Kunlun Red Star - SKA

Kunlun Red Star - SKA - 1:5

4 January 2022

In the first match of 2022, SKA comfortably dealt with the challenge posed by Kunlun Red Star Beijing, earning a routine 5:1 victory on the road in Moscow Region in the KHL regular season.

Having immediately taken the initiative, the visitors virtually put the game out of sight in the opening frame, as Leo Komarov opened the scoring on the powerplay before Emil Galimov slotted home on the counter-attack and Mat Robinson sent a rasping slap shot under Jeremy Smith's left arm.

Those three goals allowed SKA to fully control proceedings. Nevertheless, after our team missed several further chances, Kunlun managed to get on the board in the second stanza, as Alex Riche neatly tipped the puck beyond Alexander Samonov from the doorstep on the powerplay.

Samonov subsequently pulled off a fantastic stop to deny Riche at point-blank range in the opening stages of the third frame. However, SKA successfully kept Kunlun at bay, rounding off proceedings with another goal from Komarov at the high slot and Anton Burdasov's marker on another powerplay. When taking aim from the left flank, Burdasov's stick actually snapped in half, but the puck still managed to creep past Smith.

SKA will now prepare to host Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in Saint Petersburg on Friday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:00 local time.

Match protocol:

Kunlun Red Star - SKA - 1:5 (0:3, 1:0, 0:2)

Goals:

0:1 Komarov (Kuzmenko, Gusev), 07.10 PPG

0:2 Galimov (Moiseev), 08.03

0:3 Robinson (Galimov, Timkin), 14.05

1:3 Riche (Wong, Sproul), 34.58 PPG

1:4 Komarov (Kuzmenko, Burdasov), 49.03

1:5 Burdasov (Lehtonen, Gusev), 54.20 PPG

Goalkeepers: Smith - Samonov

Shots: 46 - 86