The second stage of the Gagarin Cup playoffs is a series of games between the clubs that have made their way to the quarterfinal stage. The conference semifinals start on March 7, 2016.
According to the results of the first round of the 2015-2016 Gagarin Cup playoffs, the teams participating in the semifinal stage within the KHL conferences were determined. The four best teams from West and East will compete for the right to play in the Garin Cup semi-finals.
Western conference
In the West, the first stage of the playoffs was successfully overcome by Ska, Dynamo (Moscow), CSKA and Torpedo (Nizhny Novgorod). The first games of the quarterfinals start on March 7th.
The rules of the tournament determined the face-to-face confrontation between the St. Petersburg “army team” and the Moscow “Dynamo”. Ska defeated Lokomotiv from Yaroslavl in 1/8 of the Gagarin Cup, and Dynamo beat the club from the capital of the 2016 Winter Olympic Games.
The second semifinal pair of the Western Conference was made by the winners of the regular season, the Moscow “army team” and the hockey players of the Nizhny Novgorod “Torpedo”. The former defeated Slovan Bratislava in four matches, and the latter defeated the Finnish Jokerit in a stubborn confrontation of six meetings.
Eastern Conference
In the Eastern Conference, the playoffs traditionally start a day later than the West. The first meetings of the four best hockey teams from the East will begin on March 8th.
Avangard Omsk, which overcame the resistance of Neftekhimik at the first stage, will play in the quarterfinals of the 2015-2016 Gagarin Cup with Salavat Yulaev from Ufa. The best team of the East following the results of the regular season (Avangard) will be opposed by a club from Ufa, which managed to beat Ak Bars Kazan in a dramatic series of seven matches.
The second semi-final pair in the East is no less tense. Metallurg Magnitogorsk will play with Siberia (Novosibirsk). It is noteworthy that these clubs in the last Gagarin Cup also met at this stage. Then the Novosibirsk people became triumphant. It is very difficult to predict how the series will end this season. The Urals will start the match at home, which makes the home field advantageous for Metallurg.
