Holos shoots, blocked by Thornberg.

Another slapper from Platt, this one hits Vehanen in the chest, then Lev ice it. Big faceoff back in the Lev zone, Vrana vs Apalkov.

Battle for the puck along the boards in the Lev zone, Novotny gets it out.

Kapanen dumps it in the Loko zone, Lev try to keep it down there.

Loko into the zone, Galimov fires a wrister wide.

Icing Lev.

Shot from the point by Martin Sevc, right on Sanford, who holds on.

Now Oystrick knocks down Plotnikov in the corner.

Lokomotiv clearing attempt went off the glass and out of play, faceoff inside.

Big hit by Novotny on Chernikov into the boards in front of the Lev bench.

Now Chernikov fires it in from the neutral zone right on Vehanen, who holds on.

Plotnikov the long wrister, pad save Vehanen.

Gragnani the wrister from the point, pad save Sanford, the rebound was loose for a while but finally cleared.

Then Holos breaks his stick shoot it and Lev ice it all they way down.

Galimov's shot is blocked and the zone is cleared . . .

Averin's shot is deflected wide, then Lev ice it.

Now Vehanen catches a long shoot in and holds it for a faceoff.

Slapper from the point by Jonas Holos, pad save Vehanen.

Mikko Maenpaa is down behind the Lev net, finally gets up and limps to the bench as play continues.

Offside Lokomotiv.

One-time slapper from Klepis, pad save Sanford.

Loko back at full strength and they chip the puck out to centre.

Puck out of play in the Loko zone with :12 left in the penalty.

Lokomotiv ice it again . . .

Offside Lev on the pass, faceoff at centre ice with 1:39 left in the power play.

Lev forced to retreat in their own zone, still no shots this period.

Holos with the puck in the slot but a nice stick check prevents him from getting a shot away.

Lev move the puck around, Gragnani shoots but it misses and rings around the boards and out of the zone.

Musatov and Oystrick are so far the only players in the penalty box and there are 2:00 up on the side of Lokomotiv, so there must be another player coming. The two of them are jawing back and forth, with Oystrick doing most of the talking.

Offside Lev.

Now to Kartayev in the high slot, shoots wide.

Loko rush, puck dropped to the trailer Kronwall, Vehanen kicks out his wrister.

High slapper from Gragnani misses.

Platt from the point, deflected in front but Vehanen stays with it and makes a stick save.

Now a shot from Azevedo from the boards, caught and held by Sanford. Lev has certainly carried the play this period, thanks in large part to two overlapping power plays.

Puck comes to Novotny in the high slot, he fires it wide.

Offside Lev.

Another shot is deflected on Vehanen, he goes in the butterfly and blocks it.

Play in the Lev zone, long wrister from Vishnevsky turned away by Vehanen.

Big slapper from the point by Mikko Maenpaa, caught and held by Sanford.

Offside Lev.

Big hit in the corner, Nakladal is knocked down and loses his helmet, and skates to the bench. I didn't see who hit him but the play continues.

Puck out of play in the Lokomotiv zone, faceoff inside, we're now back to 5-on-5.

Repik the wrister from the top of the circle, kicked out by Sanford just as the first penalty ends.

Puck worked around to Oystrick, whose wrister is right on Sanford. 1:01 left in the 5-on-3.

Offside Lev, and now we get some pushing and shoving after the whistle.

Back the other way, slapper from Zackrisson, steered aside by Sanford.

Shot from the point by O'Byrne deflected on Sanford, kicked away.

Long wrister from Chernikov, stick save Vehanen.

Lev rush, Sekac the wrister from the left wing, butterfly save Sanford.

Icing Lev.

Now a wrister from Repik, Sanford knocks it down and dives on it for another faceoff.

Lev back at full strength, they get a shot and Sanford stops and covers it.

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

Quite a period for Oystrick, another big hit, this time on Musatov.

Hand pass Lokomotiv in the neutral zone, faceoff at centre ice.

Birner fires a slapper high.

Then the puck comes outside the line and brought back in offside.

Another Lev rush, Vrana to Thornberg, the wrister and Sanford turns it away.

Now a Lev rush, Ridderwall from the slot hits Sanford.

Loko with control off the draw, Janis Sprukts from the boards and Vehanen with another save, and he covers.

A Lokomotiv shoot-in is caught and held by Vehanen.

Now a slapper from Oystrick, Sanford gets a piece of it and deflects it wide.

Maenpaa the wrister from the point, pad save Sanford and then the puck is cleared the length of the ice.

Big collision behind the Lev net between Justin Azevedo and Sergei Plotnikov.

Lokomotiv rush goes offside.

Wrister from Jakub Nakladal rushing from the left wing, right on Sanford and he holds it.

Wrister from the point by Oystrick, caught and held by Sanford.

Offside Lokomotiv.

Now play is stopped for a Lokomotiv player in the Lev crease, faceoff outside.

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

Long wrister from Apalkov, stick save Vehanen.

Big slapper from Ondrej Nemec sails over the glass and out of play, faceoff outside the Lokomotiv blueline.

Offside Lokomotiv.

Kapanen tries to set up Repik for a great chance but the puck hits his skate, Loko back at full strength.

And Loko ice it again, Lev having trouble gettng out of their zone.

Shorthanded 2 on 2 rush for Loko, no shot but they waste a bit of time.

One-time slapper from Gragnani sails wide.

Big hit by Nathan Oystrick on Geoff Platt into the boards. Still no shots.

The national anthems of the Russian Federation and Czech Republic have been played, and the game will start soon.

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.

Starting Lineups:

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

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

Referees: Bulanov, Zakharov. Linesmen: Mikhel, Shikhanov..

Game 1 of the 2014 Western Conference Final went to HC LEV Praha by a score of 3-0. Some Lev fans might be lulled into a false that their team has found the secret to beat this eighth-seeded upstart that powerhouses Dynamo Moscow and SKA St Petersburg couldn´t. That would be a foolish assumption, however. After all, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl also dropped the first games of their series in Moscow and St Petersburg.

"The final score doesn´t reflect the game entirely," warns Lev centre Petr Vrána. "The game was very close and they had a lot of chances. But we got great goaltending from Veha (Petri Vehanen) and were lucky that we were able to score two quick goals, which put us in a good position and the other team under pressure a little."

In a series that features two of the KHL´s top three defensive teams during the regular season, it stands to reason that the team that scores the first goal should have a huge advantage, and when a team can go up two goals -- as Lev did when they got two 45 seconds apart in the first period -- the opposition will have a huge uphill battle.

"(Those two goals) helped us a lot," said defenceman Jakub Nakládal. "Right away we played better. And with the play of Petri in goal, it could have been the game at that point because he was really flawless."

Vehanen stopped all 32 shots he faced, and has now been scored on only once -- a fluky overtime goal during the regular season -- in over 180 minutes of hockey against Lokomotiv this season. At the other end, Curtis Sanford didn´t get much support in front of him. He had heavy traffic in front of him for the first two goals and the third was the result of a horrible turnover in the defensive zone.

"I don´t think we saw the best from (Lokomotiv) though," said Nakládal. Yaroslavl coach Dave King seemed to agree with that statement when he spoke to the media after game 1.

"We have to play better if we want to stay in this series," he said simply. "We had too many penalty minutes and our power play was bad."

Yes, special teams were a decisive factor in game 1. While Lev grabbed the lead on a power-play goal by Ondřej Němec, Lokomotiv´s power play went 0-for-5 and generated very few quality scoring chances. They also took some penalties at a time when they were trying to catch up -- including a five-minute major to Ilya Lyubushkin for a high hit on Lukáš Cingel -- which greatly reduced their chances of a comeback.

Faceoffs in game 1

Lev – 61% – 34 of 56

1. Jiří Novotný – 85% – 11 of 13
2. Niko Kapanen – 77% – 10 of 13
3. Patrik Zackrisson – 50% – 4 of 8
4. Petr Vrána – 39% – 5 of 13

Lokomotiv – 39% – 22 of 56

1. Sprukts – 55% – 6 of 11
2. Kartayev – 46% – 5 of 11
3. Petrov – 40% – 6 of 15
4. Apalkov – 29% – 4 of 14

Another advantage for Lev was in the faceoff circle, where they won 34 of 56 draws in the game. Captain Jiří Novotný was utterly dominant at 11-for-13 and Niko Kapanen not far behind at 10-for-13. On the other side, Janis Sprukts was the only Lokomotiv centre who was over 50 percent, and just barely at 6-for-11. In a series where puck possession could be key, winning faceoffs will be crucial.

Welcome. Game 2 of this Western Conference Final series starts at 19:00 CEST local time in Prague, 21:00 MSK in Yaroslavl, 13:00 EDT.