Now a Lev rush, slapper from Birner is kicked out by Sanford.

Lev back at full strength and Loko regroup with the puck.

And finally a one-timer from Holos, right on Vehanen, and he holds on this time with :13 left in the penalty. Lots of shots for Loko this time but not beating Vehanen.

Slapper from Platt, pad save Vehanen and Lev ice again.

Gorokhov with another blast from the point, this one hits Vehanen in the chest and then Lev ice it.

Facoff win for Kartayev and a quick shot from Gorokhov, right on Vehanen with only 4 seconds gone in the penalty.

Lokomotiv back at full strength, Lev regroup in their own end.

Shot from the point by Gragnani, right on Sanford, who holds on with :23 left in the penalty.

Lev move the puck around, shot from Oystrick deflected wide.

Lokomotiv is now back at full strength.

Puck out of play in the Loko zone, faceoff outside with 2:11 left in the major penalty.

Lev pinned in their own zone, having trouble getting up ice.

Maenpaa the big slapper, blocked in front and Loko ice it again.

Azevedo re-directs a pass from Kapanen just wide, then Loko ice it.

Gragnani with 2 shot attempts from the point, first deflected wide, second one blocked.

Gragnani a slapper from the point, butterfly save Sanford.

Long backhander from Petr Vrana, caught and held by Sanford.

Now Zackrisson's pass attempt hits a stick and slides to Sanford, who covers.

Puck bounces to Vehanen, who covers.

The penalties are over and we're now 5-on-5, Lev break out of the ir own zone, long shot is caught and held by Sanford.

Lev quick on the counter, but go offside.

Gorokhov shoots high from the slot.

Now Lev rush up ice, Kapanen the shot right on Sanford, who holds on.

Apalkov keeps it in at the point and fires a wrister, pad save Vehanen.

Plotnikov the wrister from a sharp angle, hits Vehanen and he covers. We get some pushing and shoving after the whistle.

Long battle for the puck in the corner in the Lev zone, finally play is stopped. Faceoff upcoming in the Lev zone.

Icing Lokomotiv.

Long wrister from Galimov, blocker save Vehanen.

Lev with another penalty kill, they have possession in their own zone.

Vehanen then makes a stick save and Lev ice it.

Geoff Platt the slapper from the point, pad save Vehanen.

Novotny the faceoff win, Oystrick ices.

Now the puck goes up into the netting, faceoff in the Lev zone.

Offside Lev.

Sevc a shot from the boards, not sure if that got through to Sanford or was blocked in front.

Mikelis Redlihs tries to stuff it in on Vehanen but has no room and he covers again.

Puck slides to Vehanen and he covers it.

Offside Lev.

Puck deflected out of play in the Lev zone, faceoff inside.

Shots only 2-1 Lokomotiv so far this period, and we're nearly halfway through.

Icing Lokomotiv.

Redlihs with the steal at the Lev line, pass to Vasiliev for the one-timer pad save Vehanen.

Alexander Chernikov comes out from behind the net and tries to beat Vehanen short side, but he gives no room and freezes it.

Icing Lev.

Lev to the attack, shot from Maenpaa is kicked out by Sanford.

Now a pass back to the point misses and goes the length of the ice, killing the rest of the Lev penalty. 0 shots for Lokomotiv.

Shot from Holos blocked and it's cleared again.

Lev ice it, Loko have to regroup once again.

Loko pass it around the zone, but then a bad pass goes out to the neutral zone and they have to regroup.

Loko applying pressure and lots of traffic in front, shot attempt is deflected out of play. Faceoff in the Lev zone with :15 left in the penalty.

Konkov shoots wide from the top of the circle.

Lev ice and both units change up, Loko again having trouble getting the PP going.

Offside Lokomotiv with 1:36 left in the power play.

Shot from the point by Pashnin, kicked out by Vehanen.

Igor Musatov falls in the Lev zone and slides into the net. Play is stopped and the faceoff is outside.

Now the puck is out of play in the Lokomotiv zone, faceoff inside.

Holos again with the long wrister through traffic, hits Vehanen's pad and goes to the corner.

Jonas Holos with a long wrister, caught and held by Vehanen.

Petrov the shot at one end, Vehanen the save and Lev come back on the quick counter-attack, save Sanford . . .

Faceoff win for Klepis, quick shot from the point by Nemec, Sanford catches it and holds on.

Icing Lokomotiv.

High wrister from Repik nearly handcuffs Sanford, but he keeps it in front of him, play continues in the Loko zone.

Vehanen makes another save off Averin, then the puck comes outside the line and back in offside.

Wrister from Averin, pad save Vehanen.

Slapper from Sevc deflects off a couple of bodies and out of play, faceoff in the Loko zone.

Lokomotiv shot attempt goes out of play, faceoff outside the Lev zone.

Lev back at full strength, Cingel out of the box and dumps it into the Loko zone, they change up.

Petr Vrana wins the draw and ices it himself.

Offside Lokomotiv with :57 left in their power play.

Now Novotny ices for Lev, Loko still shotless on the PP.

Zackrisson wins the draw in his own zone and Lev immediately ice the puck.

Lev rush, Michal Birner's wrister hits the side of the net. Fans react as it looked like it went in from some angles.

Shot from the point by Apalkov, deflected on Vehanen, who covers.

Now Lev captain Jiri Novotny with a wrister from the top of the circle, right on Curtis Sanford, who holds on.

Shots 3-1 Lev at this point.

Long stretch of play without any stoppages or shots by either team . . .

Sergei Konkov with Loko's first shot of the game, hits Vehanen in the shoulder. Play is stopped as Vladislav Karayev is down in the Lev zone after the puck had been cleared. He seems to be ok, and the faceoff coming up in the neutral zone outside the Lokomotiv blueline.

Lev re-enter the Loko zone, wrister from Zackrisson kicked out by Sanford.

Lokomotiv quick on the transition, but go offside at the Lev line.

Lev's Justin Azevedo gets the first shot of the game, a wrister from the right wing boards, pad save Curtis Sanford.

The national anthems of Russia 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. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is wearing their road white uniforms with red and blue trim, red pants and white helmets.

Game 1 of the Western Conference Final is about to begin!

Starting Lineups:

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

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl: Sanford (Kolesnik) – Yakovlev, Kronwall, Vishnevsky, Holøs, Vasiliev, Lyubushkin, Pashnin, Gorokhov (C) – Averin, Apalkov, Plotnikov – Platt, Petrov, Chernikov – Konkov, Kartayev, Galimov – Musatov, Sprukts, Redlihs

Referees: Bulanov, Zakharov – Mikhel, Shikhanov.

After finishing off Donbass Donetsk on Friday, HC LEV Praha have had four days off to prepare for their Conference Final opponent, and they will have to be prepared.

Top Lokomotiv Playoff Scorers

1. Plotnikov – 11 pts (3+8)
2. Konkov -10 pts (7+3)
3. Platt – 7 pts (3+4)
4. Gorokhov – 7 pts (2+5)
5. Petrov – 5 pts (2+3)
5. Redlihs – 5 pts (2+3)

Goalie

Sanford – 8-5, 1.70, .945, 2 shutouts

On the same day that Lev secured their ticket in the West Final, so to did Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, knocking off SKA St Petersburg in six games. In the first round, they eliminated Dynamo Moscow in seven games. Those were the top two teams in the conference during the regular season -- the teams many picked to meet in round three. How did 8th-seeded Lokomotiv do that?

"Yaroslavl plays such a particular style, more typical of older Russian hockey," said Lev defenceman Ondřej Němec. "They play man-on-man, giving you no room to operate."

Lev found that out first-hand during the regular season, when the the two teams engaged in two low-scoring affairs.

Lev won 2-0 in Yaroslavl on October 26 -- Marc-André Gragnani and Patrik Zackrisson scored the goals, both on the power play, while the team killed off six penalties, including a major to Němec. Petri Vehanen made 17 saves for the shutout, while Curtis Sanford was excellent in the Lokomotiv net, stopping 39 of 41 shots.

On December 6, they met again in Prague. This time, Lokomotiv completely threw a blanket over the Lev offence, as the teams skated to a 0-0 tie through 60 minutes before Sergei Plotnikov scored a fluky goal in overtime to win it for the visitors.

Curtis Sanford stopped 70 of 72 shots against Lev this season, including a 31-save shutout in Prague on December 6.
"I knew it was going to be that sort of game," a disappointed David Ullström said just after it ended. Ullström started the season with Lokomotiv but moved to Lev and was fitting in nicely on the top line of his new team, but was completely frustrated by his former teammates in that December clash. "I´ve seen it often enough from the other side. I knew there weren´t going to be many chances to score. Once it was still 0-0 after two periods, I knew it would probably be some lucky goal that ended it, and that one they got was pretty lucky."

Ullström suffered an upper-body injury in game 1 vs Donbass and is still out of the lineup, at least to start the series, but he did share his thoughts on his old team.

"They have some very skilled players, but also very young," he began. "As the season progressed, they rebuilt almost the entire team and finally found the composition they were looking for. Currently, they are really strong, especially on defence."

One of the changes Ullström alluded to was the acquisition of Canadian forward Geoff Platt from Dinamo Minsk. He´s injected some much-needed offence into Lokomotiv´s game, which has helped their run through the playoffs. Platt´s 7 points are third on the team after two rounds, after Plotnikov´s 11 and Sergei Konkov´s 10. Offensive weapons from the back end include Ilya Gorokhov and Staffan Kronwall.

And of course, in goal, another big challenge is going to be Sanford. Two of the KHL´s top offensive teams weren´t able to solve him, and now it´s up to Lev´s scorers to find a way.

"What is certain is that Yaroslavl has a good team that does not allow you much," said Justin Azevedo, who leads Lev with 8 points in the first two rounds. "They´re one of the best teams in the league in terms of defence. There´ll be a lot of grinding and not a lot of pretty goals."

It´s important to keep in mind that Lev was also the third-best defensive team in the league, and goaltender Petri Vehanen shut out Lokomotiv for two regulation games this season before being scored on in overtime. He´s continued to be strong in the playoffs, as has Atte Engren, who secured the clinching game in Donetsk with a shutout.

Welcome. Game 1 of this Western Conference Final series starts at 19:00 CEST local time in Prague, 21:00 MSK in Yaroslavl, 13:00 EDT.