KHL Gagarin Cup Final

About this event

The Gagarin Cup Final is the championship series of the Kontinental Hockey League, played as a best-of-seven between the winners of the Eastern and Western Conference play-offs. The trophy is named after Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, and was first awarded in 2009 at the end of the league's inaugural season. The KHL was founded in 2008 as the successor to the Russian Superleague and was built from the outset as a cross-border competition, with clubs drawn from several countries alongside its Russian core. It is played on international-sized ice, wider than the North American rink, which favours skating and puck movement over the tighter physical game, and the play-off format is long: four rounds of best-of-seven series stretching the postseason across roughly two months. Games alternate between the two finalists' home arenas according to regular-season seeding. The 2027 final series window runs from 1 to 20 May.