Vadym Shakhraichuk’s team put up a strong fight against the opponent in the fifth match but unfortunately couldn’t continue the streak.
Sokil (Кyiv) – Kyiv Capitals (Кyiv) – 3:2 (2:0; 1:1; 0:1)
Pucks: 1:0 – Borodai (Zakharov), 03:22; 2:0 – Zakharov (Yanishevskyi, Razumov, power play), 08:26; 2:1 – Panchenko (Chernenko), 22:51; 3:1 – Zakharov (Borodai, Horlushko), 25:31; 3:2 – Sekirko (power play), 45:54
Series score: 4:1
Sokil: Bohdan Diachenko; Vsevolod Tolstushko – Pavlo Dvoretskyi, Roman Blahyi (c) – Viktor Zakharov – Denys Borodai; Oleksii Yanishevskyi – Volodymyr Aleksiuk, Volodymyr Cherdak – Vadym Mazur – Serhii Babynets; Oleksandr Horlushko – Mykyta Polonytskyi, Ruslan Romashchenko – Vasyl-Yuriy Kachan – Maksym Razumov; Oleksandr Filimonov – Maksym Zherebko, Yevhenii Hovorushko – Artem Bondariev – Ihor Sliusar
Head coach: Oleg Shafarenko
Kyiv Capitals: Boris Babik; Danylo Tyshchenko – Deniss Berdniks, Vladyslav Kutsevych – Serhii Chernenko (c) – Yaroslav Panchenko; Pavlo Taran –Valentyn Sirchenko, Andrii Kryvonozhkin – Yevhen Sekirko – Mykyta Oliynyk; Eetu Moksunen – Tymur Lapko, Yehor Bezuhlyi – Mykola Dvornyk – Vladyslav Luhovyi; Kostiantyn Riabenko – Danylo Babchuk, Denys Khonin – Oleksandr Koida – Oleksandr Valkun
Head coach: Vadym Shakhraichuk
Traditionally, in the series’ matches, both teams’ coaches made adjustments. For the Capitals, Vadym Shakhraichuk moved Riabenko to the fourth defensive pair and brought Tyshchenko back to the starting lineup. Valkun replaced Plesovskykh in the fourth link. Meanwhile, Oleg Shafarenko made changes only to the fourth link, where Hovorushko replaced Haiduk.
The game started off fast, with the home team scoring in the fourth minute thanks to Borodai. Capitals found themselves taking early penalties, and Sokil capitalized on the second one, with Zakharov scoring his fifth playoff goal.
In the following period, the away team quickly narrowed the score gap. Despite Shakhraichuk’s team failing to score on the power play, Panchenko seized the opportunity, assisted by Chernenko, scoring his fourth goal in the relegation matches within moments of returning to even strength.
In less than three minutes, Sokil quickly regained a two-goal lead with Zakharov scoring a double after an impressive solo. However, the game was temporarily interrupted due to an air alarm, but thanks to air defense forces, the match resumed after a 20-minute delay.
In the third period, our team managed to narrow the score gap to just one goal. Sekirko scored a sharp-corner shot, beating Diachenko for the second time in the game, and Capitals scored on a power play for the first time.
The visiting team had several chances to force the game into overtime but unfortunately couldn’t capitalize on any of them. Ultimately, Vadym Shakhraichuk’s team lost the series 1:4 and finished the championship in fourth place.
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