Glotov the OT hero as SKA defeat Admiral in thriller!

21 December 2024

Vasily Glotov conjured up a moment of magic in the extra stanza against Admiral Vladivostok at the SKA Arena, in turn steering our team to a nervy 3:2 triumph in the 2024/2025 KHL regular season!

Our players struggled for long periods in what was a tight, scrappy affair, but Glotov came up with the goods to hand us the all-important extra point.

In truth, it was a lacklustre first period which lacked any kind of oomph.

Admiral were the livelier side. They were gifted a penalty shot in the fifth minute of proceedings when Tony DeAngelo was adjudged to have committed hooking against the clean-through Dmitry Zavgorodniy, but the latter saw his ensuing attempt stopped by Yegor Zavragin.

Zavragin was powerless in the penultimate minute of the stanza, though, as a hopeful wrister from Alexander Shepelev through traffic snuck by him.

Nikita Zaitsev had wasted our only real opportunity of the period not long before Admiral’s opener, smacking the puck against away goaltender Andrei Mishurov from an inviting position.

Our equaliser arrived in the 26^th minute following an improved start to the second stanza.

The impressive Ivan Demidov was the scorer, connecting with an intelligent pass from Alexander Nikishin and giving Mishurov no chance with his instant shot.

SKA were visibly buoyed by that goal. However, against the run of play, Admiral then retook the lead midway through the period on the powerplay after DeAngelo had picked up a silly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

1-on-1 with Zavragin after catching the SKA defence unawares, the skillful Daniil Gutik neatly slid the puck under the pads with the backhand.

The remainder of the period saw SKA create a handful of promising chances, with the likes of Demidov, Glotov and Vladimir Alistrov all coming really close.

To our relief, the equaliser eventually arrived in the eighth minute of the third period.

Taking aim from distance, Danila Galenyuk caught the otherwise solid Mishurov sleeping, with the puck sneaking past him with the help of the left post.

Admiral subsequently began playing with more intensity and intent after our equaliser. Being tested regularly, Zavragin bailed his teammates in front of him out, in particular making one stand-out save with his mask against ex-SKA defenseman Georgy Solyannikov.

SKA were presented with a penalty shot of their own with five minutes left in regulation as a consequence of Mishurov throwing his stick. Predictably, up stepped Evgeny Kuznetsov with his trademark slow skating move, however he missed the target with his low wrist shot.

Thankfully, we finally grabbed the decisive marker a mere 38 seconds into overtime, with Glotov beating his opponent for pure skill and ruthlessly going top-shelf on Mishurov.

SKA will now prepare to face CSKA in Moscow on 25 December. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Admiral – 3:2 OT (0:1, 1:1, 1:0, 1:0)

Goals:

0:1 Shepelev, 18.50

1:1 I. Demidov (Nikishin, Vorobyov), 25.12

1:2 Gutik (Solyannikov, Shen), 30.17 PPG

2:2 Galenyuk, 47.54

3:2 Glotov (DeAngelo, Kuznetsov), 60.38

Goalkeepers: Zavragin – Mishurov

Shots: 75 – 44

Shots on target: 38 – 23