Jokerit - SKA

Jokerit - SKA - 3:1

16 February 2016

Following the Euro Hockey Tour break, SKA took to the ice against HC Jokerit in Helsinki. Russian international Pavel Buchnevich was included in the first line for this one, while Alexander Dergachyov was in the fourth. Sergei Zubov opted for Mikko Koskinen in net, and Henrik Karlsson was between Jokerit's pipes.

It was a very quiet start to proceedings in Helsinki, as neither team wanted to take the initiative. Both goaltenders were having little work to do, and it took a few penalties to liven proceedings up. SKA were the first to have a man's advantage, and Maxim Chudinov came close with a huge ripper from the point. As time went on Jokerit slowly upped the tempo, and in a crazy final few minutes they scored twice. Firstly Philip Larsen backhanded past Mikko Koskinen's glove, and then Arturs Kulda wristed hard into the far right corner.

Those goals put SKA's backs up against the wall, and we had a real trouble getting back into the game. Jokerit were defending stoutly, and on the counterattack they had a number of goalscoring chances by our net. Mikko Koskinen was keeping us in the match with some alert stops, and with the frame entering its final stages we found a goal out of nothing. Sergei Shirokov beautifully set up Jarno Koskiranta on the slot, and the latter cleverly flicked it over the goaltender's left shoulder.

Our players felt a lot better about themselves coming into the third, however Jokerit weren't willing to let their lead slip. The Finnish hosts didn't allow us any time inside their zone, and on a broken play they netted their third. Juhamatti Aaltonen sped away down the right wing, and he hammered into the net. That goal was a killer blow for our side, and despite pulling Mikko Koskinen late on the match couldn't be saved. 1:3 today, and the team will now travel to Latvia to play HC Dinamo Riga on Thursday.

Match protocol:

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

Goals:

1:0 Larsen (Joensuu, Kozun), 15.00

2:0 Kulda (Aaltonen, Lajunen), 15.51

2:1 Koskiranta (Shirokov, Yakovlev), 39.20

3:1 Aaltonen (Lajunen, Kennedy), 44.26

Goalkeepers: Karlsson - Koskinen

Shots on target: 26 - 25

Faceoffs: 23 - 30

Penalty minutes: 10 - 4

Hits: 17 - 10