Avtomobilist - SKA

Avtomobilist - SKA - 0:6

8 January 2019

In Yekaterinburg, SKA gave HC Avtomobilist no chance in the third match of this particular 2018/2019 KHL regular season away series, thrashing the hosts 6:0!

SKA started with purpose, and after taking a 2:0 lead in the first period, our players never looked back to cruise to a comfortable victory against the Eastern Conference leaders. Igor Shestyorkin, who replaced Magnus Hellberg between the pipes for this match, stopped all 23 shots he faced to earn his seventh shutout of the campaign.

Sergei Plotnikov initially opened the scoring within four minutes, as his wrist shot from the right flank was deflected past Avtomobilist goalkeeper Jakub Kovar by the skate of home defenseman Nikita Tryamkin. Dan Sexton could have instantly got Avtomobilist back on level terms, but after he was denied by Igor Shestyorkin clean through, SKA doubled their money as Alexander Barabanov gifted Andrei Kuzmenko a goal at point blank range with a stunning assist.

In full control of proceedings, SKA practically put the game to bed at the start of the second stanza, with Nikita Gusev sending a whipped wrister beyond Jakub Kovar. Our team rarely gave Avtomobilist a sniff, and in the maiden shift of the third, Nail Yakupov sent a wrist shot into the net for the fourth. Andrei Makarov then replaced Jakub Kovar in the Avtomobilist net, but it made little difference, as Evgeny Ketov finally scored his first of the current season clean through and Artyom Zemchyonok netted on the doorstep to complete an emphatic 6:0 triumph! SKA will now travel to Yaroslavl to play HC Lokomotiv on December 10.

Match protocol:

Avtomobilist - SKA - 0:6 (0:2, 0:1, 0:3)

Goals:

0:1 Plotnikov (Khafizullin, Tikhonov), 03.49

0:2 Kuzmenko (Barabanov), 14.38

0:3 Gusev (Rundblad, Tikhonov), 23.51

0:4 Yakupov (Zemchyonok, Gusev), 40.52

0:5 Ketov (Gavrikov, Kuzmenko), 41.39

0:6 Zemchyonok (Yakupov, Prokhorkin), 50.20

Goalkeepers: Kovar/Makarov - Shestyorkin

Shots on target: 23 - 32

Faceoffs: 20 - 23