SKA – Ak Bars

SKA – Ak Bars – 2:3

31 October 2023

In a hard-fought battle, SKA were made to pay for their profligacy in front of goal, conceding a slender 2:3 loss to Ak Bars Kazan at the Ice Palace in the 2023/2024 KHL regular season.

The teams immediately set the tone in a fast and furious opening stanza.

Following an initial fast SKA start, Nikita Dynyak struck first for Ak Bars, sliding his attempt under home goalkeeper Artemiy Pleshkov from the doorstep.

Nonetheless, SKA weren’t affected by that setback and continued dominating the play.

Arseniy Gritsyuk equalised with a low effort from the high slot midway through the period, before the unmarked Vasily Glotov completed a flowing play on the right faceoff circle with a mere 10 seconds remaining on the clock.

It’s worth pointing out that due to having mistakenly thought that a stoppage in play was an advertisement break, both starting goalkeepers had to skate to the bench for a couple of minutes, being replaced by Pavel Moisevich and Artur Akhtyamov respectively.

Bossing the play, SKA started the second frame on the front foot. However, completely against the run of play, Ak Bars suddenly grabbed their equaliser in the 27^th minute, as former SKA forward Dmitrij Jaskin bundled the loose puck over the line.

Their momentum then allowed Ak Bars to earn their second lead of the day three minutes later when competing on their sole powerplay of proceedings.

Having escaped his marker on the left wing, Dmitry Kagarlitsky slotted the puck into the gaping net. Pleshkov was once again powerless after he had reacted to the initial shot.

SKA almost equalised on a powerplay of their own in the dying seconds of the stanza, but the lively Sergei Tolchinsky struck the left post with away goaltender Timur Bilyalov beaten all ends up.

The third period predictably saw SKA try and throw everything at the Tatar visitors. However, to their credit, Ak Bars won practically every battle in front of their net, consequently preventing SKA from creating clear chances at close range.

Our coaches did pull Pleshkov in favour of the extra skater with 90 seconds remaining, but the sturdy Ak Bars back line held firm.

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

Match protocol:

SKA – Ak Bars – 2:3 (2:1, 0:2, 0:0)

Goals:

0:1 Dynyak (Lukoyanov, Lyamkin), 03.04

1:1 Gritsyuk (Chivilyov, Pashnin), 10.49

2:1 Glotov (Pashnin, Rendulic), 19.50

2:2 Jaskin, 26.02

2:3 Kagarlitsky (Voynov, Svechnikov), 30.46 PPG

Goalkeepers: Pleshkov/Moisevich – Bilyalov/Akhtyamov

Shots: 87 – 37