draft pick Vladimir Antipov on a set-up from Kirill Koltsov. Former L.A. Kings goalie Erik Ersberg made 20 saves for the shutout while Metall. goalie Georgy Gelashvili stopped 35 in a losing cause.

Top Players for KHL Cup Finalists

Salavat has the luxury of the league's top two scorers, one-time NHL players Alexander Radulov, who returned to Russia after playing for the Nashville Predators two years and in the QMJHL for the Quebec Remparts, had 20 goals and 60 assists in all 54 games to lead the KHL in scoring. Teammate, and Norwegian, Patrick Thoresen, who played for the Edmonton Oilers as well as the Philadelphia Flyers, was second with 65 points.

Salavat also has former NHL players Dmitry Kalinin, Robert Nilsson, Viktor Kozlov and Oleg Saprykin. Atlant Mytishchi has former NHLers Jan Bulis, Oleg Petrov and Fedor Fedorov. Atlant's goalie, Barulin Konstantin was the league's regular season leader in GAA at 1.91 and 2nd in shutouts with six, one behind leader Dominik Hasek of Spartak Moscow.

The final series for the Gagarin Cup starts Friday, April 8.