Avangard Omsk drew first blood in its Gagarin Cup final series on Friday with Alexander Perezhogin's third-period goal snatching a 2-1 win over Dynamo Moscow.
The Russian slammed home a rebound after Dynamo goaltender Alexander Yeremenko made a double save from Roman Cervenka and Nikita Pivtsakin.
Cervenka opened the scoring from close range in the first period, after the home team failed to capitalize on a numerical advantage on the ice with Dynamo forward Leonid Komarov returning from the sin bin.
It was an 11th playoff series goal for the Czech.
Komarov hit an equalizer on 31 minutes to restore an unlikely parity after Avangard laid seige to Yeremeko's goal.
The next game is Sunday.