SKA - Admiral

SKA - Admiral - 7:2

18 January 2018

SKA hosted HC Admiral Vladivostok in Saint Petersburg for the fourth consecutive KHL home match at the Ice Palace. Head coach Oleg Znarok made one major change for this match, replacing Mikko Koskinen between the pipes with Igor Shestyorkin. Igor Bobkov was Admiral's starting goaltender.

Eager to make an early impression, SKA scored within the opening minute. Patrik Hersley took aim from the blue line, seeing his effort deflected in by an Admiral skate. Our players piled the pressure on Admiral, eventually doubled the advantage moments later. Ilya Kovalchuk found Sergei Kalinin with a perfect pass, and the latter twisted before firing beyond Igor Bobkov. However, against the run of play, Admiral halved the deficit. Samvel Mnatsyan got the Vladivostok club on the board, hammering a slap shot past the unsighted Igor Shestyorkin.

Nevertheless, SKA soon regained control of proceedings in the second stanza. Nikolai Prokhorkin gave our team a two-goal advantage again, tipping home Ilya Kovalchuk's feed. Nikolai then went on to have a superb period, scoring a further two times to secure his quick hat trick. On a powerplay, our number 74 lashed into the net at point blank range, before he banked in a cheeky attempt when behind the net. Ilya Kablukov gave himself a birthday present in the period's final stages, scoring with a huge one timer.

Admiral opted to make a goaltending change in the third period, swapping Igor Bobkov for Nikita Serebryakov. Unfortunately, it had a positive effect. Vadim Pereskokov reacted quickest to a wicked ricochet, hitting the target with Igor Shestyorkin out of position. SKA would have the last word though, as Nikolai Prokhorkin scored a beauty when clean through shorthanded. 7:2, SKA thrash HC Admiral Vladivostok!

Match protocol:

SKA - Admiral - 7:2 (2:1, 4:0, 1:1)

Goals:

1:0 Hersley (Prokhorkin, Gusev), 01.11

2:0 Kalinin (Voynov, Kovalchuk), 08.35

2:1 Mnatsyan (Butuzov, Kazakov), 16.10

3:1 Prokhorkin (Karpov, Kovalchuk), 24.23

4:1 Prokhorkin (Gusev, Karpov), 37.06

5:1 Prokhorkin (Gusev, Hersley), 38.26

6:1 Kablukov (Yakovlev, Tikhonov), 39.35

6:2 Pereskokov (Vikharev, Mamashev), 45.53

7:2 Prokhorkin (Zubarev, Kalinin), 56.27