LEV 5:2 DON | Lev Praha - HC Donbass Donetsk (KHL)

KHL

SKA St. Petersburg – Lokomotiv

1:0 (end)

Lev – Donbass

5:2 (end)

final

Lev Praha

5:2 (1:0, 4:0, 0:2)

HC Donbass Donetsk

Thursday 20.03.2014, 19:00 • Tipsport Arena, Prague • KHL

		Lev strike first blood in this series with a 5-2 win, scoring the game's first five goals before Donbass battled back with two in the third period. Game 1 was a physical affair and that should only continue in the upcoming games. Both teams surely have some banged up bodies from this one and we'll see if there are lineup changes for tomorrow. Come back and visit us for coverage of that game, and of all the KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs. (21:54:58)
	60:00	Game over.
	58:14	Ryan O'Byrne of Lev takes a slashing penalty after the goal has scored, so Donbass with a chance to maybe get another goal before this one's done.
	58:14	Goal for Donbass! There's a shot on goal, Vehanen stops it but DMITRI KAGARLITSKY gets to the rebound and puts it in from a sharp angle. Not likely to make a difference at this point. Assists: Viktor Zakharov, Jan Kolar.
	56:44	Puck out of play in the Donbass zone, faceoff inside with :38 left in the penalty.
	56:16	Lev now on the power play, Mikko Maenpaa tries to pick the top corner but just misses.
	55:22	Donbass's Sergei Varlamov going to the penalty box for slashing, so we'll be 4-on-4 for :14, then Lev to the power play.
	55:16	Lev ice the puck again, Donbass still shotless on this power play, finally the puck slides to Vehanen and he covers with :20 left.
	54:00	Teemu Laine rips a slapper wide and the puck rings around the boards and out of the zone.
	53:36	Michal Repik of Lev gets called for roughing from a confrontation in the neutral zone, Donbass to the power play, they're 0/1 today.
	53:22	Varlamov hammers Sevc in the corner, Vehanen covers the puck.
	52:05	Donbass ices the puck to kill the rest of the penalty.
	51:25	One-time slapper from Kapanen whistles wide.
	51:10	Gragnani with a wrister from the point, just wide.
	50:01	Sergei Varlamov with a slash on Jiri Sekac in front of the net, and he's going off for two minutes or less. Lev to the power play, 0/3 today.
	48:32	Goal for Donbass! Just out of the penalty box, VIKTOR ZAKHAROV takes a breakaway pass, he goes to the forehand deke and slips it in between Vehanen's pad and the post to get Donbass on the board.
	48:12	Shorthanded breakaway for Lukas Kaspar, goes to his backhand and a pad save by Petri Vehanen.
	46:58	Offside Lev with 1:25 left in the power play.
	46:42	Lev to the power play, Niko Kapanen the slapper, pad save Leighton.
	46:23	Zakharov is in the box for Donbass, Jiri Sekac for Lev, and 2:00 is on the board on the Donbass side. Toryanik also going to the box for Donbass, not sure if it's his own penalty or serving one of Zakharov's. We'll await the calls.
	46:23	Petri Vehanen gets hammered by Viktor Zahkarov, his helmet flies off, Martin Sevc goes after him and away we go.
	45:49	At the other end, Jakub Nakladal takes a wrister from the point, Michael Leighton catches it and holds on.
	45:23	Donbass rush, Lukas Kaspar with a wrister, right on Vehanen, who covers.
	43:56	Offside Donbass.
	43:46	Shot by Azevedo tipped on Leighton, who covers.
	42:26	Alexander Toryanik with a wrister, stick save Vehanen and he covers.
	41:37	Icing Lev. No Ridderwall or Ullstrom on the Lev bench. I haven't seen Piganovich for Donbass yet either.
	40:01	Start of 3rd period.
		The teams are returning to the ice and the 3rd period will start shortly. Petri Vehanen and Michael Leighton scrape their creases. If I were Lev coach Kari Jalonen, I might flirt with the idea of putting backup Atte Engren in, at the risk of losing his starter to someone running the net if this game continues to get uglier.
		An eventful second period, and a particularly ugly one from a Donbass perspective. Four Lev goals have probably put this game away, and the farther apart the score becomes, the nastier the action on the ice gets. Three players were helped off the ice that period -- Lev's Calle Ridderwall and David Ullstrom, and Donbass's Oleg Piganovich. We'll see if any of them return in the third period. Shots on goal in the 2nd period: Lev 9 (14), Donbass 6 (12). Quality scoring chances: Lev 6 (7), Donbass 1(1). 3rd period begins at 20:50 CET, 15:50 EDT.
	40:00	2nd period finished.
	39:25	Tempers continues to flare out there, this time Nakladal and Toryanik colliding and having words, play continues.
	38:08	It's no goal. Donbass remains off the board. Faceoff in the Lev zone.
	38:08	Petr Podhradsky's shot went dangerously close to the Lev net and the officials have now stopped play and we have our second video review of the night.
	37:13	Goal for Lev! It's starting to turn into a laugher now, as Kapanen from the boards finds PATRIK ZACKRISSON all alone in front, and he makes no mistake. Assists: Niko Kapanen, Michal Repik And the Tipsport Arena DJ serenades Donbass with the song "Pata" (5th) by Zuzana Norisova (to the tune of Petula Clark's "Downtown"), a strange Czech hockey tradition when the home teams scores their 5th goal.
	36:39	Offside Donbass.
	36:06	And now Jan Kolar with a big hit on David Ullstrom into the boards. Play continues and is finally stopped with Ullstrom down and favouring his knee. Another injured player in what is starting to look like an ugly series.
	35:38	Offside Lev.
	35:17	Gennady Razin with a big open-ice hit on Jakub Matai in the neutral zone.
	34:15	Donbass back at full strength and just after it ends Ryan O'Byrne absolutely levels Oleg Piganovich behind the Lev net. I think he went head-first into the back crossbar. He really seems shaken up and training staff is out to look at him. He finally is helped off the ice and is on his way to the dressing room.
	33:45	Yakutsenya with a shot shorthanded, pad save Vehanen and Lev start back again.
	33:15	The puck is loose in the slot with Leighton down, but can't put it in and Donbass ice it.
	32:06	Donbass Donetsk is now being penalised for having too many players on the ice. They don't like the call, but Lev will go to the power play. They're 0/1 today.
	29:50	Alexander Toryanik's high wrister goes over the crossbar.
	27:27	Goal for Lev! They had just failed to connect on a 3-on-2 rush, but Lev kept the puck in the zone and Marc-Andre Gragnani's shot from the point is beautifully tipped by PETR VRANA in front. Assists: Marc-Andre Gragnani, Michal Repik.
	26:48	Oystrick's shot from the point is deflected wide.
	26:21	Now a Donbass shoot-in goes out of play, faceoff at centre ice.
	26:05	Puck out of play in the Donbass zone, faceoff inside.
	25:25	Icing Donbass. Lev's Calle Ridderwall is down in the Donbass zone and getting tended to. He's helped off the ice and to the dressing room. We'll see if he returns.
	23:49	Jan Laco is out and Michael Leighton is now in goal for Donbass Donetsk.
	23:49	Goal for Lev! They go right back to the attack. Justin Azevedo's pass attempt is blocked, but it goes right to JIRI NOVOTNY. Laco stopped his first shot, but he took a couple more whacks at it and put it in to make it 3-0 just 45 seconds later. The excited captain threw his body into the corner glass after the goal. Assists: Justin Azevedo, David Ullstrom.
	23:04	Goal for Lev! JAKUB MATAI led the rush into the Donbass zone, passed to Ridderwall, whose shot was blocked, then Matai got the puck back and fired it home. Assist: Calle Ridderwall.
	22:50	Big collision in the neutral zone between Yevgeni Belukhin and Calle Ridderwall. Belukhin had him lined up to receive the pass but it missed and Ridderwall goes down hard. No interference call and the Lev bench is irate. Play continues.
	22:35	Hand pass called against Lev from their own zone, the faceoff goes back deep.
	21:56	After all that, no penalties are called and the faceoff is outside the Donbass blueline.
	21:56	Donbass captain Ruslan Fedotenko bumps goalie Petri Vehanen, who goes falling back into the net. The referee was looking at it and called nothing, possibly thinking that both Fedotenko was pushed and Vehanen embellished it. Then Jiri Sekac goes after Fedotenko.
	21:03	The other way Yakutsenya gets a couple of shots, Vehanen makes two pad saves.
	20:32	Lev rush in, Novotny tries to find Ullstrom streaking to the net and he one-times it just wide of the post.
	20:08	Donbass go offside right off the draw.
	20:01	Start of 2nd period.
		The teams are returning to the ice and the 2nd period will start shortly.
		These two teams feeling each other out in the first period of this series. Not a lot of offence, as one would expect from two of the KHL's three best defensive teams, but plenty of physical play and atmosphere in the building. There was one goal by Justin Azevedo, but it appeared at first that it hit the post and video replay was needed to confirm it. Shots on goal in the 1st period: Lev 5, Donbass 6. Quality scoring chances: Lev 1, Donbass 0. 2nd period begins at 19:51 CET, 14:51 EDT.
	20:00	1st period finished.
	19:15	We've now gone 3:30 without a whistle or a shot on goal. Lev fans really into it, though.
	15:45	Jiri Sekac with a high wrister, hits Laco in the shoulder.
	14:20	Goal for Lev! Well that shows what I know. That shot apparently went off the goalpost and the back post before coming out. They've backed up the time accordingly. JUSTIN AZEVEDO with a bullet of a wrister on the rush. Assist: Jiri Sekac.
	14:37	Offside Lev. They're now reviewing that shot from Azevedo, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a goal.
	14:20	Lev back at full strength, Justin Azevedo leads a rush and hits the goalpost with a wrist shot.
	13:44	Maxim Yakutsenya with a wrister from the faceoff dot right on Vehanen, who holds on with just :05 left in the penalty.
	12:39	Teemu Laine with a shot from the corner, caught and held by Vehanen with 1:10 left in the penalty.
	12:20	Donbass with some good puck movement but don't get a shot on goal and the zone is cleared.
	11:49	Lev is now getting their first penalty of the game as defenceman Nathan Oystrick clears the puck out of play from his own zone. Donbass to the power play.
	11:30	Offside Donbass, faceoff back at their own blueline.
	10:37	Now a Lev shoot-in goes out of play, the faceoff goes at centre ice.
	10:05	Donbass back at full strength, Lev didn't get a shot on that power play.
	09:30	Jan Kolar slaps it down the ice right on Vehanen, killing valuable time off the penalty.
	09:05	Offside Lev with :55 left in the power play. Crowd getting loud in here and the players had trouble hearing the whistle.
	08:00	The first penalty of this game is going to Gennady Razin for holding. The way he tapped his stick on the ice mockingly toward the referee as he skated to the box, he's lucky he didn't get an extra 2.
	07:42	Offside Lev. It's on the long stretch pass and the faceoff goes back to the Lev zone.
	07:27	Low wrister from Ullstrom, kicked out by Laco.
	06:54	The puck goes out of play in the Donbass zone, faceoff will go outside.
	05:55	Play moves back into the Lev zone, big hit by big Ryan O'Byrne in the corner really gets the crowd into it.
	05:35	Gragnani with a slapper from the point, Laco with another butterfly save.
	04:57	Petr Vrana with Lev's first shot on goal, Jan Laco the pad save in butterfly formation.
	03:35	Ondrej Nemec from the point, deflected just wide of the Donbass goal.
	03:10	Piganovich attempts a shot from the point, deflected wide.
	03:47	Icing Donbass.
	03:16	Scramble in front of the Lev goal, Vehanen makes a couple of stops in close, Lev start back up ice.
	02:48	Lukas Cingel's centring pass doesn't find its intended target -- Lev still without a shot.
	01:34	That first shot comes from Donbass's Lukas Kaspar, who fires a slapper from the high slot that hits Petri Vehanen in the logo, and he holds on again.
	01:02	A shot from the point by Podhradsky was headed wide, but hit a body and was caught by Petri Vehanen, and he holds for a faceoff in Lev zone. This game still waiting for its first shot.
	00:50	Icing Lev.
		The national anthems of Ukraine and the Czech Republic have been played and the opening faceoff is moments away. Lev Praha is wearing their home red uniforms with blue and white trim, red NY Rangers-style pants and blue helmets. Donbass Donetsk is wearing white road uniforms with red, black and silver trim, black pants and white helmets.
		The 28 teams in the KHL this season have now been reduced to eight, with the survivors having battled through a 54-game regular season before winning a best-of-seven first-round playoff series. HC LEV Praha begins round number two on home ice on Thursday against Donbass Donetsk. Lev took four of six points from Donbass this season. First, Donbass won 4-3 in overtime Donetsk back on September 8 -- Lev´s first game of the season -- and then Lev prevailed 4-1 in Prague on February 26 -- the first game after the Olympic break. The two-point margin head-to-head proved important, as Lev finished the season 3rd in the Western Conference with 99 points, while Donbass was 4th with 97. There wasn´t much to choose between the two teams this season. Donbass had the best defence in the league with 99 goals against, while Lev was 2nd-best with 107. Lev had the league´s 7th-ranked offence with 149 goals for, while Donbass was 14th with 135. Lev had an easier time in the first round than did Donbass, sweeping Medveščak Zagreb 4-0. They outscored them in the process 17-9, including a 10-3 margin in the third period. Martin Thörnberg was an offensive force with 6 points and his 4 goals ties him for 4th in the playoffs, even though he´s played only four games. Next was defenceman Nathan Oystrick with 4 points, all assists. Of the usual top scoring line, Jiří Novotný and Justin Azevedo had 3 points each, while David Ullström scored the winning goals in each of the last two games. Petri Vehanen played all four games and will surely start on Thursday as well. Donbass needed the full seven games to get four wins against Dinamo Riga, finally prevailing 3-1 on Monday night in Bratislava. With that many games, they have a couple of players in top offensive categories. Teemu Laine leads in goals with 6, is 3rd in points with 9, and like Ullström, had 2 game-winning goals in the first round. Meanwhile, Clay Wilson leads all playoff defencemen with 6 points and is tied for 2nd among all players with 5 assists. Maxim Yakutsenya also has 6 points, while Yevgeni Dadonov and Ruslan Fedotenko have 5 each. The goaltending situation isn´t quite as clear-cut for Donbass. Canadian Michael Leighton and Slovak Ján Laco each appeared in four games and won twice each. Laco´s numbers were better overall, though Laco and won game seven against Riga, so he´s expected to get the start in game one in Prague.
		Welcome. Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinal series starts at 19:00 CET local time in Prague, 20:00 EET in Donetsk, 13:00 EST.

Commentary by

Derek OBrien

@@Djob76

Goals & lineups Match log

Goals and assists: 15. Azevedo (Sekac), 24. Matai (Ridderwall), 24. Novotny (Azevedo, Ullstrom), 28. Vrana (Gragnani, Repik), 38. Zackrisson (Kapanen, Repik) – 49. Zakharov, 59. Kagarlitsky (Zakharov, Kolar)

Lev Praha: Vehanen (Engren) – Ševc, Mäenpää, Oystrick, Němec, Gragnani, O'Byrne, Nakládal – Ullström, Novotný, Azevedo – Sekáč, Vrána, Thörnberg – Zackrisson, Kapanen, Řepík – Ridderwall, Cingel, Matai – Birner.

HC Donbass Donetsk: Laco, 24. Leighton – Kolář, Piganovich, Wilson, Podhradský, Bartulis, Razin, Silnicky – Laine, Virtanen, Kiiskinen – Dadonov, Fedotěnko, Yakutsenya – Kagarlitsky, Varlamov, Kašpar – Toryanik, Bělukhin, Zakharov.

Referees: Anisimov, Gofman – Birin, Medvedev