In the aftermath of the fifth game of the Gagarin Cup quarter-final series, St. Petersburg SKA faced sharp scrutiny from St. Alexander Medvedev, the club’s chairman of the board. He criticized the officiating and indicated the team’s disappointment with the refereeing decisions that helped decide the outcome in favor of Avtomobilist, ultimately contributing to SKA’s elimination from the playoff race. The remarks were shared on the Telegram channel of SKA’s media team, reflecting a common thread across the season of disputed calls that fans and officials have debated long after the final horn. (Source: club communications)
Medvedev pointed to moments during the playoffs and the fifth game in particular where he believed a pivotal call went against SKA. He voiced concern that evaluative judgments during the match, especially those affecting key plays, had a lasting impact on the team’s chances. He also noted a broader pattern this season, underscoring that controversial decisions, in his view, were not isolated to one game but part of a larger trend that affected the club on multiple occasions. (Source: internal review and post-game commentary)
That fifth game concluded with Avtomobilist securing a 5-4 victory. Among Avtomobilist’s contributors, Alexey Byvaltsev, Nick Ebert, Andrey Obidin, and Alexey Makeev provided the decisive shots. On SKA’s side, Mikhail Vorobyov, Marat Khairullin, and Arseniy Gritsyuk managed two goals apiece, highlighting a tightly contested period where every goal mattered. With this result, Avtomobilist stretched its series lead to 4-1, narrowing SKA’s path to the next round and intensifying the scrutiny on game management and officiating decisions that influenced momentum. (Source: game summary and post-game notes)
Looking ahead, the semi-final landscape was set to pair Avtomobilist against the winner of the Spartak Moscow versus Metallurg Magnitogorsk series. After three games in that series, Metallurg held a 2-1 edge, signaling an intriguing matchup between the club led by disciplined defensive play and an Avtomobilist squad that had established offensive rhythm under playoff pressure. (Source: playoff update brief)
As the race for the Gagarin Cup progressed, CSKA stood as the reigning champion, having captured the title at the 100th anniversary of the club’s founding on April 29, 2023. That historic triumph came after a decisive seventh-game victory over Ak Bars Kazan in the final series. With the current playoffs underway, both CSKA and Ak Bars found themselves eliminated in the first round, signaling a new chapter in the competition and inviting renewed scrutiny of team strategies and officiating across the league. (Source: league championship recap)
Earlier in the season, SKA had faced a turning point that signaled a harsh setback in the Gagarin Cup pursuit, an event that remained a talking point for supporters and analysts alike as the campaign moved forward. The reflection on that moment formed part of the broader discussion about consistency, officiating discretion, and the long arc of playoff performance for the Saint Petersburg club. (Source: season review)