Slow start crushes SKA hopes at Dynamo

11 February 2025

SKA were made to pay for a lacklustre maiden 40 minutes in Moscow, suffering a forgettable 1:3 loss to Dynamo.

After two slow periods which were devour of emotion, SKA did begin to motor to a degree in the third, but it was too little too late as Dynamo saw the game out.

Just like in the two preceding away games against Dynamo, we conceded early.

Pavel Moisevich failed to freeze Igor Ozhiganov’s routine wrist shot, and Nikita Buruyanov was on hand to tap the rebound home.

Nevertheless, SKA responded well to that response, creating promising shooting lanes with sharp passing. Mikhail Grigorenko’s effort looped wide thanks to a smart intervention from home goaltender Maxim Motorygin, while Artyom Zemchyonok thumped off target and Ilya Karpukhin shot into the netminder’s body on the counter.

Dynamo came close to their second while competing on the powerplay, but Moisevich pulled off a tough double save at close range when under severe pressure.

The second stanza started in the worst possible fashion.

A dreadful pass allowed Cedric Paquette to skate towards our net on the right flank, with the tall Dynamo forward thumping a firm wrister beyond Moisevich.

SKA really should have halved the deficit on a subsequent powerplay. However, both Ivan Demidov and Mikhail Vorobyov were guilty of big misses, hacking wide with Motorygin out of position.

Those misses were promptly punished by the hosts on a powerplay of their own, as Artyom Chernov whipped the puck over Moisevich’s left shoulder with our goalkeeper not prepared for the shot.

Moisevich was swapped in favour of Yegor Zavragin following that setback. Not long later, Pavel Akolzin looked certain to get SKA on the board when gathering the puck on the doorstep, but Motorygin somehow leaped across in time to make a highlight-reel worthy stop.

SKA did eventually score in the seventh minute of the third period.

Ilya Karpukhin managed to hook his powerful backhander high into the right corner when completing a broken play.

Predictably, that goal provided SKA with a much-needed boost of positive energy. In stark contrast to what we had seen previously, our players were now beginning to play at a fast pace with increased intensity, pressing the Muscovites with more intent and pinning them in their zone.

Our pressure resulted in Paquette receiving a 2+2 penalty for high sticking against Mikhail Vorobyov. Unfortunately, though, despite Zavragin being pulled for the extra skater to make it a 6-on-4 powerplay, SKA couldn’t take advantage of that opportunity with Dynamo defending stoutly.

SKA will now prepare to face Barys Astana away in Kazakhstan on Thursday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:30 Moscow time.

Match protocol:

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

Goals:

1:0 Buruyanov (Ozhiganov, Kudashov), 02.58

2:0 Paquette (Gusev), 21.08

3:0 Chernov (Paquette, Weal), 26.22 PPG

3:1 Karpukhin (Bardakov, I. Demidov), 46.13

Goalkeepers: Motorygin – Moisevich/Zavragin

Shots: 47 – 67

Shots on target: 26 – 28

Faceoffs: 33 – 32