Game four. Dynamo Moscow - SKA

Game four. Dynamo Moscow - SKA - 1:4

14 March 2017

Game three between SKA and HC Dynamo Moscow took place at Moscow’s VTB Ice Palace. In comparison to the previous match, head coach Oleg Znarok was forced into just the one change, replacing the injured Pavel Datsyuk with Nikolai Prokhorkin in the first line. Mikko Koskinen and Alexander Yeryomenko were the starting goaltenders.

Having made a poor start on Sunday, SKA were determined to come flying out of the blocks. However, after surviving a few dangerous SKA attacks early on, Dynamo began to take the initiative. Under pressure, our defensemen were committing poor mistakes, gifting Dynamo some golden opportunities at point blank range. Fortunately, SKA had Mikko Koskinen between the pipes, with the Finn pulling off a handful of superb saves. Those stops proved crucial too, as seconds after Dynamo killed a penalty, SKA struck first blood against the run of play. Anton Belov skated on to the left faceoff circle, drew his stick back and smacked a thunderous one timer beyond the goalkeeper.

Dynamo responded to that goal by throwing everything at SKA in the second period. They thought they had equalized when Denis Kokarev took aim from distance, but his effort cannoned off both posts. Unfortunately, SKA’s stubborn resistance did eventually breakdown towards the end of the frame. Denis Kokarev sprinted away on a counterattack, lashed the puck across goal and Patrik Hersley inadvertently deflected it into his own net. SKA were being pressed, but despite being outshot 16-6 in the period, the team snatched a vital lead in the dying seconds. Alexander Yeryomenko could only push Alexander Barabanov’s tame backhander on to the doorstep, allowing Sergei Shirokov to score a poacher’s goal.

One goal to the good, SKA could once again revert to a more defensive approach. Our players were fully focused on not letting Dynamo have any clear-cut chances, and an increasingly frustrated Dynamo eventually shot themselves in the foot. Daniil Tarasov missed the target when clean through, Alexei Tsvetkov then promptly slashed and SKA had a powerplay to finish the match as a contest. To our delight, the team did just that. Patrik Hersley made amends for Dynamo’s earlier goal, thumping a fierce one timer into the net. Evgeny Ketov then scored a late empty netter with Dynamo goaltender Alexander Yeryomenko pulled, sealing an important 4:1 triumph in Moscow! The series score is now 3:1 in SKA’s favour.

Match protocol:

Dynamo Moscow – SKA – 1:4 (0:1, 1:1, 0:2)

Goals:

0:1 Belov (Koskiranta, Shirokov), 16.58

1:1 Kokarev (Podshendyalov, Mironov), 36.19

1:2 Shirokov (Khafizullin, Barabanov), 39.08

1:3 Hersley (Shirokov, Belov), 55.07

1:4 Ketov (Hersley), 59.58

Goalkeepers: Yeryomenko – Koskinen

Shots on target: 36 – 22

Penalty minutes: 8 – 8

Faceoffs: 31 – 33