SKA – Avtomobilist. Introducing the opponents

REGULAR SEASON

2. SKA: 40 regulation wins, 2 overtime wins, 4 penalty shootout wins, 19 regulation losses, 2 overtime losses, 1 penalty shootout loss, goal difference 220-139, 95 points

9. Avtomobilist: 26 regulation wins, 5 overtime wins, 6 penalty shootout wins, 23 regulation losses, 4 overtime losses, 4 penalty shootout losses, goal difference 163-157, 82 points

MATCH-UPS

05.12.2023. Avtomobilist – SKA – 3:2 SO (Obidin, Kuznetsov, Golyshev SO – Bardakov, Tolchinsky)

30.12.2023. SKA – Avtomobilist – 4:0 (Khairullin, Glotov 2, Gritsyuk)

OUTLOOK

This will be the maiden Gagarin Cup playoff match-up between SKA and Avtomobilist. Mind you, that isn’t surprising given that this is the first season when teams from different conferences are facing each other before the final.

It remains a mystery as to the approach which Avtomobilist will take. On one hand, the Ural-based outfit possess an experienced squad with plenty of attacking firepower, but on the other, head coach Nikolai Zavarukhin likes his team to compete with a strong emphasis on defensive organisation; a tactic which worked wonders against a star-studded Ak Bars side in the first round.

The manner in which Avtomobilist dumped Kazan out of the competition by an emphatic score of 4-1 was an unignorable statement of their intentions. Zavarukhin’s organised team only allowed Ak Bars to score eight goals in the series, with five of them having been conceded in Avtomobilist’s sole defeat of the series in game four (0:5). When you consider that Kazan boast the likes of Alexander Radulov, Vadim Shipachyov, Dmitrij Jaskin and Dmitry Kagarlitsky among their ranks, that statistic becomes even more impressive.

Alongside their notable defensive capabilities, Avtomobilist also demonstrated their potency on the powerplay with four PP goals against the Tatar giants. Defenseman Jesse Blacker and forwards Anatoly Golyshev, Brooks Macek, Curtis Valk and familiar face Sergei Shirokov always provide a huge threat on the man advantage, but they’re just as dangerous when competing 5-on-5 too. Interestingly, former SKA representative Shirokov is already 38 years of age, however the Gagarin Cup champion isn’t showing any signs of slowing up; he picked up a large total of five (3+2) points in five matches against Ak Bars.

Gifted 34-year-old forward Stephane Da Costa has made the trip to Saint Petersburg, although Avtomobilist did recently place the Frenchman in their injury list. Fellow forward Vladimir Kuznetsov hasn’t travelled as a consequence of his injury.

SKA also only required five matches to progress to the quarter-finals, comfortably dealing with the challenge posed by Igor Larionov’s youthful Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod team. However, that triumph was admittedly achieved at an expensive cost, as our team lost key figures Andrei Pedan, Alexander Nikishin, Mikhail Pashnin and Borna Rendulic to injury during the series. 33-year-old forward Pavel Dedunov will replace Nikishin as captain until the latter is fit enough to return.

Forwards Ivan Zinchenko and Vladimir Alistrov remain on the sidelines with their respective injuries. It’s worth noting that SKA-Neva goalkeeper Artemiy Pleshkov and forwards Ilya Fedotov and Kirill Tankov have been called up by boss Roman Rotenberg following our VHL team’s exit from the Petrov Cup playoffs.

The in-form Pleshkov registered a record-breaking 124 (!) saves in game four against AKM on Saturday evening, only conceding in the final knockings of the fifth period of overtime!

SPECIAL TEAMS IN PLAYOFFS

POWERPLAY

SKA: 17 attempts, 4 goals, 23.5% conversion rate (3^rd best)

Avtomobilist: 19 attempts, 4 goals, 21.1% conversion rate (5^th best)

PENALTY KILL

SKA: 20 PKs, 2 goals conceded, 90.0% success rate (6^th best)

Avtomobilist: 20 PKs, 3 goals conceded, 85.0% success rate (8^th best)

PLAYOFF LEADERS

SKA

Goalkeepers

Nikita Serebryakov: 5 games, 4 wins, 93.5% save percentage, 1.51 GAA, 101 saves, 1 shutout, 2 assists

Pavel Moisevich: 1 game, 1 loss, 94.1% save percentage, 1.21 GAA, 16 saves

Defensemen

Maxim Fedotov: 3 (0+3) points, -1

Stepan Falkovsky: 2 (1+1) points, +2

Alexander Nikishin: 1 (1+0) point, +3

Forwards

Vasily Glotov: 7 (3+4) points, +3

Marat Khairullin: 6 (1+5) points, 0

Sergei Tolchinsky: 4 (3+1) points, 0

AVTOMOBILIST

Goalkeepers

Evgeny Alikin: 5 matches, 4 wins, 1 loss, 96.1% save percentage, 1.22 GAA, 122 saves, 1 shutout

Vladimir Galkin: 1 match, 87.0% save percentage, 3.35 GAA, 20 saves

Defensemen

Nick Ebert: 2 (1+1) points, 0

Jesse Blacker: 2 (1+1) points, +2

Nikita Tryamkin: 1 (0+1) point, +2

Forwards

Sergei Shirokov: 5 (2+3) points, 0

Anatoly Golyshev: 4 (4+0) points, +4

Brooks Macek: 4 (1+3) points, -1

SERIES SCHEDULE

Game one: March 17th (Saint Petersburg)

Game two: March 19th (Saint Petersburg)

Game three: March 21st (Yekaterinburg)

Game four: March 23rd (Yekaterinburg)

Game five*: March 25th (Saint Petersburg)

Game six*: March 27th (Yekaterinburg)

Game seven*: March 29th (Saint Petersburg)

*If required

Four wins are required to progress to the next phase of the competition.

WHERE TO WATCH

Live broadcasts will be available to purchase on the KHL’s official website. We will provide text updates over on X.