Lada - SKA - 2:3 OT

26 November 2015

Having played against Ak Bars on Tuesday, SKA made the trip to Tolyatti to play HC Lada Togliatti. A few changes were made to the line-up, with Roman Rukavishnikov taking the place of the disqualified Yegor Yakovlev and Vadim Shipachyov returning to the second line. Arkhip Nekolenko was still in the fourth line, and Mikko Koskinen was installed in our net. Latvian Edgars Masalskis was his opposite number for Lada.

The first few minutes were rather cagey, and it was eventually Lada who started controlling proceedings. Openings began to arise for the Tolyatti club, and Mikko Koskinen was forced into making two huge saves. The first was neatly done closing the five hole against the clean through Alexander Streltsov, however the second was even better. Lada had an odd man rush, spread the play to the left, and with the hosts already celebrating Mikko somehow made a point blank range body save. That proved to be crucial too, as seconds later SKA broke the deadlock. Alexander Kadeikin worked himself free on the right, and wristed expertly under Edgars Masalskis’ glove. Nevertheless that lead didn’t last for long, and Lada’s Dmitry Vorobyov drew the hosts level with a cannon on a man’s advantage.

SKA began the second period on a powerplay, but contrived in only falling behind. Shorthanded Vasily Streltsov took up the play, held off several challenges, and fired over Mikko’s glove into the right corner. That goal gave Lada some serious confidence, and the rest of the period belonged to them. Our goaltender was being called into constant action, and he was lucky to see Georgy Belousov smack the woodwork when alone at the left point. On the other hand our players couldn’t take control of possession at all, and failed to create any big scoring chances. The one opportunity fell to Vadim Shipachyov on the powerplay, but he could only wrist directly into the blocker when open in a great position.

The pressure was on our team moving into the third, and immediately the players got to work. The heat was growing inside Lada’s zone, and both Jarno Koskiranta and Joakim Lindstrom came close when hacking away on the crease. The hosts were holding firm though, and didn’t give much away in front of their own net. Their counterattacks were dangerous too, and ex SKA player Viktor Komarov buzzed around our end causing havoc. Despite those problems Mikko Koskinen didn’t have any serious saves to make, and with time running down SKA kept pressing. A powerplay with five minutes to go almost seemed as though it was the team’s last chance to save this match, and thankfully that opportunity was taken advantage of. Anton Burdasov blasted against the netminder’s left pad, and from a tight angle Joakim Lindstrom swept home. SKA could have even ended matter before overtime, but after being fed by Nikita Gusev on the right post Evgeny Dadonov couldn’t hit the gaping net.

No matter though, as just sixteen seconds into overtime our players scored that all important winning goal. Maxim Chudinov’s slapper was too hot to handle, and Dmitry Kalinin squeezed the rebound between Edgars Masalskis’ pads. 3:2 today, and SKA take two had earned points away from Tolyatti!

Match protocol:

Lada – SKA – 2:3 OT (1:1, 1:0, 0:1 – 0:1)

Goals:

0:1 Kadeikin (Kovalchuk, Chudinov), 10.33

1:1 Vorobyov (Belousov), 12.35

2:1 V. Streltsov, 21.37

2:2 Lindstrom (Burdasov), 55.46

2:3 Kalinin (Kovalchuk, Chudinov), 60.16

Goalkeepers: Masalskis – Koskinen

Shots on target: 27 – 34

Penalty minutes: 8 – 8

Faceoffs: 30 – 31