Metallurg Novokuznetsk - SKA - 4:3

SKA’s tour of Siberia continued today with a match in Novokuznetsk against HC Metallurg. Following the poor result in Novosibirsk Andrei Nazarov made a number of changes in the line-up, and Finnish forward Jarno Koskiranta made his debut in the third line. Mikko Koskinen was backed up by Igor Shestyorkin, and Andrei Zubarev returned to partner Yegor Yakovlev in the second.

Many expected SKA to have an easy time of it in Novokuznetsk, but the opening minutes proved that it was to be anything but. Our players began terribly, and Vadim Shipachyov was chucked out of the game with a 5+20 penalty for elbowing his opponent. That gave Metallurg a huge boost, and they took full advantage of the opportunity. Maxim Kazakov found space at the doorstep, was allowed to turn, and fired hard into the right hand corner. The hosts continued to lay siege to our net with the extended powerplay continuing, and they made it count. Nikita Yazkov took aim from the high slot, and powered the puck over Mikko Koskinen’s flailing glove. Something had to be done, and a Evgeny Dadonov replying goal did just that. Evgeny pulled to the left of the crease, and his pass across goal was knocked in by a Metallurg defenceman. SKA began to gradually take the initiative following that marker, and created some heat inside Metallurg’s zone.

Metallurg weren’t willing to lie down and let our team control the game though, and our players simply couldn’t get into things at all. The penalties started to build up on both sides as time moved on, and it was the hosts who struck again. Seconds after Evgeny Dadonov skated out of the box Ryan Stoa took on a hopeful wrist shot from the blue line, and Mikko Koskinen saw it too late. SKA were in a bit of a hole now, but despite the score it was still Metallurg doing all the pressing. No real openings were created on Metallurg’s slot, with only Andrei Zubarev’s close range effort off balance being anything of note.

Things began to get out of hand in the third, as Metallurg notched a fourth goal. The puck bounced up and down around SKA’s crease, and Kirill Kaprizov squeezed it beyond Mikko Koskinen’s blocker. Our team had nothing to lose now, and all of a sudden SKA turned up to the party. After Dmitry Kalinin had a penalty shot saved Joakim Lindstrom wound up at the blue line, and his cannon escaped the goaltender’s desperate grasp on a powerplay. That goal added intrigue, and it became a real hockey game when Evgeny Dadonov’s shot from distance found the back of the net. Metallurg then took a timeout as panic was creeping into their game, but that didn’t really make any difference. Shot after shot was being thundered in on Metallurg’s goal, and with Mikko Koskinen pulled Pyotr Khokhryakov had an ideal chance to send it into overtime. Found with a searching pass from deep, Pyotr drew his stick back open on the left, but failed to hit the target. That proved to be SKA’s last chance, and despite a valiant fightback the team lose in Novokuznetsk 3:4. The next game will be on Tuesday morning against Amur Khabarovsk.

Match protocol:

Metallurg Novokuznetsk – SKA – 4:3 (2:1, 1:0, 1:2)

Goals:

1:0 Kazakov (Stoa, Kaprizov), 02.16

2:0 Yazkov, 05.37

2:1 Dadonov, 09.32

3:1 Stoa (Fairchild), 26.36

4:1 Kaprizov (Kazakov, Fairchild), 45.45

4:2 Lindstrom (Khafizullin), 51.56

4:3 Dadonov (Lindstrom), 56.43

Goalkeepers: Kareev – Koskinen

Shots on target: 36 – 35

Penalty minutes: 6 – 41

Faceoffs: 31 – 36

Hits: 16 – 17

Referees: Buturlin, Gashilov.

06.09.2015. DS Kuznetskikh Metallurgov, Novokuznetsk. Attendance 5546.