SKA - Admiral - 3:2 SO

27 September 2016

SKA continued their home stretch with a fixture against HC Admiral Vladivostok. With Russia having been knocked out of the World Cup, head coach Oleg Znarok and forwards Vadim Shipachyov and Evgeny Dadonov returned to the squad. Finnish goaltender Mikko Koskinen was Igor Shestyorkin’s back-up for this game.

Coming off the back of a 4:1 win against Amur, SKA began with the initiative. Taking an early penalty, Admiral aided our cause and we had some early opportunities. Nikita Gusev made poor contact when on the crease, Alexander Dergachyov couldn’t force the puck in up close and Evgeny Dadonov hacked wide from his favourite spot. However, as the period came to its close, two SKA fouls gave Admiral the chance to settle into things and we relied on a couple of fantastic Igor Shestyorkin saves to get us to the break.

Following those penalty kills, our team improved in the second stanza and stamped their mark on the game. The pressure was slowly growing on the visitors and four minutes in, we grabbed our opening goal – Ilya Kovalchuk wristed firmly into the left corner. Forced into coming out of their shells, Admiral contrived to leave spaces open at the back, and SKA took full advantage. Sergei Plotnikov dug the puck out on the crease, knocked it across and Jarno Koskiranta had the simple task of scoring. Feeling the heat, Admiral’s head coach used his timeout, but it didn’t make much difference. SKA were dominating and Nikita Gusev had three golden opportunities stoned by goalkeeper Igor Bobkov.

After a calm couple of periods, no one expected what was about to happen. The match was slowly dwindling towards its conclusion, but out of nowhere, Admiral suddenly came back to shock the Ice Palace. James Wright got them on the board following a horrible ricochet, and with only two and a half minutes remaining, Robert Sabolic’s long range wrister snuck through the goalkeeper’s grasp.

Riding on their adrenaline, Admiral took the match into overtime and were going after the win. Igor Shestyorkin was much the busier goaltender, pulling off a game saving stop against a clean through James Wright.

Thankfully, that proved to be Admiral’s last chance. Scoring the only goal in the penalty shootout, Nikita Gusev deservedly got his marker and in turn earned SKA a tough 3:2 win over Admiral!

Match protocol:

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

Goals:

1:0 Kovalchuk (Zubarev, Plotnikov), 23.55

2:0 Koskiranta (Zubarev, Plotnikov), 28.27

2:1 Wright (Blum, Gorshkov), 55.15

2:2 Sabolic (Gavrilenko, Zemchenyok), 57.57

3:3 Gusev, 65.00

Goalkeepers: Shestyorkin – Bobkov

Shots on target: 45 - 32

Penalty minutes: 4 – 4

Faceoffs: 34 – 34