Severstal - SKA - 3:2

In a hard-fought duel, SKA came up short against Severstal Cherepovets on the road, suffering a slender 2:3 setback.

Nikita Korostelyov and Yegor Stepanov pounced on defensive errors to open up a two-goal lead for Severstal with two markers within 38 seconds of each other in the 17th minute.

However, Arseniy Gritsyuk halved the deficit for SKA in the eighth minute of the second stanza, as his wrister appeared to be deflected beyond home goalkeeper Alexander Samoilov by Ivan Zinchenko.

A tight, somewhat uneventful game had its fate decided in the concluding minute.

Severstal appeared to have iced it through David Dumbadze's empty-netter after goaltender Nikita Serebryakov had been swapped for the extra skater. Nevertheless, with 19 seconds remaining on the clock, Gritsyuk grabbed his second when banking the puck in off Samoilov's back from a seemingly impossible angle.

However, despite managing to unleash a last-gasp shot against Samoilov, our team ran out of time.

SKA will now prepare to host Amur Khabarovsk in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Severstal - SKA - 3:2 (2:0, 0:1, 1:1)

Goals:

1:0 Korostelyov (Liska, Abrosimov), 17.07

2:0 Stepanov (Sedov, Skorenov), 17.45

2:1 Gritsyuk (Glotov, Kamalov), 27.35

3:1 Dumbadze (Pilipenko), 59.30 EN

3:2 Gritsyuk (Shvets-Rogovoi), 59.41

Goalkeepers: Samoilov - Serebryakov

Shots: 46 - 61

Shots on target: 22 - 32

Faceoffs: 26 - 39

Blocked shots: 14 - 11

Hits: 8 - 21

Penalty minutes: 4 - 2

Referees: Belov, Kulakov

Linesmen: Sedov, Shelyanin

14.01.2024.