Jokerit - SKA

Jokerit - SKA - 1:3

5 January 2015

Today on the 5th of December, SKA played its first match of 2015 against Jokerit Helsinki in the Finnish capital. Alexander Barabanov and Alexander Kadeikin were placed in the fourth line, with Finn Mikko Koskinen playing in net on native ice. Ilya Kovalchuk and Viktor Tikhonov are still on the sidelines injured.

Jimmie Ericsson took a cheap penalty just 13 seconds in, and that immediately gave Jokerit the chance to put themselves on the front foot. SKA were pinned inside their own zone during those opening moments, however it was indeed our team who made the breakthrough. Yevgeni Ketov stripped his opponent of the puck against the boards behind the net, squared for Alexander Kadeikin, and the latter made no mistake. Nevertheless parity was restored straight away, as Linus Omark thrashed home a loose rebound. 1:1 after 20.

The second stanza saw Jokerit up the pressure even more - Mikko Koskinen was constantly having to be alert, and our team was lucky to still be on level terms.

A SKA powerplay then turned the game on its head, as Patrick Thoresen potted a rebound with a smart backhander. 2:1 then became 3:1 within 24 seconds, as Yevgeni Dadonov went on an amazing sprint down the left flank before catching the goalkeeper out near post.

The Hartwall Arena crowd was very much subdued now, although their team did put up a tough fight in the final frame. Jokerit pressed as had as they could, but were shut down by some marvellous Mikko Koskinen reaction stops. The best of which came against forward Steve Moses, as Mikko flashed leather beautifully to deny the American from point blank range. Despite Jokerit pulling their goaltender Henrik Karlsson late on it didn't help them, as SKA romped to an heroic 3:1 victory in Helsinki!

Match protocol:

Jokerit - SKA - 1:3 (1:1, 0:2, 0:0)

Goals:

0:1 Kadeikin (Ketov), 04.38

1:1 Omark (Lajunen), 07.58

1:2 Thoresen (Kuteikin, Kalinin), 33.04

1:3 Dadonov (Panarin), 33.28

Goalkeepers: Karlsson - Koskinen

Shots: 33 - 26

Penalty minutes: 6 - 8

Faceoffs: 38 - 23

Hits: 27 - 18