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Watch Ilya Kovalchuk hack down Alex Radulov during KHL playoffs (Video)

KHL / YouTube

The KHL’s Gagarin Cup playoffs have reached the conference finals and in the West it’s SKA versus CSKA, which you could describe as Ilya Kovalchuk against Alex Radulov.

Radulov and CSKA took Game 1 on Thursday 3-0, but it wasn’t without a bit of controversy involving the former NHLers.

Late in the third period, Kovalchuk and Radulov tangled in what appeared to be a little harmless contact as CSKA exited the SKA zone. As the puck was turned over in the neutral zone, Radulov collected it, skated it back and dropped it off to a teammate. That’s when Kovachuk gave him a chop to the back of the leg:

Radulov, who scored the game’s opening goal, is expected to play in Game 2 on Saturday. Kovalchuk was given two minutes for slashing and didn’t have time for questions afterward:

Via Pavel Lysenkov:

Said Radulov, via (translated) sport.ru: “With me everything is fine, I will play. Kovalchuk act? Sometimes, people are psycho. What can you do?"

Indeed, Alex. Indeed.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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