Metallurg beats Avangard for last Gagarin Cup’s semifinal spot

Metallurg snapped up the last remaining semifinal spot on offer in the KHL. The men from Magnitogorsk saw off Avangard after yet another close-run clash in Omsk.

Hours before the decisive game, Avangard’s owners sacked the team’s head coach, Raimo Summanen, and it was his assistant, Igor Nikitin, who headed the team on Monday.

It was an all-or-nothing affair in Game 7’s first period, with barely a shot registered on target.

That changed in the second, after Gleb Klemenko made it 1-0 for Magnitogorsk after 7 minutes.

And the deal was sealed in the third.Denis Platonov scored an empty-net goal right before the buzzer.

It means Metallurg now take on Salavat Yulaev in the East, while Lokomotiv Yaroslavl meet Atlant in the Western Conference final.

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