This Week in the KHL: April 4 2012

This past week has seen some shocking news comingout of the KHL's Gagarin Cup playoffs. First off, Metallurg Magnitogorsk'sgoalie coach went AWOL after the club was knocked out. Now there has been amassive upset that is not as random as people may think. Could perhaps beanother upset as well. The finals should be incredible once the Eastfinal wraps up.

Western Conference,

(1) SKA St.Petersburg vs (3) Dynamo Moscow

(Dynamo wins 4 - 0)

Dynamo Moscow was able to continue their incredibleplayoff run by sweeping SKA. Moscow has now won 12 of 14 playoff games as theycruise into the championship series. They didn't just beat SKA they literallydemolished them. Outscoring them 16 - 7 over the four games, Moscow was lockedin and seems to be unbeatable. Forwards Mikhail Anisin and Konstantin Gorovikovlead the way for Dynamo. Anisin leads the playoffs with 13 goals and Gorovikovleads in assists with 9. Dynamo goalie Alexander Yeryomenko was incrediblethroughout the series posting a 1.75 GAA.

Dynamo's Mikhail Anisin

This was a disappointing result for SKA, but it istheir own fault to a certain extent. They should never have allowed a 3goallead to be destroyed in a single period in game one. Winning at home is anecessity when it comes to playoff hockey. SKA was not able to grab a win athome, which dug far to deep a hole to climb out of on the road. Putting 22shots on net in game four was a weak effort for them; after all you have toshoot to score. Interestingly enough, SKA forward Vladimir Tarasenko, clubleader in playoff goals, didn't put a shot on net in game four.

Hats off to Dynamo Moscow on an incredible series!

Eastern Conference,

(1) Traktor Chelyabinsk vs (2) Avangard Omsk Region

(Avangard leads series 3 - 1)

Another sunning upset in the making, Avangardclearly did their homework for this series. They have completely shutdown theTraktor offence in this series. Traktor has only been able to score once in thelast two games and Avangard has taken full advantage of that. Offense winsgames but defense wins championships, is very true for Omsk. Basing theirsuccess on a combination of goalie Karri Ramo and solid defense is paying off.Ramo ranks third in playoff GAA with 1.57. Avangard forward Roman Cervenka isthe team leader in goals and has only scored once in the series. The strategicplay of Omsk has been very impressive.

Traktor's Vladimir Antipov has a team leading 7 playoff goals,
he hasn't scored in the series.

Traktor needs a change of strategy if they are tofight off elimination in game five. They are playing good hockey on the whole,but they need to find a way through a top notch defense. Forward EvgenyKuznetsov has been on a tear since returning. As good as he is, he can'tcontinuously break through such a strong defense as well as a goalie. They canwin if they get bodies in front of the net and open up a shooting gallery onRamo. Luckily enough for Traktor, game five is in their building, huge make orbreak home game. Game time is 8am EST on Friday.

Avangard has earned a pat on the back!