MOSCOW, March 25 (R-Sport) - Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk beat Sibir Novosibirsk 3-2 on the road Tuesday to secure a 4-2 series whitewash and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
As the first team to reach a conference finals Metallurg, the top-seed in the East, will now enjoy valuable downtime while the other conference semifinal is resolved. The 2011 champion Salavat Yulaev Ufa leads Kazakhstan's Barys Astana 2-1 in that best-of-seven series.
Despite being outshot 32-26 against Sibir on Tuesday, Metallurg came out with the win thanks to a double from Sergei Mozyakin, who moves to second top scorer in the playoffs so far with 14 points from eight games, behind only SKA St. Petersburg's Roman Cervenka with 15.
Danis Zaripov put Metallurg ahead on 5:42 of the first period before Ivan Lekomtsev replied with a goal for Sibir less than four minutes later. Mozyakin then hit his two goals, one in the last minute of the first period, then midway through the second period.
Dmitry Kugryshev's goal for Sibir early in the third period ensured a tense finish, but Metallurg held on to book its place in the Eastern Conference final.
In the West, both series are tied at 2-2 as SKA battles Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in an all-Russian matchup, while Ukraine's Donbass Donetsk struggles with Czech team Lev Prague.
