RIA Novosti / Vitaly Belousov

Salavat Yulaev have beaten Atlant, 3-2, at home to win the Gagarin Cup for the first time.

The regular season runners-up were the favorites to win the trophy. They came into this match as hosts and needing just one more victory, holding a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Andrey Taratukhin duly opened for them after eight minutes and the score remained the same, until four minutes into the third period, when the underdogs leveled through Jan Marek.

This set up a frantic final five minutes. Andrey Kuteykin put Salavat back in front, and a minute later Aleksandr Svitov made it 3-1.

But the game wasn’t over. Within 26 seconds, Aleksey Glukhov had made it 3-2 to make sure there would be a nailbiting last three minutes.

But Salavat hung on and lifted their maiden KHL championship trophy.