Capitals Prospect Ilya Samsonov Wins First Game of Playoffs for Metallurg Magnitogorsk

Photo: KHL

On Sunday, Metallurg Magnitogorsk played HC Avtomobilist in Yekaterinburg in the first game of the first round of the KHL playoffs. Among the returning Russian Olympians, star forward Sergei Mozyakin was back in his customary place on the first line for Metallurg. Olympian Goalie Vasily Koshechkin would serv as backup for Metlallurg. Caps prospect, Ilya Samsonov, would start in goal for Metallurg. Opposing him in goal for Avtomobilist was Jakub Kovar.

There was a dangerous moment for Samsonov about five minutes into the contest when an opponent collided with him in goal as they tried to shoot, but no penalty was called. Not quite three minutes later, Anatoly Golyshev of Ekaterinaberg collided with Samsonov and knocked him down on his elbow. This time, a penalty was called, but Metallurg was unable to take advantage of the power play.

Avtomobilist was the first to light the lamp, scoring just over fifteen minutes into the opening period when Francis Pare found the back of the net. Avtomobilist added a second goal just over eight minutes into the second period when Golyshev scored, getting an assist from Pare. Ekaterinaberg now lead 2-0.

Just past the midpoint of the period, the teams scuffled, with both teams getting one player penalized for four minutes and another getting penalized for two minutes. The players involved in that scrum were no sooner out of the box when Avtomobilist took another penalty. This time, Metallurg was successful with their power play, as former Washington Capital and Canadian Olympic Bronze Medalist, Wojtek Wolski scored a power play goal, getting assists from Chris Lee, who also represented Canada in the Olympics, and Sergei Mozyakin. The score was now 2-1 which remained that way through the end of the period.

Three minutes into the third period, Dwight King, former member of the Los Angeles Kings and brother of former Washington Capital, D.J. King, earned a delay of game penalty, giving Magnitka a power play. With 30 seconds left to go in the power play, Wolski scored his second power play goal of the game to tie up the game at 2-2.

Just over half way through the period, players on both teams earned interference penalties, resulting in a 4 on 4 situation. Just after the end of that penalty, Sergei Mozyakin scored, getting an assist from Jan Kovar to put Magnitka ahead 3-2. The game ended with that same score.

The game for Magnitka had followed a very similar script as their last regular season game had followed just three days earlier. Magnitka had fallen behind 2-0, got their first goal during second period, tied the game during third period, and got the game winning goal during third period. Metallurg Magnitogorsk now leads the series 1-0.

Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves out of the 34 shots he faced for a save percentage of .941. With reports of Samsonov possibly coming to America after the season is over and given that Koshechkin will likely return for the next game, which takes place the next day, there is a chance that Samsonov could be playing one of his last games in the KHL. Metallurg Manitogorsk will play Games 3 and 4 at home on March 7 and 8 so Samsonov will likely start one of those games.