The guests are back at full strength but they didn't even try it with an extra attacker anymore.

Admiral keep the puck away from the Metallurg offense but fail to leave their own third.

Delayed peanlty shown against Admiral. Koschechkin leaves the home team's net for an additional skater.

A cross-pass by Mozyakin is intercepted inside the slot but Metallurg get the puck possession back easily.

A one-timer from the blue line by Metallurg's Sergei Mozyakin misses the net to the right.

The guests were not even close to get to the Metallurg net. Both teams are back at full strength by now.

The Admiral penalty is over and the guests have a short power play themselves now.

A shot by Admiral defender Artyom Zemchyonok from the right circle is blocked by an opponent.

A lot of breaks in recent minutes are not really keeping the game fluent.

A harmless shot by Rinat Ibragimov from within the neutral zone forces guest goalie Ivannikov to catch the puck and cover it up before any forward could use a possible rebound.

It's the same picture throughout the whole third period. Metallurg concentrate on their own defense and try it with counter attacks here and there while Admiral have the initiative but failto create real danger.

The hosts are back at full strength.

Again Admiral have huge problems to even find the way into the Metallurg third.

The hosts are back at full strength. The Admiral power play stays extremly harmless today – apart of the very first one with hte deflection by a Metallurg defender into his own net!

Metallurg again keep the puck far away from their own net, clear it deep into the Admiral third.

A blue line shot by Admiral's defender Mikhail Naumenkov is blocked by a Metallurg player and then the puck is fired deep into the guest third...

Turnover inside the neutral zone but Richard Gynge's shot from the right circle afterwards is deflected wide by a Metallurg defender.

Admiral are back at full strength after a harmless Metallurg power play.

Admiral with problems to clear the puck, Metallurg with problems to create danger.

More than half of the power play is already over and the hosts haven't tried it with a shot on target yet. Zaripov had the puck again and again on the left wing but failed to fin the hole in the guest defense.

Fast counter by the home team. Tim Brent faked a shot just after crossing the blue line, skated towards the right circle but then the angle became too sharp for him and a defender cleared the situation...

Both teams are back at full strength after failing to use the extra space in the previous two minutes.

After a long passing combination inside the Admiral third the puck lands on the stick of Viktor Antipin but he doesn't hit the puck well with his one-timer attempt and it bounces into the gloves of Ivannikov.

Tim Brent tries it with a wrap-around for Metallurg and after his back hander is stopped he attacks the guest goalie Ivannikov heavily which leads to the second mass fight of the day involving more than 6 players!

Metallurg are back at full strength after an incredibly harmless Admiral power play.

Another long clearance by the hosts. Admiral don't even get their power play formation into position once.

The home side easilly keeps the puck far away from their net with several long clearances.

Metallurg's Francis Pare stops a long pass at the Admiral blue line but afterwards loses it against several opponents without any helpf of his team mates.

Admiral make the better impression in these first minutes of the middle period, just the goals are missing so far.

Admiral's Dmitry Vorobyov tries it with a shot from the left circle which is blocked to the side by Koshechkin before another forward misses the rebound by inches.

A shot by Andrei Nikitenko from the right circle is deflected into the gloves of Metallurg goalie Koshechkin who makes an easy save.

The guests are back at full strength.

A long clearance that ends up behind the Metallurg net, gives the guests a bit of time to take a breathe.

After a fast passing combination Tim Brent failed to get the puck on target, the rebound came to defender Chris Lee but from the right circle he failed to go for a scoring opportunity.

Sergei Mozyakin tries it with a shot from the blue line that goes wide past the left post.

Metallurg started with a man less on the ice into the middle period due to the penalty against Zaripov late in the first. Now they are back at full strength.

A solo run by Admiral's Felix Schütz ends with a shot from within the slot that goes just over the net of Metallurg goalie Koshechkin.

Justin Hodgman loses the puck against three opponents inside the Metallurg defensive zone, it comes to team mate Logan Pyett but he also can't set the hosts under pressure.

A guest forward fails to stop the puck at the Metallurg blue line, icing called against them.

Admiral's Igor Bortnikov wasn't able to stop the puck after it bounced back from the boards behind the Metallurg net which immidiately led to a Metallurg counter but Oskar Osala's scoring attempt from short distance was stopped by Ivannikov!

Metallurg have found into the game in the meantime and are forcing the guests from Far East back into their own third.

Viktor Antipin tries it from the left wing but his shot is stopped by an Admiral defender.

The hosts with a wrap-around attempt from just right to the net, stopped by Ivannikov.

The guests take over the initiative after their early goal and have several shots on target.

Both teams start aggressively into the game. There is a real playoff atmosphere on and off the ice.

The teams are waiting for the opening faceoff. A female solo singer sings the Russian national anthem. Very impressive.

Starting lineups:

Metallurg Magnitogorsk: Koshechkin (Pechursky) – Antipin, Biryukov, Tereshchenko, Khabarov, Lee, Ibragimov, Malenkikh – Mozyakin, Zaripov, Kovar, Pare, Brent, Kazionov, Platonov, Kosov, Yunkov, Osala, Malinovsky, Potekhin, Grigorenko

Admiral Vladivostok: Ivannikov (Stelmakh) – Naumenkov, Pyett, Osipov, Antropov, Commodore, Vorobyov, Zemchyonok, Ternavsky – Nikitenko, Ugarov, Grachyov, Bergfors, Gynge, Schütz, Hodgman, Zubov, Bortnikov, Sokolov, Barbashev, Drugov

Referees: Zakharov, Kiselyov – Metalnikov, Sirotkin

Metallurg Magnitogorsk won the Eastern Conference title in the KHL for the first time this year with 108 points in 54 games by collecting exactly 2 / 3 of the available points.

For league newcomers Admiral Vladivostok who joined KHL as expansion team last summer, today will be just another important moment in their short history when they play their first playoff game. Admiral ended the regular season as 8th in Eastern Conference with 78 points in 54 games. They reached the playoffs just in the last matchday when they beat Amur Khabarovsk (4-1) on home ice while their rivals Traktor Chelyabinsk (75 points) lost against Ak Bars Kazan (2-3 SO) but were already without chances as the game in Vladivostok already had ended.

After the Olympic break Metallurg had a difficult start against Vityaz Podolsk (0-2) before beating playoff teams Dynamo Moscow (1-0 SO), Ak Bars Kazan (1-0), Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (4-2). All games were played on home ice.

Admiral also met their last opponents of the regular season at home. They beat Metallurg Novokuznetsk (3-1), Sibir Novosibirsk (3-1) and finally Amur Khabarovsk (4-1) to make the playoffs successfully.

Metallurg's topscorers in the regular season were Sergei Mozyakin (73 pts), Jan Kovar (68 pts) and Danis Zaripov (64 pts). They form an incredibly dangerous line and were the top 3 point leaders in the KHL, the top 3 in assists and Mozyakin was the best goal scorer while Zaripov was 4th and Kovar 5th while goal scorers no 2 and 3 came from another top line – Brandon Bochenski and Nigel Dawes of Barys Astana.

For Admiral the topscorers were Felix Schütz (38 pts in his frst ever KHL season, leading the franchise), Niclas Bergfors (36 pts) and Richard Gynge (19 pts).

Both teams get into the playoffs with a red hot streak. Metallurg of course are the favourites in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series but who knows what can happen in a best of seven series?

Welcome. Game starts at 06:00 ET / 12:00 CET / 15:00 MSK / 17:00 local time in Magnitogorsk / 22:00 in Vladivostok.