Game 7 could be nothing else but decisive in the Gagarin Cup finals. The 30th April 2014 will be remembered by Metallurg and its home city Magnitogorsk as one of the brightest moments of this year. Even more so because the victory in the KHL final series was a hard won one, full of intensity and intrigue.
The last game of the 2014 finals was breathtaking and ended with the final score of 7:4. The first period ended 1:1, but Magnitogorsk scored the first goal (Francis Pare).
Lev had to work hard in order to catch up with the host team. David Ullström tied the game after nine minutes of intensive hockey. David changed the direction of the puck shot by Marc-André Gragnani.
The second period was decisive for the game and for the cup finals in general. Metallurg’s Evgeny Biryukov put his team in the lead in the beginning of the second period. Lev managed to tie the game with Ryan O’Byrne’s goal ten minutes later. Until the end of the period, however, Magnitogorsk scored two more goals: Yaroslav Kosov and Jan Kovář scored a beauty each mere minutes before the end of the second period. The period ended 4:2 for Magnitka.
The first half of the third period of the final game was dominated by the Mozyakin-Zaripov duo. Mozy and Zaripov are not only able to play with each other; they are also willing to do so. A proof of that is the episode when Sergey Mozyakin failed to score, while hitting the bar. Danis Zaripov picked up the rebound and passed to Sergey again ‒ 5:2 for Magnitka.
In the middle of the third period Zaripov prevailed over the goalie and brought the score to 6:2. To the honor of Lev its players did not give up, although the game’s end result was clear. Martin Thörnberg and Justin Azevedo scored and minimized the advantage of Magnitogorsk to 2 goals (6:4). That was actually all Lev could possibly do. Mikhail Yunkov’s was the endpoint in the final game of the KHL‘s 2014 season and set the end result of the finals – 7:4 for Metallurg.
Gagarin Cup was won by two teams twice in a row (AK Bars from Kazan in 2009, 2010 and Dinamo Moscow in 2011, 2012). Metallurg will definitely try to repeat this feat. Good luck, Magnitka! And congratulations, Magnitogorsk!
