Ak Bars - SKA - 0:1. Game Two

The second match of the KHL Gagarin Cup final took place in Kazan, where hosts Ak Bars faced SKA inside the Tatneft Arena. One change was made to the line-up today, with defenceman Yury Alexandrov stepping in to replace Maxim Chudinov. Anders Nilsson was still Mikko Koskinen’s opposite number for Ak Bars.

Unlike on Saturday it was Ak Bars who had the better of the opening moments, and they immediately put our team under pressure. Mikko Koskinen had to make a flying save at point blank range just seconds in, and then Ilya Nikulin slapped inches wide of the far post. Despite that pressure SKA did eventually settle into the game, and Patrick Thoresen and Ilya Kovalchuk combined brilliantly for Tony Martensson to fire into the goalkeeper’s chest. With only a minute left in the period however that miss was made up for. Anton Burdasov charged down the left wing, gathered up his own rebound, and wristed brilliantly into the far corner.

Naturally it was the hosts who would hold the initiative again moving on into the second, and Mikko Koskinen was put under some serious heat. Igor Mirnov freed himself up on the doorstep, and our goaltender got across just in time to keep out his goalbound effort. Ak Bars were constantly drawing penalties out of SKA, and after the right post was thumped the save of the match was made. A huge slapper was whacked in from the blue line, and Mikko flashed leather in dramatic style to keep it out. Our team did have their own chances with a man’s advantage too, and Ilya Kovalchuk and Andrey Kuteikin had a number of one timers stoned by Anders Nilsson.

The momentum shifted during the third period, as surprisingly it was now Ak Bars who were getting in some penalty trouble. Midway through the period the puck fell at Artemiy Panarin’s skates, he had a completely open right corner of the net to aim at, however somehow he wristed against the woodwork. Ak Bars were the next to be denied by the frame of the goal, as Artyom Lukoyanov hit the near post with a fairly harmless looking slap shot glove side. Despite pulling Anders Nilsson for the extra skater that’s as close as they would get, as SKA held on to take a crucial 1:0 victory away from Kazan to move ahead in the series 2:0!

Match protocol:

Ak Bars – SKA – 0:1 (0:1, 0:0, 0:0)

Goals:

0:1 Burdasov (Rukavishnikov), 19.01

Goalkeepers: Nilsson – Koskinen

Shots: 19 – 20

Penalty minutes: 10 – 8

Faceoffs: 35 – 22

Blocked shots: 10 – 16

Hits: 11 – 11

Referees: Ronn, Jerabek

13.04.2015. Tatneft Arena, Kazan. Attendance 8285.