SKA – Dinamo Minsk. Introducing the opponents

WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS

1. SKA: 40 regulation wins, 6 overtime wins, 4 penalty shootout wins, 13 regulation defeats, 3 overtime defeats, 2 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 243-150, 105 points;

8. Dinamo Minsk: 21 regulation wins, 4 overtime wins, 2 penalty shootout wins, 27 regulation defeats, 7 overtime defeats, 7 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 175-201, 68 points.

SPECIAL TEAMS DURING REGULAR SEASON

POWERPLAY

4. SKA: 248 powerplays, 55 powerplay goals, 22.2% conversion rate;

17. Dinamo Minsk: 242 powerplays, 39 powerplay goals, 16.1% conversion rate.

PENALTY KILL

1. SKA: 227 penalty kills, 27 goals conceded, 88.1% success rate;

8. Dinamo Minsk: 290 penalty kills, 50 goals conceded, 82.8% success rate.

REGULAR SEASON MEETINGS

01.10.2022: Dinamo Minsk – SKA – 1:5 (Varfolomeev - Khairullin, Kamalov, Jaskin, Volkov, Groshev);

11.10.2022: SKA – Dinamo Minsk – 3:2 OT (Volkov, Ozhiganov, Glotov - Varfolomeev, Gilmour);

15.11.2022: SKA – Dinamo Minsk – 7:2 (Glotov, Jaskin 2, Zykov, Volkov, Gusev, Falkovsky - Varfolomeev, Sapego).;

08.12.2022: Dinamo Minsk – SKA – 3:5 (Moroz, Duszak, Martynov - Gusev 2, Zhafyarov, Jaskin, Volkov).

OUTLOOK

Whereas SKA comfortably won the Continental Cup in first place of the overall standings, Dinamo Minsk endured a fierce battle with Spartak Moscow just to even qualify for the playoffs. Nevertheless, as a result of Spartak’s poor form and a nervy 2:1 away triumph at Vityaz Moscow Region in their concluding game of the regular season, the Belarusians squeezed rather unconvincingly into the knockout phase of the campaign.

Don’t let that fool you though. Despite their inconsistency, Minsk boast a strong side full of attacking firepower, with the likes of Nick Merkley, Brandon Kozun, Ryan Spooner and Cedric Paquette capable of asking serious questions of any opposing defence. Fellow Canadians Shawn Lalonde, John Gilmour and American Joseph Duszak will provide a potent threat from the blue line.

Given that the experienced Craig Woodcroft has long been in charge of Dinamo, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see that his team certainly possesses a huge North American influence both in terms of tactics and transfer policy. Taking into account the quality of the players available at his disposal, the 53-year-old would surely have hoped to finish higher up in the standings.

Interestingly, this is the third consecutive year in which these two sides will face each other in the opening round of the playoffs. As usual, we can expect Minsk to display an attack-minded, high-octane approach on the ice, but their ambitious play regularly leaves them horribly exposed at the back – something which SKA are only too happy to take advantage of. Dinamo have the potential to score their fair share of goals in this series, but they’re in danger of conceding a ton more if they don’t fix their defensive woes. Minsk did indeed concede more goals in the regular season than any other playoff participant (201).

SKA loanee Nikita Zorkin (defenseman), Yegor Klavdiev (forward) and Nikita Pyshkaylo (forward) will miss the start of the series as a consequence of injury problems. Even though he normally always seems to score against SKA, forward Pavel Varfolomeev has not been taken to Saint Petersburg for the first two games either. 22-year-old Konstantin Shostak is expected to start the series in Dinamo’s net ahead of fellow young gun Alexei Kolosov (21).

In 2021 and 2022, SKA comfortably advanced to the second round by defeating Dinamo 4-1 and 4-0 respectively. It’s worth pointing out that Minsk’s last win against SKA in a competitive game was during the 2021/2022 playoff series.

REGULAR SEASON LEADERS

SKA

GOALKEEPERS

Dmitry Nikolaev: 32 wins, 8 defeats, save percentage 92.9%, goals against average 1.98, 3 shutouts;

Vladislav Podyapolsky: 6 wins, 7 defeats, save percentage 90.0%, goals against average 2.66;

Sergei Ivanov: 1 win, save percentage 95.7%, goals against average 1.12.

DEFENSEMEN

Alexander Nikishin: 55 (11+44) points, +19;

Igor Ozhiganov: 37 (11+26) points, +11;

Stepan Falkovsky: 21 (8+13) points, +23.

FORWARDS

Dmitrij Jaskin: 62 (40+22) points, +21;

Marat Khairullin: 54 (28+26) points, +9;

Nikita Gusev: 49 (23+26) points, +10.

DINAMO MINSK

GOALKEEPERS

Alexei Kolosov: 15 wins, 24 defeats, save percentage 91.2%, goals against average 2.55;

Konstantin Shostak: 12 wins, 17 defeats, save percentage 90.9%, goals against average 2.76, 1 shutout.

DEFENSEMEN

Joseph Duszak: 45 (9+36) points, -8;

Sergei Sapego: 17 (4+13) points, +4;

Shawn Lalonde: 14 (1+13) points, -1.

FORWARDS

Ryan Spooner: 47 (19+28) points, -24;

Nick Merkley: 40 (20+20) points, +1;

Vladimir Alistrov: 29 (12+17) points, -1.

SERIES SCHEDULE

Games one, two: Saint Petersburg (March 1, 3);

Games three, four: Minsk, Belarus (March 5, 7);

Game five*: Saint Petersburg (March 9);

Game six*: Minsk, Belarus (March 11);

Game seven*: Saint Petersburg (March 13).

*If required

WHERE TO WATCH

Live broadcasts will be provided online at khl.ru. Text updates will be available on our official Twitter account.