Dynamo Moscow - SKA

Dynamo Moscow - SKA - 3:2

21 September 2015

For the third match of this away series, SKA travelled to Moscow to face HC Dynamo. This was billed as one of the top games of the first part of the season, and Andrei Nazarov was happy to welcome previously injured captain Ilya Kovalchuk back to the line-up. Alexander Barabanov dropped down to the fourth line with Alexander Dergachyov becoming the odd forward, and Mikko Koskinen replaced Ilya Ezhov in net. Alexander Lazushin was Dynamo’s goaltender.

With the tension seriously high it was a tight and tense first period, as SKA opted to sit back and wait for opportunities on the counterattack. The first real opening did indeed fall to our team, but one on one Evgeny Ketov failed to backhand past Alexander Lazushin. Not long later another chance came our way, however Vadim Shipachyov couldn’t connect with Evgeny Dadonov’s feed by the left post. Dynamo upped the tempo as the period wore on though, and Mikko Koskinen was being peppered with slappers from the blue line. The home fans were taking the volume up a notch, and the hosts passed up a glorious chance to open up the scoring. SKA’s defence went missing, Konstantin Volkov was alone on the doorstep, slapped first time, and contrived to miss the target altogether. Misses like that rarely go unpunished, and our players weren’t willing to let Dynamo off the hook. At 19:59 the loose puck fell to Anton Burdasov at the right of the crease, and he slotted home brilliantly.

Our team earned a powerplay virtually immediately in the second, and it was taken advantage of brilliantly. Yegor Yakovlev wound up at the blue line, slapped as hard as he could, and almost burst the right hand corner of the net. That goal knocked the stuffing out of Dynamo for a while, and they took another penalty straight away. SKA couldn’t score what could have been a killer third though, and after that it was one way traffic. Dynamo completely took over the game, and shot after shot was being thumped in on Mikko Koskinen. The pressure simply wouldn’t let up, and the hosts eventually made it count. Maxim Pestushko took up a poor SKA turnover, showed a quick turn of pace, and beat Mikko from up close. Maxim Chudinov then took a very untimely penalty seconds later, and a rampant Dynamo scored their second. Mat Robinson took aim from the point, and fired past an unsighted Mikko Koskinen. Dynamo then had another powerplay during the final minute of the period, and only some heroic defending from Jarno Koskiranta and Alexei Ponikarovsky kept the game tied.

Nevertheless that man’s advantage continued into the final frame, and Dynamo did take their first lead of the game. The puck popped about our crease, and Martins Karsums neatly tucked into the left corner. Dynamo continued holding the initiative after that goal, and wouldn’t let our players out of their own zone. One of the best chances dropped to Gleb Koryagin between the circles, but his slap shot was beautifully gloved by Mikko Koskinen. For all of their chances Dynamo couldn’t net the fourth however, and our players finally managed to hold the puck in Dynamo’s zone for a prolonged amount of time. Anton Burdasov grazed the right post when one on one, and with Mikko Koskinen pulled Ilya Kovalchuk had a heavy one timer grabbed by the goalkeeper. Despite some decent openings it wasn’t to be, and SKA fall to Dynamo 2:3 in Moscow. The next game will take place against HC CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.

Match protocol:

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

Goals:

0:1 Burdasov (Shipachyov, Dadonov), 19.59

0:2 Yakovlev (Koskiranta), 25.31

1:2 Pestushko, 33.17

2:2 Robinson (Tsvetkov, Karsums), 35.36

3:2 Karsums (Tsvetkov, Pestushko), 40.49

Goalkeepers: Lazushin – Koskinen

Shots on target: 36 – 16

Penalty minutes: 4 – 8

Faceoffs: 26 – 26