Heavy setback at Sochi

28 December 2025

SKA were dealt a nasty surprise on Sunday evening, conceding a shock 4:8 defeat at Sochi.

Following Friday's impressive win in Minsk, many expected SKA to comfortably blow a struggling Sochi side away, but the reality was the exact opposite as the hosts ran riot.

SKA initially took the lead through Brendan Leipsic, but Sochi immediately hit back with two quickfire markers from Sergei Popov and Matvei Guskov.

Nevertheless, our players conjured up the perfect response, as Sergei Plotnikov equalised and Matvei Polyakov gave a wonderful passing play with Yegor Gurzanov and Ignat Lutfullin the perfect finish.

However, that was as good as it got for SKA.

Popov drew Sochi level at the start of the second stanza and Rafael Bikmullin hit the jackpot on the powerplay. In an attempt to turn the tide, Yegor Zavragin was promptly introduced instead of the disappointed Artemiy Pleshkov, and SKA quickly tallied their fourth with the in-form Polyakov converting an impressive individual effort.

But, instead of giving away the initiative, Sochi pressed on and Roman Maximov grabbed their fifth marker a little over a minute after Polyakov's second.

That proved to be the decisive moment.

Sochi put the game to bed in the third period, netting their sixth in the 43rd minute with Denis Vengryzhanovsky beating Zavragin and Max Ellis shooting into the empty net with our goalkeeper on the bench in favour of the extra skater.

Former SKA figure Nikolai Polyakov rounded off proceedings with an eighth for Sochi with a mere 38 seconds remaining on the clock.

SKA will now prepare to face Shanghai in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Sochi - SKA - 8:4 (2:3, 3:1, 3:0)

Goals:

0:1 Leipsic (Blandisi, Grimaldi), 03.33

1:1 Popov (Khafizov), 07.50

2:1 Guskov (Bikmullin), 08.06

2:2 Plotnikov (Goldobin), 09.46

2:3 M. Polyakov (Lutfullin, Gurzanov), 17.58

3:3 Popov (Hoefenmayer, Nikolayev), 25.57

4:3 Bikmullin (Khafizov, Guskov), 26.34