Lokomotiv – SKA

Lokomotiv – SKA – 3:1

13 October 2022

In a close battle, SKA came up short against Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl, conceding a 1:3 defeat in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season.

The two teams set an intense – albeit cautious – tempo in the first period.

Incredibly, a combined total of 34 hits were witnessed during the opening frame alone! Not giving each other any space on the ice, the sides prevented any clear opportunities from being created, opting instead to land crunching hits and compete in a compact manner.

Alex Grant had the best opportunity for SKA, lashing wide of the left post from the blue line. Thanks to an early powerplay, Lokomotiv did apply early pressure on our team, forcing our goalkeeper Dmitry Nikolaev into a handful of tricky saves.

The second period continued in much the same vein.

Once again, an underwhelming performance on the powerplay was letting SKA down, with two chances to open the scoring when competing on the man-advantage being wasted. When playing at equal strength, Lokomotiv were mainly competing on the front foot, but Emil Galimov and Zakhar Bardakov were stopped by a pair of impressive stops from Lokomotiv goaltender Daniil Isaev.

The breakthrough was made by the Yaroslavl-based organisation in the 36^th minute.

On the counter-attack, Georgy Ivanov connected with Stepan Nikulin’s pass to knock the puck low under Nikolaev’s pads from point-blank range.

A buoyant Lokomotiv went on to score a second before the period was out. Completely ignored by the SKA defence, Yegor Korshkov received a pass from behind the net before rifling his powerful attempt past our goalkeeper unchallenged.

Requiring goals, SKA predictably set about applying heavy pressure on the home team in the third period.

Isaev was finally beaten in the Lokomotiv net in the 46^th minute.

At the blue line, Igor Ozhiganov handed SKA a lifeline, thumping an unstoppable one-timer beyond the stunned Isaev.

Moments later, Mikhail Vorobyov really should have equalised when all on his own on the doorstep, but he contrived to shoot against Isaev’s pads who was already falling off balance.

Sadly, that proved to be our last major opportunity of the match. After killing a late penalty, SKA pulled Nikolaev in favour of the extra skater, but that only resulted in Ivanov shooting into the empty net.

SKA will now prepare to compete against Vityaz Moscow Region in Balashikha on Saturday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 18:00 local time.

Match protocol:

Lokomotiv – SKA – 3:1 (0:0, 2:0, 1:1)

Goals:

1:0 Ivanov (Nikulin), 35.19

2:0 Korshkov (Andronov, Rafikov), 38.49

2:1 Ozhiganov (Khairullin, Zhafyarov), 45.41

3:1 Ivanov, 58.50 EN

Goalkeepers: Isaev – Nikolaev

Shots: 59 – 55

Shots on target: 27 – 26

Faceoffs: 34 – 18