Dinamo Minsk - SKA

Dinamo Minsk - SKA - 1:7

18 February 2015

SKA began their final away series of the 2014/2015 KHL regular season against Dinamo Minsk, in Belarus. Head coach Vyacheslav Bykov opted not to juggle the team around after beating Jokerit 2:1 on penalty shots in Saint Petersburg, although goaltender Ilya Ezhov was handed his first start after returning from Lada back in December 2014.

There was only one team to get out of the blocks in this one, and it was SKA. Immediately Dinamo goaltender Lars Haugen was involved in the action, and he was soon picking the puck out from the back of his net. Ilya Kovalchuk burst through one on one, and he clinically went five hole. SKA kept on the pressure, and Tony Martensson could have made it two when all alone to the right of the slot. That miss was made up for straight away however, as Yevgeni Ketov’s dish from the right wing was tapped home by Vadim Shipachyov far post.

Moving on into the second stanza Dinamo still couldn’t get anything going, and Ilya Ezhov in SKA’s net was practically a spectator. At the other end however our players kept on the heat, and Ilya Kovalchuk failed to find the net when all alone at point blank range. That third didn’t take too long to come though, as on the doorstep Yevgeni Ketov hit the jackpot off a clever Vadim Shipachyov feed. The chances kept on coming at Dinamo’s net, and both Pyotr Khokhryakov and Yevgeni Dadonov couldn’t lift the puck over the netminder when clean through. SKA did take three penalties in a row however as time ticked by, and just 30 seconds before the buzzer Dinamo struck. With a man’s advantage a huge rebound popped out, and Alexander Materukhin beat Ilya Ezhov to get his team on the board.

If we were expecting a nervy third, we were proved to be thankfully wrong. Our team completely took over the game, punishing Dinamo for every single mistake by their own net. Vadim Shipachyov practically killed the contest from the tip of the slot, and then Ilya Kablukuv wristed into the left corner from between the circles. The players wouldn’t let up, and after Anton Burdasov’s rising attempt from the right flank flew over the goaltender’s blocker, Dinamo were forced into pulling Lars Haugen for Dmitry Milchakov. That didn’t have the desired effect for the hosts though, as Ilya Kovalchuk drilled in from the crease to increase the home fans’ pain. That was where the thumping ended, as SKA completely took apart HC Dinamo Minsk 7:1 in Belarus!

Match protocol:

Dinamo Minsk – SKA – 1:7 (0:2, 1:1, 0:4)

Goals:

0:1 Kovalchuk (Rukavishnikov, Ericsson), 04.00

0:2 Shipachyov (Ketov, Dadonov), 06.59

0:3 Ketov (Shipachyov), 24.31

1:3 Materukhin, 39.30

1:4 Shipachyov (Dadonov, Ketov), 48.00

1:5 Kablukov (Kovalchuk, Yudin), 52.46

1:6 Burdasov (Kuteikin), 53.46

1:7 Kovalchuk (Kalinin, Cervenka), 59.06

Goaltenders: Haugen/Milchakov – Ezhov