MOSCOW, March 1 Hockey players of Kazakhstan's Barys outplayed Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the first match of the series 1/8 finals of the Gagarin Cup. The meeting in Magnitogorsk ended in victory for the guests with a score of 3:2 (0:0, 1:0, 2:2). The winners were scored by Tomas Jurcho (23rd and 50th minutes) and Jakob Lilja (41). Linus Wiedell (48) and Nikolai Goldobin (53) scored among the hosts. The score in the series up to four wins was 1-0 in favor of Barys. The next meeting of the teams will take place on March 3 also at the Metallurg arena. On February 16, the KHL Board approved a change in the structure of the 2020/21 season championship. According to the changes adopted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the regular season draw was completed ahead of schedule, and the start of the playoffs was scheduled for March 1. The position of the teams in the conference table was determined by the percentage of wins. «Metallurg» became the best in the regular season with 74% of points scored, «Barys» (51.1% of points) finished eighth in the East. The rivals meet for the fifth time in the KHL playoffs, the team from Kazakhstan managed to win the series once (2019/20).
