Dinamo Riga - SKA - 2:3 PS

SKA began their first full away series of 2015 against Dinamo Riga, in the Latvian capital. The changes were rung by Vyacheslav Bykov for this game, with Igor Shestyorkin taking Mikko Koskinen’s place in net, and the returning Viktor Tikhonov partnering Ilya Kovalchuk and Jimmie Ericsson in the first line. Pyotr Khokhryakov was demoted to the third.

It was a rather quiet start to proceedings, as neither team could get set up in the attacking zone. SKA were the first to cause real trouble, as when all alone between the circles Yevgeni Ketov wristed into Jakub Sedlacek’s chest. Dinamo then had an identical chance of their own, but Miks Indrasis failed to hit the net all together. A huge opportunity did eventually arrive, and it went Dinamo’s way – Lauris Darzins flashed the puck across goal, and Igor Shestyorkin made two fantastic reaction saves.

The pace began to pick up in the second, and the hosts broke the deadlock. Lauris Darzins with a beautiful move took Andrey Kuteikin out of the game, and fired an unstoppable wrister into the top left hand corner. After withstanding a few minutes of serious heat from the hosts SKA slowly began to even things out, and capped it off with a goal. Artemiy Panarin with a mazy skate fed Yevgeni Dadonov on a tight angle to the right, and the latter finished with aplomb. Dinamo had a two on one seconds after that though, and only a last ditch Maxim Chudinov challenge prevented the Latvians from going ahead again. 1:1 after 40.

Dinamo sat back as the third period got underway, and they were promptly punished for their cautiousness. It was that second line again – Artemiy Panarin found Vadim Shipachyov, Vadim dished to Yevgeni Dadonov on the right faceoff circle, and with the netminder out of position Yevgeni hit the target. The hosts then predictably took over the initiative, and with just over a minute left they forced overtime. SKA went missing at the back, and Mikelis Redlihs at the second attempt scored from the doorstep.

That goal took its toll on our players during overtime, and it took some Igor Shestyorkin heroics to force penalty shots – the pick of the saves came glove side against an odd man rush. He got to shine in the shootout too, making four quite stunning stops, and in the process allowing Artemiy Panarin to snipe the winner home into the right corner. 3:2 in Riga, and SKA takes away two points from Latvia!

Match protocol:

Dinamo Riga – SKA – 2:3 PS (0:0, 1:1, 1:1 – 0:0, 0:1)

Goals:

1:0 Darzins (M Redlihs), 25.00

1:1 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Panarin), 32.13

1:2 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Panarin), 45.07

2:2 M Redlihs (Bukarts), 58.51

2:3 Panarin, 65.00 PS

Goalkeepers: Sedlacek – Shestyorkin

Shots: 32 – 33

Penalty minutes: 2 – 12

Faceoffs: 19 – 31

Hits: 9 – 12

Blocked shots: 13 – 9

Referees: Anisimov, Sergeev

15.01.2015. Arena Riga, Riga, Latvia. Attendance 8590.