Late drama as SKA fall to Dynamo

11 January 2025

SKA thought they had rescued a point against Dynamo away in Moscow, but a last-gasp winner from the home team on the powerplay condemned us to an avoidable 4:5 loss.

Alexander Nikishin had initially got us back on level terms in the closing stages, but after Sergei Plotnikov had committed tripping inside the attacking zone, familiar face Nikita Gusev stole the points for Dynamo in dramatic fashion.

A grand total of five (!) goals were witnessed during an enthralling first period!

Yegor Rimashevsky initially bundled in the opener for Dynamo in the third minute, but SKA were already ahead by the fifth.

Pavel Akolzin connected with Mikhail Grigorenko’s accurate feed, before Zakhar Bardakov tapped Nikishin’s wrister in. Fast forward to the eight-minute mark and it was three, as Nikishin gave a flowing counter-attack the perfect finish.

However, our defensive woes hadn’t gone anywhere.

Dmitry Rashevsky punished SKA for another mistake at the back in the 16^th minute when thumping the puck beyond Yegor Zavragin. In truth, Zavragin was receiving next to no help in front of him, tallying 15 saves in the first stanza alone and making a handful of wonderful stops at point-blank range.

The fired-up Muscovites eventually found their equaliser midway through the second period.

Maxim Dzhioshvili opted to take aim when powering towards our net, with his ensuing wrister deceiving Zavragin thanks to a wicked ricochet off Ilya Karpukhin.

That goal arrived not long after Plotnikov and Bardakov had wasted glorious chances on the break-away.

Continuing to take advantage of our defensive mishaps, Dynamo grabbed their second go-ahead goal of proceedings in the 36^th minute, as Maxime Comtois turned the puck in from the doorstep having escaped the attentions of the SKA defence.

Dynamo looked certain to double their advantage with a mere four seconds remaining in the stanza, but Zavragin came up trumps with an incredible pad save to somehow deny the clean-through Rashevsky and keep SKA within touching distance.

Zavragin continued to keep SKA alive with his heroics in the third period.

His crucial saves looked to have earned a valuable point for SKA, as Nikishin made it four-apiece in the 57^th minute with a firm wrist shot through traffic.

A rejuvenated SKA were looking the more likely side to find a winner. But, after Plotnikov had tripped in attack with only 32 seconds left on the clock, Gusev got the better of the impressive Zavragin from the left circle.

Our next game is scheduled for Monday against Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Dynamo Moscow – SKA – 5:4 (2:3, 2:0, 1:1)

Goals:

1:0 Rimashevsky (Ilyenko, Dzhioshvili), 02.01

1:1 Akolzin (Grigorenko), 04.08

1:2 Bardakov (Nikishin, Plotnikov), 04.39

1:3 Nikishin (Gritsyuk, Bardakov), 07.17

2:3 Rashevsky (Paquette, Comtois), 15.32

3:3 Dzhioshvili (Ilyenko, Sizov), 29.56

4:3 Comtois (Paquette, Rashevsky), 35.13

4:4 Nikishin (Gritsyuk, Andronov), 56.26