Heavy check by Kuparinen against Kopeikin behind the Avangard net.

Avangard from the neutral zone, goes wide.

The hosts are back at full strength.

Almost the consolation goal for Sibir but goalie Rämö threw his body into the way and blocked the shot!

Dmitry Syomin with a powerful shot from a central position but Glass makes the save.

Sibir with a shot from a half right position, goes wide.

Shot by the hosts from the neutral zone into the gloves of Glass.

Avangard reduce their efforts and let the guests play a little more. They already save their power for game #2 tomorrow.

Alexei Kopeikin with a short distance shot for the guests but it was blocked by a defender.

Shot by the hosts from the right wing, goes wide.

Almost the next one for Avangard but Glass was back in his corner on time.

Delayed penalty, Rämö left his net.

The hosts are back at full strength.

Alexander Kutuzov from the blue line but his stick breaks.

Shot by the guests from the right wing, doesn't get through the crowd.

After a won face off Kuparinen has the first chance of the third period but he is stopped by Glass.

An Avangard player was hit in the face with a really hard shot and had to go in the locker room for immediate treatment! There is a lot of blood on the ice!

Back hander by the guests through Jonas Enlund, stopped by Rämö.

The hosts are back at full strength.

Sibir from the blue line, only hits a defender.

Good penalty killing by Avangard, they keep the puck outside of their zone.

Glass with a nice glove save, football-goalkeeper style.

Avangard are back at full strength.

Rämö with a save against a hard shot from a short distance by Arturs Kulda!

Sibir with a one-timer at the second post, good save by Rämö!

Both teams are back at full strength. Again the 4 on 4 didn't offer much offense.

The guests Sibir try it with a fast answer. First a shot from the blue line is stopped, then they tried it with several rebounds before there is a heavy fist fight! Lots of emotions in this match!

Avangard with a try from the blue line but the shot doesn't get through the crowd.

Both teams are back at full strength. Nothing serious happend so far in front of the goals in this period.

Counter attack for Avangard. Igor Volkov tried it with an early shot from the left wing, into the gloves of Glass.

Both teams are back at full strength. The 4 on 4 didn't bring more chances on any side.

Blue line shot by the hosts, save Glass.

Big opportunity for Nesterov. He skated from the right wing towards the net and tried to deke out Glass but the goalie made an important pad save!

Avangard shot from the neutral zone, goes wide.

Avangard with a lot of puck possession behind the Sibir net but they don't get a shot on goal.

Another dangerous opportunity for the hosts, blocked by Glass.

Andrei Ivanov with a nice deke, goes past two defenders but then his shot is stopped by the guest goalie.

Suddenly a Sibir forward tried it with a one-timer from a half right position. The view was not the best for Rämö but he made the save!

Sibir finally with a bit more offense now.

An Avangard forward appears behind the Sibir net, skates to the side and tries it with a pass but it is blocked in the last moment.

Icing by Sibir. The guests have problems to clear the puck.

Next shot by the home side, this time from the right wing, easyly blocked to the side by Glass.

Short distance shot by Avangard, Glass was in the corner to make the save.

First nice combination by the hosts. In the end Glass makes the save against a one-timer.

Backhander by Shumakov from the left wing into the gloves of Rämö.

Aggressiv start by the guests from Novosibirsk who want to show early that they are a real competitor in this series.

Starting lineups:

Avangard Omsk: Rämö (Reizvikh) - Gusev, Belov, Salmela, Pivtsakin, Lyamin, Valentenko, Kalashnikov - Popov, Perezhogin, Volkov, Kuparinen, Syomin, Zaborsky, Bumagin, Kuryanov, Ivanov, Pervushyn ,Taratukhin, Mozer, Nesterov

Sibir Novosibirsk: Glass (Gaiduchenko) - Alexeyev, Kutuzov, Kulda, Kudroc, Zaitsev, Ignatovich, Karavayev, Aksyonenko - Enlund, Drugov, Romanov, Kopeikin, Nikulin, Sannikov, Gubin, Krivonozhkin, Voroshilo, Shumakov, Fyodorov, Kononenko

Referees: Zakharov, Tsyplakov - Zakharenkov, Morozov

Avangard Omsk lost the first place in Eastern Conference to Ak Bars Kazan after only earning one point in their last four regular season matches. Today with the start of the playoffs all this is forgotten and they concentrate fully on their opponents Sibir Novosibirsk who ended the season as 7th in the East. Especially at the begin of the season Sibir showed how dangerous they can be for any team in the league.

Avangard's topscorers are Tomas Zaborsky and Alexander Frolov (both 41 pts) along with Alexander Popov (31 pts) but they also have a bunch of other players with great scoring abilities. On the other side Sibir is higly depending on the performances of their topscorers Jori Lehterä (48 pts) and Jonas Enlund (37 pts).

If Avangard can get the expected lead in the series of if Sibir, who are far from being chanceless, can surprise them in the first game already, we'll see soon.

Welcome. Game starts at 12:00 GMT / 13:00 CET.