Dynamo Moscow – SKA

Dynamo Moscow – SKA – 2:3

25 December 2023

In a tense battle, SKA produced a professional display of high quality against Dynamo in the 2023/2024 KHL regular season, emerging victorious by a slender score of 3:2 in Moscow on Christmas Day.

The first period was mainly contested inside SKA’s zone, thanks in turn to two penalties taken by Artyom Zemchyonok and Arseniy Gritsyuk.

Nikita Serebryakov was a busy man in our net, registering 14 saves in the opening frame alone which included a pair of superb stops against Ilya Kablukov and Ivan Muranov.

However, SKA gradually gained a foothold in the game as the period progressed.

An interference foul committed by former SKA defenseman Daniil Pylenkov opened the door for our team to take the lead. Unmarked in his favourite position between the circles, Mikhail Vorobyov gave Ilya Konovalov no chance with a whipped attempt which flew into the right corner. That goal arrived with a mere 22 seconds remaining in the period.

In comparison to the first period, an increasingly confident SKA did begin to attack with more gusto in the second.

Applying pressure on the rather shaky Dynamo defence, a large amount of opportunities were beginning to fall our way. Alone on the doorstep, Nikita Kamalov failed to control a searching pass, while Zakhar Bardakov, Stepan Falkovsky and Pavel Dedunov could all only aim their efforts into Konovalov's body.

Our deserved second goal was registered in the penultimate minute of the stanza.

Lurking to the left of the slot, Brendan Leipsic expertly slotted into the gaping net after receiving a quite sumptuous pass from Alexander Kadekin.

Dynamo’s only realistic chance of the second period saw Dmitry Rashevsky thump into Serebryakov's glove at point-blank range when it seemed certain that he would score.

Predictably, despite our two-goal advantage, it was a nervy third period.

The tension inside the VTB Arena rose greatly when the home team managed to get on the board with eight minutes played in the frame. Initially, Serebryakov stood his ground well to stop the first shot from Rashevsky with his mask, but Eric O’Dell was on hand to hook the puck in with our goalkeeper unable to regain his footing in time.

Nonetheless, SKA quickly went up the other end and netted a decisive third marker midway through the period.

When powering away on a 2-on-1 counter-attack, Alex Galchenyuk's initial shot was fielded by Konovalov, however the in-form Vorobyov was on hand to turn the ensuing rebound in.

A well-organised SKA looked to be home and dry.

But, with two minutes still to play, Dynamo grabbed their second against the run of play to make it a grandstand finish.

Familiar face Igor Ozhiganov was the scorer, beating Serebryakov from the right wing to take advantage of SKA’s only positional error of the period.

Dynamo promptly opted to pull Konovalov for the extra skater, but SKA calmly held on to claim a crucial triumph and provide the fans with the perfect Christmas present.

SKA will now prepare to face CSKA in the Russian capital on Wednesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

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

Goals:

0:1 Vorobyov (Tolchinsky, Nikishin), 19.38 PPG

0:2 Leipsic (Kadeikin, Zemchyonok), 38.08

1:2 O’Dell (Rashevsky), 47.33

1:3 Vorobyov (Galchenyuk, Tolchinsky), 50.42

2:3 Ozhiganov (Rashevsky, Kudryatsev), 57.57

Goalkeepers: Konovalov – Serebryakov

Shots: 63 – 59

Shots on target: 31 – 30