Dinamo Riga - SKA

Dinamo Riga - SKA - 1:6

7 January 2017

SKA travelled to Latvia for a KHL away match against HC Dinamo Riga. Head coach Oleg Znarok made a few changes for this game, as Igor Shestyorkin replaced Mikko Koskinen in net and Nikolai Prokhorkin made a return to the fourth line. Jakub Sedlacek was Dinamo’s starting netminder.

In the mood for snapping the four-game losing streak, SKA immediately took the initiative in Riga. Pinning their opponents in their zone, our players calmly knocked the puck about, searching for shooting lanes. However, to their credit, Dinamo did a solid job of keeping SKA on the outside. The Latvians were helped by superb goaltending from Jakub Sedlacek too, who made a key glove save off a sneaky Evgeny Ketov wraparound. We had a couple of handy powerplays as Dinamo were forced into fouling, but the team failed to get much going by Dinamo’s net.

Needing to step the pace up, SKA ignited in the second stanza. On an early powerplay, the deadlock was finally beaten – Vyacheslav Voynov launched a thundering slapper which caught Jakub Sedlacek unawares. Holding all of the momentum, SKA decided to really have some fun with the beleaguered Dinamo side. Evgeny Ketov soon doubled the advantage, clearing up the loose change on the slot. Our players were in full control, rarely giving Dinamo a sniff of possession. The third was always going to arrive, and it was a true beauty – slaloming his way beyond the entire Dinamo defence, Maxim Chudinov wonderfully fired under the goalkeeper’s blocker. We weren’t finished their either, as Vadim Shipachyov completed an odd man rush to end the game as a contest. At the other end, Igor Shestyorkin was practically a spectator, being called into action only seven times during the frame.

Full of confidence, SKA continued to dominate. Evgeny Ketov tallied the fifth marker, stroking home his second of the day up close. The forlorn hosts were getting booed by their own supporters inside the Arena Riga, failing to show any real fight. Nevertheless, they did manage to ruin Igor Shestyorkin’s shutout hopes – our defensemen went to sleep at the back, allowing Nikolajs Jelisejevs to slam a rocket top shelf. The last word still went to SKA though, with Viktor Tikhonov grabbing his long-awaited goal after a goalmouth scramble erupted. 6:1, SKA get back to winning ways in Latvia!

Match protocol:

Dinamo Riga – SKA – 1:6 (0:0, 0:4, 1:2)

Goals:

0:1 Voynov (Shirokov, Kovalchuk), 26.18

0:2 Ketov (Tikhonov, Hersley), 30.15

0:3 Chudinov (Shipachyov), 35.19

0:4 Shipachyov (Gusev, Dadonov), 38.51

0:5 Ketov (Prokhorkin, Yakovlev), 50.35

1:5 Jelisejevs (Golovkovs, Kulda), 54.32

1:6 Tikhonov (Prokhorkin, Ketov), 59.09

Goalkeepers: Sedlacek – Shestyorkin

Shots on target: 13 – 44