Lacklustre Friday night against Minsk

13 November 2026

It was another thoroughly forgettable evening at the SKA Arena, as our team suffered a 1:4 setback to Dinamo Minsk.

Wasting a handful of clear opportunities along the way, SKA were off the pace for the second consecutive game and conceded their fair share of cheap goals.

After SKA hadn't made use of a full 5-on-3 powerplay, the Belarusians opened the scoring in the 13th minute on a man advantage of their own with Stanislav Galiyev whipping home over Artemiy Pleshkov's glove.

Nevertheless, our response arrived a mere five minutes later as Sergei Sapego thumped beyond Zach Fucale after connecting with a superb feed from Nikita Nedopyokin.

The decisive moment arrived in the 26th minute.

Seconds after Amir Nugmanov had failed to turn the puck into the gaping net with Fucale having been caught out of position, German Suzdorf inadvertently turned Sam Anas' pass over the line.

The remainder of proceedings saw SKA huff and puff without ever putting Minsk under a sustained period of pressure. And, with a little over four minutes remaining on the clock, Daniil Lipsky practically ended the game as a contest when banking the puck in off our goalkeeper's back from a tight angle.

Pleshkov was then pulled in favour of the extra skater, but that only resulted in Nicolas Aube-Kubel hitting the empty net.

SKA will now prepare to host Traktor Chelyabinsk in Saint Petersburg on Sunday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:00 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA - Dinamo Minsk - 1:4 (1:1, 0:1, 0:2)

Goals:

0:1 Galiyev (Limoges, Tierney), 12.23 PPG

1:1 Sapego (Nedopyokin, Romanov), 17.37

1:2 Anas (Smith, Tierney), 26.32

1:3 Lipsky (Khenkel, Limoges), 55.43

1:4 Aube-Kabel (Brook), 59.12 EN

Goalkeepers: Pleshkov - Fucale

Shots: 75 - 50