SKA - Admiral - 3:4 SO

21 January 2016

The sixth match of this home series took place for SKA today against HC Admiral Vladivostok. Following the thumping win over Metallurg Novokuznetsk two days ago head coach Sergei Zubov still made a few changes, and Jarno Koskiranta and Steve Moses both returned to the line-up. Mikko Koskinen kept his place in net, while Igor Bobkov was Admiral’s starting netminder.

Our players had confidence coming into this match, and began dominating right from the off. In the first attack of the game Vadim Shipachyov came close to an early opening goal, however sweeping up a flying puck he gently shot against the crossbar. That was the first of two occasions where the woodwork saved Admiral, as later on Yegor Yakovlev’s deflected feed snuck off the left post. Plenty of chances were coming around Admiral’s crease, and Pavel Buchnevich should really have lit the lamp. Steve Moses powered down the left flank, cleverly backhanded to the open number 88 on the opposite wing, and the latter could only wrist into Igor Bobkov’s mask. After that miss Admiral slowly began to come out of their shells, and struck SKA with two killer blows in the period’s final moments. Firstly Dmitry Sayustov finished off a cute play on the slot, and then Alexander Gorshkov evaded our defence to go five hole on Mikko Koskinen.

Something had to be done in the second frame, and SKA began the period with purpose. Admiral didn’t help their own cause by taking a prompt too many men call, and that powerplay allowed SKA to get on the board. Maxim Chudinov slapped first time at the blue line, and with Dinar Khafizullin shielding the goalkeeper’s view it flew in. Our team peppered Admiral’s net after Maxim’s goal, and away goaltender Igor Bobkov somehow get his body on a point blank Vadim Shipachyov shot that looked sure to go in. The players were crashing Admiral’s net constantly, however out of the blue Admiral regained their two goal lead. Artyom Podshendyalov hacked away for the puck on a large goalmouth scramble, and after a long second look the referees concluded that it crossed the line.

All the focus was on whether SKA could mount a third period comeback, and 24 seconds in they got the ball rolling. Vadim Shipachyov found the open Evgeny Dadonov on the doorstep, and the latter did the rest. The Ice Palace was roaring now, and Admiral barely had a chance as our players refused to let up the pressure. Yegor Yakovlev failed to net when clean through, and Evgeny Ketov’s deft flick of a dump forced the goalkeeper into a neat save. Time began to run down, but with five minutes left SKA finally made it a tied game. That man Vadim Shipachyov spotted Maxim Chudinov bursting down the left, and Maxim’s instant shot found its way over Igor Bobkov’s glove.

Overtime it was, and SKA were gifted with an immediate powerplay to finish the game with. Admiral weren’t going to lie down easily though, and some heroic shot blocking enabled them to take the match all the way to penalty shots. Ilya Ezhov emerged to defend our net in the shootout, but that didn’t help as Admiral responded to Nikita Gusev’s goal with Alexander Gorshkov and Jonathan Blum netting for the win. 3:4 today, and SKA will next play on the 25^th of January at home against HC CSKA Moscow.

Match protocol:

SKA – Admiral – 3:4 SO (0:2, 1:1, 2:0 – 0:1)

Goals:

0:1 Sayustov (Alshevsky, Voronin), 18.25

0:2 Gorshkov, 19.09

1:2 Chudinov (Buchnevich), 21.50

1:3 Podshendyalov, 35.46

2:3 Dadonov (Gusev, Shipachyov), 40.28

3:3 Chudinov (Shipachyov), 55.05

3:4 Blum, 65.00 SO

Goalkeepers: Koskinen/Ezhov – Bobkov

Shots on target: 36 – 28