Gagarin Cup Results 2025

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl defeated Traktor Chelyabinsk in the fifth match of the final playoff series of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). For the team that recovered from the 2011 plane crash, this is the first triumph in 22 years. 

The meeting in Yaroslavl at Arena 2000 ended in overtime with a score of 2:1 in favor of the hosts. Martin Herat and Maxim Shalunov scored goals for the winners, while Alexander Kadeikin scored the only Tractor goal. The final series was left for Lokomotiv — 4-1.

This season's final was the second in a row for Lokomotiv. Last year, in the decisive series, Yaroslavl lost dryly to Magnitogorsk Metallurg — 0-4. Without greatly changing the composition and retaining the head coach Igor Nikitin. However, this year, at the crucial stage, everything did not start very well. Lokomotiv lost the first match of the series to Traktor on its own court. That meeting ended with a score of 2:1, and Chelyabinsk scored both of their goals within a minute.

In the next three matches of the series, Lokomotiv won, and in two cases with a confident three-goal difference of 4:1 and 5:2. Another match ended with a score of 3:1 in favor of Yaroslavl. It is worth noting that Traktor lost both meetings on its own ice during the series. The last match in Yaroslavl turned out to be the most stubborn. The hosts led 1-0, conceded in the third period and only managed to win thanks to the puck in overtime.

Lokomotiv won the Gagarin Cup on the third attempt. For the whole sport, Lokomotiv has become an example of how a team that has gone through a tragedy can achieve victories again, not by buying players and quickly winning trophies, but by carefully cultivating a team while maintaining ties with their native place. Yaroslavtsev's success has become one of the most dramatic and romantic sports stories at the same time. To confirm this, the Lokomotiv hockey players first took the Gagarin Cup to the memorial dedicated to the deceased teammates.