TASS, March 1st. Nizhnekamsk “Neftekhimik” on Wednesday away in overtime beat the winner of the regular season Fonbet – Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in the Eastern Conference Kazan “Ak Bars” with a score of 3:2 in the opening match of the series of the first round of the Gagarin Cup.
Pavel Poryadin (14th minute) and Andrey Chivilev (20, 75) scored goals among the winners. The losers scored Stanislav Galiev (21) and Dmitry Kagarlitsky (51).
According to the results of the regular season, Neftekhimik became the eighth in the Eastern Conference. The second match of the playoff series up to four wins will be held on March 3 in Kazan.
For the first time in KHL history, four lower-seeded teams have won the opening games of the first-round playoff series. Salavat Yulaev Ufa, which had previously taken second place in the Eastern Conference following the results of the regular season, lost to Admiral from Vladivostok (1:2 in overtime), which became the seventh. Petersburg SKA (1st place in the Western Conference) lost to Dynamo Minsk (8) with a score of 4:6, and Yaroslavl Lokomotiv (3) lost to Vityaz near Moscow (6) with a score of 0:1 in overtime.
