SKA fight back to defeat Avtomobilist!

12 October 2024

In a pulsating duel, SKA displayed character and determination against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg at the Ice Palace in the 2024/2025 KHL regular season, fighting back to earn an important 5:2 triumph.

Our players had their backs to the wall after two forgettable periods, but they put on a show with four unanswered goals in the third following effective line adjustments from head coach Roman Rotenberg which notably saw gifted 18-year-old Ivan Demidov linked with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Sergei Plotnikov.

SKA had initially made the perfect start.

Kuznetsov powered clean through while competing on the powerplay in the third minute, neatly sliding the puck between Avtomobilist goalkeeper Evgeny Alikin’s pads.

However, the visitors weren’t knocked off their stride by that goal and went on to dominate the remainder of the first period.

Competing with confidence and speed, Avtomobilist caused our defence plenty of problems, carving open shooting lanes and testing 19-year-old Yegor Zavragin - who was making his competitive SKA debut following his recall from Sochi - on 15 occasions.

Their pressure eventually resulted in an equaliser in the 16^th minute. Alone on the right circle, former SKA forward Brendan Leipsic opted to take aim, and his wrister snuck through the unsighted Zavragin thanks to a wiched ricochet off defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.

Avtomobilist took the lead on a 5-on-3 powerplay a mere matter of 10 seconds after the restart.

Unmarked on the left flank, Brooks Macek unleashed a huge one-timer which just had too much power for Zavragin.

Buoyed further by that goal, the Yekaterinburg-based outfit bossed the vast majority of the second stanza. Clean through, Macek ought to have increased their lead to two, but he contrived to blast wide.

The threatening Vasily Filyayev also struck the right post with a low effort from distance.

SKA gradually began to improve towards the end of the period. Kuznetsov forced Alikin into a tricky save after receiving an intelligent pass from the fired-up Demidov, whacking a rising slap shot against the blocker.

To our delight, our improvement materialised into a volcano of goals in the third frame.

Plotnikov cleverly deflected the puck past Alikin on the PP, a goal which was registered a minute before Zakhar Bardakov handed us our second lead of the evening when capitalising on a loose pass from the Ural netminder.

Avtomobilist head coach Nikolai Zavarukhin promptly signalled for his time-out after Bardakov had hit the jackpot.

Nevertheless, despite Zavarukhin’s best attempts at helping his team regroup, Avtomobilist failed to recover from the double whammy. Vasily Glotov delivered the killer blow in the 50^th minute, catching Alikin unawares with a quick high shot blocker-side.

Avtomobilist predictably pulled Alikin for the extra skater in the closing minutes, but that only resulted in Arseniy Gritsyuk icing it with an empty-netter.

SKA will now prepare to host Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Avtomobilist – 5:2 (1:1, 0:1, 4:0)

Goals:

1:0 E. Kuznetsov (DeAngelo), 02.13 PPG

1:1 Leipsic (Merkley, K. Vorobyov), 15.51

1:2 Macek (Da Costa, Ebert), 20.10 PPG

2:2 Plotnikov (Grigorenko, DeAngelo), 42.46 PPG

3:2 Bardakov, 43.51

4:2 Glotov (Gritsyuk, Zykov), 49.56

5:2 Gritsyuk (Nikishin), 59.20 EN

Goalkeepers: Zavragin – Alikin