Neftekhimik – SKA

Neftekhimik – SKA – 2:0

21 October 2023

Away in Nizhnekamsk, SKA couldn’t break Neftekhimik down in the 2023/2024 KHL regular season, suffering a disappointing 0:2 defeat.

SKA dominated the vast majority of the opening stanza.

Having started with energy and intent, our players managed to create a large amount of clear opportunities throughout the period. Nevertheless, goaltender Filipp Dolganov was fired up for the hosts, as the 25-year-old pulled off a series of highlight-reel saves to bail out his teammates.

His stand-out stop was witnessed against Artyom Zemchyonok. With the right corner of the net seemingly waiting to be hit, Zemchyonok was ready to celebrate, but Dolganov somehow managed to sweep it off the line at the final moment. Dolganov also made brilliant saves against Sergei Tolchinsky and Mikhail Vorobyov at close range.

Nikita Serebryakov’s only serious stop in the first frame shut the door on the clean-through Andrei Belozyorov with Neftekhimik competing on the powerplay.

SKA’s dominance continued in the second period.

However, against the run of play, Neftekhimik opened the scoring midway through the stanza.

After winning the battle at neutral ice, the Tatar outfit skated away 2-on-1, and Dmitry Zhukenov hit the jackpot from the left faceoff circle with Serebryakov left horribly exposed.

Our players subsequently wasted glorious opportunities in the second half of the period. When clean through, Alex Galchenyuk had our best chance, but he appeared to wrist against both Dolganov’s left pad and the post. The 29-year-old passed up lots of subsequent chances with the Neftekhimik unable to track his movement.

Requiring goals, SKA did try to continue applying overwhelming pressure on the home team, but to their credit Neftekhimik did make an improvement and started moving out from defence more effectively.

The decisive moment arrived in the 54^th minute.

Moments after Zemchyonok had whacked his slap shot against the left post, Neftekhimik doubled their money on the powerplay, as Zhukenov slid the puck past Serebryakov when all alone on the slot.

In the closing moments, SKA did pull Serebryakov for the extra skater, but Neftekhimik held firm.

SKA will now prepare to face Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl on Monday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:00 local time.

Match protocol:

Neftekhimik – SKA – 2:0 (0:0, 1:0, 1:0)

Goals:

1:0 Zhukenov (Sokolov, Bryukvin), 29.43

2:0 Zhukenov (Sokolov, Shafigullin), 53.51 PPG

Goalkeepers: Dolganov – Serebryakov

Shots: 36 – 89

Shots on target: 24 – 36

Faceoffs: 23 – 33

Blocked shots: 27 – 7