Late comeback yields one point in Kazan

15 November 2024

SKA launched a dramatic two-goal comeback in the latter stages of a thrilling duel against Ak Bars in Kazan, but the Tatar hosts eventually got the job done in overtime to condemn our players to a 2:3 away loss in the 2024/2025 KHL regular season.

We were staring defeat in the face when Kazan doubled their advantage with less than five minutes remaining, but Tony DeAngelo and Marat Khairullin – the latter scoring with a mere 22 seconds left on the clock – initially saved the day for SKA in memorable fashion.

However, after SKA had killed a penalty taken by Vasily Glotov for slashing in the extra frame, Kirill Semyonov netted a sensational winner when 1-on-1 with the impressive Yegor Zavragin in the concluding minute.

Ak Bars broke the deadlock at the end of the second stanza in rather regrettable circumstances from our point of view. Following a sloppy passing error on the powerplay, SKA allowed Semyon Koshelev to skate through unchallenged, and he bundled the puck over the line with Zavragin unable to freeze it.

The Tatarstan-based organisation looked to have sealed the deal when Yegor Korshkov carefully slid the puck in with a neat move on the counter.

SKA, however, had other ideas DeAngelo cut the deficit from distance in the 58th minute with Sergei Plotnikov effectively blocking Timur Bilyalov’s view, before Khairullin got the better of the Ak Bars goaltender with a sharp wrister following a faceoff draw inside the attacking zone.

Unfortunately, our late show was only good enough for one point though, as Semyonov iced it with 25 seconds remaining in OT.

SKA will now prepare to host Amur Khabarovsk in Saint Petersburg on Monday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Ak Bars – SKA – 3:2 OT (0:0, 1:0, 1:2, 1:0)

Goals:

1:0 Koshelev (Semyonov), 38.47 SHG

2:0 Korshkov (Koshelev), 55.21

2:1 DeAngelo (Kuznetsov, Plotnikov), 57.41

2:2 Khairullin (Vorobyov), 59.38

3:2 Semyonov, 64.35

Goalkeepers: Bilyalov – Zavragin

Shots: 73 – 75