Barys - SKA

Barys - SKA - 4:2

28 October 2015

SKA made the trip to Kazakhstan to take on HC Barys Astana. This fixture had a number of sub plots, the headline being Andrei Nazarov’s first game as Barys head coach against SKA. Ex SKA defenceman Kevin Dallman also took part, and Jan Laco was in their net. For SKA Sergei Zubov swapped Nikita Gusev for Evgeny Artyukhin in the fourth line, while Mikko Koskinen was kept in net.

It was Barys’ first match inside their brand new arena in Astana, and they looked full of nerves during the opening stages. Our team immediately dictated the pace of the game, and broke through within three minutes. Anton Burdasov skated beyond the blue line, wristed with pace, and fired high into the left corner. SKA continued to dominate after that goal, and had a number of clear cut chances to double their money. Dinar Khafizullin could only hit the goalkeeper when alone on the left, and Vadim Shipachyov was denied by the right pad following a beautiful passing play. The players then began to get in penalty trouble though, and with a two man advantage Barys tied it up. Kevin Dallman teed up Nigel Dawes on the right faceoff circle, and he one timed past Mikko Koskinen. The hosts were slowly growing into the game, however Evgeny Dadonov passed up a golden opportunity to reinstate SKA’s lead. Evading the home defence he slipped clean through, but failed to beat Jan Laco.

The game was wide open going into the second period, and after Vadim Shipachyov backhanded wide one on one Barys took the lead. Roman Savchenko slapped at the blue line, and it slipped beyond our unsighted goaltender. SKA managed to wrestle back the initiative after that though, and on the powerplay made the game level again. Ilya Kovalchuk fed Maxim Chudinov, and the latter's thunderbolt was tipped in by Evgeny Dadonov. Barys didn’t like that, and the rest of the frame belonged to them. The Kazakhs were upping the intensity, and Mikko Koskinen made two stunning saves to keep our team on terms. First of all Brandon Bochenski was robbed by Mikko’s left pad at point blank range, and then our Finnish wall somehow clawed a rebound effort off the line.

Any goal was going to prove crucial now, and unfortunately it was scored by Barys. Speeding away on the break Nigel Dawes took up the puck at the high slot, and rifled beyond Mikko’s blocker. The hosts had all the momentum now, and they made it 4:2 almost instantly. Again on a rush the puck was set back to the point, and Konstantin Romanov found the five hole. SKA were up against it, and didn’t create any real openings in the remaining fourteen minutes. Jan Laco was comfortably dealing with slap shots from distance, and a late Roman Rukavishnikov double minor practically finished the game. 2:4 today, and SKA will next take to the ice on the 10^th of November at home to HC Dynamo Moscow.

Match protocol:

Barys – SKA – 4:2 (1:1, 1:1, 2:0)

Goals:

0:1 Burdasov (Rukavishnikov, Zubarev), 02.02

1:1 Dawes (Dallman, Lundin), 15.17

2:1 Savchenko (Dawes, Bochenski), 24.56

2:2 Dadonov (Kovalchuk, Chudinov), 28.55

3:2 Dawes (Bochenski), 42.41

4:2 Romanov (Krasnoslobodtsev, Saint Pierre), 45.12

Goalkeepers: Laco – Koskinen

Shots on target: 34 – 32

Penalty minutes: 8 – 14