SKA – Avangard

SKA – Avangard – 3:5

2 November 2023

In a highly eventful duel, SKA came up short against Avangard Omsk at the Ice Palace in the 2023/2024 KHL regular season, conceding an avoidable 3:5 defeat.

It all initially started so well, as Stepan Starkov elegantly hit the jackpot from the doorstep with a between-the-legs masterpiece.

However, a series of terrible defensive errors subsequently turned the game on its head.

Damir Sharipzyanov equalised for Avangard with a clattering slap shot from the point. Buoyed by that goal, the visitors pulled ahead in the latter stages of the opening stanza, as Reid Boucher completed a flowing play at point-blank range.

Matters soon went from bad to worse for SKA at the start of the second stanza.

The unmarked Sharipzyanov grabbed his second with a rocket just 35 seconds after the restart, before the same player then caught Nikita Serebryakov cold from the left faceoff circle. Our coaches did promptly make the call to pull Serebryakov in favour of Pavel Moisevich immediately after Avangard’s fourth.

Those two goals were sandwiched by a fight involving Ivan Zinchenko and Mark Verba.

To his credit, the giant 19-year-old Belarusian goalkeeper entered proceedings with admirable composure, as he made a handful of excellent saves to keep SKA in with a fighting chance. In a late surge in the stanza, SKA laid siege to the Omsk net, with away goaltender Andrei Mishurov pulling off some tough saves and Marat Khairullin striking the crossbar.

Avangard were in control for the majority of the third period. However, after our coaching staff made the decision to pull Moisevich for the extra skater with slightly less than half of the stanza remaining, Andrei Chivilyov gave SKA a fighting chance with registering his maiden goal for our club on the doorstep.

Sadly, though, it wasn’t to be. Ivan Nikolishin iced the game as a contest, hitting the empty net while competing shorthanded.

With a mere seven seconds remaining, Arseniy Gritsyuk did reduce the deficit to two with a bomb, but our team ran out of time.

SKA will now prepare to face Vityaz Moscow Region away in Balashikha on Saturday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:00 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Avangard – 3:5 (1:2, 0:2, 2:1)

Goals:

1:0 Starkov (Glotov), 07.36

1:1 Sharipzyanov (Spooner, Tkachyov), 10.56

1:2 Boucher (Spooner, Gulyaev), 17.26

1:3 Sharipzyanov (Spooner, Tkachyov), 20.35

1:4 Sharipzyanov (Geraskin, Filatyev), 27.02

2:4 Chivilyov (Rendulic, Tolchinsky), 54.46