SKA - Amur - 5:0

In Saint Petersburg, SKA hosted HC Amur Khabarovsk for the fifth consecutive KHL match. Head coach Oleg Znarok kept the team largely the same, not changing Igor Shestyorkin between the pipes. Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Sergei Kalinin were in the first line together. Finn Juha Metsola was Amur’s starting goaltender.

Fighting for a Gagarin Cup playoff berth, Amur started the match playing at a tempo which suited them down to the ground. The visitors calmly kept SKA on the outside, while proving to be dangerous when bursting into our zone. Igor Shestyorkin made an excellent point-blank range stop, before Kirill Rasskazov blasted wide with the goal at his mercy. SKA were struggling, but Yegor Rykov gave the team a required lift. Cutting to the backhand, the young defenseman sent a wonderful attempt beyond Juha Metsola to make it 1:0.

The tense nature of proceedings continued in the second frame. Nevertheless, as time began to roll on, SKA increased the intensity in the opposing zone. Juha Metsola was a busy goaltender for the Khabarovsk club, pulling off a few alert saves. Eventually, SKA’s pressure told. Sergei Shirokov grabbed the second goal, catching the netminder cold with a tricky effort from the right wing. Vladislav Gavrikov then joined the party, thumping a wrist shot into the left corner. Predictably, Amur opted to pull the forlorn Juha Metsola after the third marker, replacing him with Evgeny Alikin.

In complete control of the match, SKA calmly saw the game out with minimal fuss. Ilya Kovalchuk netted his marker midway through the third period, going top shelf on Evgeny Alikin when alone on the crease. A deflated Amur team contrived to fall apart defensively, conceding a fifth in the final moments. Vladislav Gavrikov scored his second of the match, wristing high into the left corner at the blue line. Igor Shestyorkin kept his shutout intact, seeing SKA through to an emphatic 5:0 victory against HC Amur Khabarovsk!

Match protocol:

SKA – Amur – 5:0 (1:0, 2:0, 2:0)

Goals:

1:0 Rykov (Kablukov, Tikhonov), 15.23

2:0 Shirokov (Prokhorkin, Karpov), 34.42

3:0 Gavrikov (Yakovlev, Shipachyov), 37.28

4:0 Kovalchuk (Zub, Voynov), 51.22

5:0 Gavrikov (Datsyuk, Kovalchuk), 57.25

Goalkeepers: Shestyorkin – Metsola/Alikin

Shots on target: 39 – 19

Faceoffs: 44 – 39

Hits: 12 – 16

Penalty minutes: 6 – 6

Referees: Birin, Jerabek

20.01.2018. Ice Palace, Saint Petersburg.