Dynamo Moscow - SKA - 1:6. Game Four

16 March 2015

24 hours after the third game of this KHL Gagarin Cup second round playoff series, SKA played visitors to Dynamo Moscow in the Russian capital. After yesterday’s victory it was no surprise to see that head coach Vyacheslav Bykov made no changes to the line-up, with Mikko Koskinen still in net after his shutout. Dynamo also kept their same goaltender between the pipes – Alexander Lazushin.

The game begun at a frantic pace, as for the whole frame both teams simply wouldn’t let up. SKA earned a powerplay just 34 seconds in, however our players couldn’t find any real shooting opportunities. Afterwards the chances started to come, and Ilya Kovalchuk embarrassed Filip Novak wristing inches wide of the far left post. Eight minutes in and the first goal arrived, as Tony Martensson’s backhanded laid on the line before Patrick Thoresen tapped it in. Predictably Dynamo stepped it up a gear after that, and managed to get back on level terms. Janne Jalasvaara let rip from the blue line, and the puck cannoned off Egor Dugin to deceive Mikko Koskinen. As the period drew to a close Viktor Tikhonov almost gave SKA a second lead, but he could only touch wide of an open left corner.

Just like yesterday our team completely took over the game in the second period, and hung Dynamo out to dry. The second goal was scored five minutes after the restart, and what a beauty it was. Yevgeni Dadonov robbed his opponent of the puck, fed Artemiy Panarin, the latter found Vadim Shipachyov open at the right post, and Vadim finished emphatically. Just 30 seconds later and our players were celebrating again, as Ilya Kablukov’s wraparound sneaked between the goalkeeper’s pads. All the momentum was with SKA now, and Yevgeni Ketov wristed over from the doorstep after another brilliant play. Dynamo lost their heads as the period finished taking several silly penalties, and their goaltender Alexander Lazushin even had to be replaced by Alexander Sharychenkov after he got injured.

Dynamo’s new goaltender didn’t settle into the game particularly well, and that’s putting it lightly. On a powerplay seconds into the third stanza Yevgeni Dadonov collected a juicy rebound on the crease, and went upstairs off balance. Dynamo’s heads dropped after that, and Patrick Thoresen promptly grabbed his brace from point blank range. SKA were all over their opponents now, and with the home fans streaming out of the ground Viktor Tikhonov netted after a wonderful combination with Tony Martensson. Mikko Koskinen had a few big stops to make late on as the hosts searched for a consolation, while our team kept on thrashing the puck clear with real confidence. Despite another powerplay with the seconds ticking down it finished 6:1 in SKA’s favour, as our team takes a potentially decisive 3:1 series lead!

Match protocol:

Dynamo Moscow – SKA – 1:6 (1:1, 0:2, 0:3)

Goals:

0:1 Thoresen (Martensson), 07.27

1:1 Dugin (Jalasvaara), 12.52

1:2 Shipachyov (Dadonov, Panarin), 24.02

1:3 Kablukov (Ketov), 24.35

1:4 Dadonov (Kovalchuk, Shipachyov), 41.02

1:5 Thoresen (Martensson), 41.35

1:6 Tikhonov (Martensson), 50.20

Goalkeepers: Lazushin – Koskinen

Shots: 21 – 28