SKA – Avtomobilist

SKA – Avtomobilist – 3:1

19 October 2022

In a scintillating battle, Western Conference leaders SKA held firm against the top team of the Eastern Conference, defeating Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 3:1 at the Ice Palace in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season.

SKA were rewarded for a fast start with the opening goal in the third minute.

At the high slot, Alexander Nikishin got the better of unsighted Avtomobilist goaltender Igor Bobkov with a rising wrister.

Nevertheless, to their credit, Avtomobilist didn’t let that early setback affect them.

The visitors did indeed grab their equaliser in the 13^th minute. Standing directly in front of our goalkeeper Dmitry Nikolaev, opposing forward Patrice Cormier cleverly deflected a hopeful attempt from distance into the net.

Nikolaev had the more difficult saves to make in the first period. At point-blank range, the 22-year-old pulled off two headline stops, brilliantly shutting the door on Georgy Belousov and Andrei Obidin with diving saves.

The entertaining manner of proceedings continued in the second stanza.

SKA took their second advantage of the day with their first chance of the period. Following excellent work by Mikhail Vorobyov behind the Avtomobilist net, the puck dropped kindly at the stick of Dmitrij Jaskin on the doorstep, who gleefully knocked it over the line with Bobkov helpless.

Just like in the first period, though, Avtomobilist quickly recovered. Thanks to their aggressive approach and hard hits, the Yekaterinburg-based outfit were regularly stealing possession from SKA, keeping the puck inside our zone and testing Nikolaev from various angles.

When clean through, Belousov was presented with a golden opportunity to draw Avtomobilist level again, but he was denied by the alert Nikolaev.

SKA had quite a few chances to increase their lead on the powerplay. Alex Grant, Jaskin and Igor Ozhiganov all tested Bobkov, with the Avtomobilist netminder standing tall to the challenge. Vasily Glotov also wasted a big 3-on-1 opportunity with a poor pass.

However, our powerplay clicked at the vital time midway through the third period.

After Cormier had committed an obvious holding foul against Maxim Groshev at neutral ice, SKA doubled their money at an important moment in the match, as Vorobyov took control of the bouncing puck on the slot and ruthlessly lashed it past Bobkov into the left corner.

That goal certainly gave SKA breathing space. Down by two and with time running out, Avtomobilist predictably threw everything at SKA throughout the remainder of the stanza, pulling Bobkov for the extra skater with over two minutes left in the period. But, even though Avtomobilist created a series of superb chances, Nikolaev refused to be beaten and SKA expertly saw the game out successfully.

SKA will now prepare to host Kunlun Red Star in Saint Petersburg on Friday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Avtomobilist – 3:1 (1:1, 1:0, 1:0)

Goals:

1:0 Nikishin (Galimov, Koltygin), 02.57

1:1 Cormier (Tryamkin, Vasilevsky), 12.02

2:1 Jaskin (Khusnutdinov, Vorobyov), 23.24

3:1 Vorobyov (Grant, Nikishin), 50.00 PPG

Goalkeepers: Nikolaev – Bobkov

Shots: 69 – 58

Shots on target: 36 – 31

Faceoffs: 25 – 35