Avangard - SKA

Avangard - SKA - 1:4

26 October 2015

SKA’s third match of this away series took place today against HC Avangard in Omsk. With Nikita Gusev and Evgeny Ketov eligible to take part Sergei Zubov shuffled the team around, and Ilya Ezhov replaced Mikko Koskinen. Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov and Evgeny Artyukhin dropped out of the team, while Ilya Kovalchuk was kept with Vadim Shipachyov and Evgeny Dadonov in the first line. Dominik Furch was Avangard’s netminder.

Being the away team it was no surprise to see SKA let Avangard control the pace of the game, and we managed to comfortably keep the Siberians at bay. Very few shots on goal were seen during the opening frame, as Avangard had chances only on the powerplay. Vladimir Sobotka came the closest, but alone on the right wing he wristed directly into Ilya Ezhov. As time went on our players began to skate forward more often, and Joakim Lindstrom fired against the goaltender’s blocker when clean through. Confidence was building, and seven minutes from the buzzer the deadlock was broken. Jarno Koskiranta hung back at the point, slapped with power, and found the net glove side. That was just what the team needed, and the frame was seen out with minimal fuss.

Avangard took the tempo up a notch at the beginning of the second, and began to keep the puck deep inside our zone for long periods. Nevertheless they failed to create any real scoring chances, and when called upon Ilya Ezhov was solid. His one true save came against Yury Petrov, as when on a two on one down the right the Avangard forward shot into Ilya’s glove. Our players were still looking for opportunities on the counter, and Evgeny Ketov almost made it two when smacking the crossbar on the slot. Alexander Dergachyov then had a wraparound attempt stoned before Alexander Barabanov couldn’t get a shot away when clean through, however at the end of the period Avangard did have a chance to level. Martin Erat’s pass was taken up by Sergey Shirokov, but on the doorstep his one timer was covered by our netminder.

The hosts earned a very quick powerplay as the third period got underway, and just after that expired they tied it up out of nothing. Vladimir Sobotka moved past the blue line, and caught Ilya Ezhov cold with a sharp effort. That threw our team a bit, however they found an instant response. Yegor Yakovlev cut to the crease, set it back for Evgeny Dadonov, and he made no mistake. Avangard looked to be flattened by that goal, and SKA took full advantage. With Kirill Semyonov in the box Andrei Kuteikin took aim on the left faceoff circle, and he struck the jackpot. The home fans were rather quiet now, and they were to be hit by more disappointment. Ilya Kovalchuk fed Joakim Lindstrom, and all alone the Swede deftly flicked into the net to practically finish the game. Apart from one big Ilya Ezhov stop against Denis Parshin at close range SKA calmly saw out the game, and take away a vital 4:1 victory from Omsk! The next match will take place against HC Barys Astana in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Match protocol:

Avangard – SKA – 1:4 (0:1, 0:0, 1:3)

Goals:

0:1 Koskiranta (Khafizullin), 12.34

1:1 Sobotka (Erat, Kempny), 42.48

1:2 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Yakovlev), 45.57

1:3 Kuteikin (Dadonov, Shipachyov), 46.55

1:4 Lindstrom (Kovalchuk), 50.07

Goalkeepers: Furch – Ezhov

Shots on target: 23 – 28

Penalty minutes: 8 – 8

Faceoffs: 32 – 31