Lokomotiv - SKA

Lokomotiv - SKA - 4:1

7 January 2021

In Yaroslavl, SKA came up short against HC Lokomotiv, conceding a disappointing 1:4 defeat on the road in the 2020/2021 KHL regular season.

SKA initially made a positive start inside the Arena-2000. However, as the first period progressed, Lokomotiv rapidly began increasing the intensity of their play as they went on to create a number of excellent opportunities.

Georgy Ivanov was guilty of a horrible miss midway through the frame. Completely alone on the doorstep, the 22-year-old forward had the whole SKA net to aim at following a defensive lapse, however he contrived to shoot against the left post with Alexander Samonov helpless.

Samonov was the busier goaltender throughout the maiden 20 minutes. Standing his ground, our goalkeeper pulled off a handful of tricky saves, as Lokomotiv made our players’ lives difficult with aggressive pressing across the ice.

The flow of play didn’t change in the second period.

Dominating the vast majority of proceedings, Lokomotiv continued to pile the pressure on SKA, creating shooting lanes in our zone as our players struggled to match their pace. Towards the end of the stanza, Miro Aaltonen did have a couple of rare chances for SKA on the counter-attack, but Lokomotiv did eventually break the deadlock in the 38^th minute after those opportunities had been wasted.

Following a long, searching pass from Lokomotiv goalkeeper Edward Pasquale, Denis Alexeev neatly picked out the lurking Pavel Kraskovsky on the doorstep, who clinically sent his ensuing attempt beyond the stricken Samonov.

Lokomotiv subsequently doubled their money at the start of the decisive third period as Ivanov connected with Anton Lander’s slapped pass across the slot.

Nevertheless, SKA weren’t about to throw the towel in, and Aaltonen gave our team a lifeline as he tipped Oscar Fantenberg’s shot into the right corner. Having gained confidence from that goal, SKA went on to apply a spell of pressure on Lokomotiv, as Emil Galimov and Igor Ozhiganov were both denied by the alert Pasquale.

Unfortunately, on a break-away, Lokomotiv did grab the all-important third goal. After Yaroslav Dyblenko fouled the clean-through Petersson, a penalty shot was indicated by the referees, and the latter sniped the puck into the net glove side.

Lokomotiv iced the game once and for all in the 58^th minute as Maxim Osipov slid the puck under Samonov on the powerplay after Fantenberg had received a 2+2 penalty for high sticking.

SKA will now prepare to host CSKA Moscow in Saint Petersburg on Sunday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 18:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Lokomotiv - SKA - 4:1 (0:0, 1:0, 3:1)

Goals:

1:0 Kraskovsky (Pasquale, Alexeev), 37.32

2:0 Ivanov (Pulkkinen, Lander), 40.52

2:1 Aaltonen (Fantenberg, Ozhiganov), 45.48

3:1 Petersson, 53.41

4:1 Osipov (Kraskovsky, Alexeev), 57.39

Goalkeepers: Pasquale - Samonov

Shots on target: 41 - 23

Faceoffs: 28 - 25