SKA - Avtomobilist

SKA - Avtomobilist - 6:2

13 September 2017

SKA played against HC Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in Saint Petersburg for the tenth KHL match. Head coach Oleg Znarok kept Mikhail Maltsev in the fourth line, while Mikko Koskinen retained his place between the pipes. Vladimir Sokhatsky was Avtomobilist's starting goaltender.

Aiming for a tenth consecutive victory, our players begun with confidence. The first goal arrived within four minutes - Avtomobilist earned two quickfire penalties, ill discipline which allowed Ilya Kovalchuk to open the scoring with a firm wrist shot. It didn't take long to score the second either, as Alexander Barabanov pounced on a juicy rebound a minute later. Alexander Barabanov grabbed his second goal halfway through the period, sweeping up the loose change on the doorstep. Francis Pare netted an Avtomobilist response on a counterattack, but Nikita Gusev backhanded in to keep SKA's three goal advantage intact.

Despite losing by a heavy score, Avtomobilist emerged a different team for the second stanza. They had plenty of chances to score early on in the period, however Mikko Koskinen proved why he is nicknamed the Finnish Wall. Under pressure, SKA were happy to score another couple of goals before the frame was out. Nikita Gusev scored with a beautiful one timer, before Ilya Kovalchuk completed a flowing play for his second marker.

Naturally, the intensity slowed up in the third period. Alexander Barabanov came close to his hat trick, but he failed to steer his attempt in after he had beaten Vladimir Sokhatsky. Unfortunately, it was Avtomobilist who scored the only goal in the period - Alexander Schemerov blasted his slap shot in blocker side. That didn't make any difference though, and SKA calmly saw the game through to beat Avtomobilist 6:2!

Match protocol:

SKA - Avtomobilist - 6:2 (4:1, 2:0, 0:1)

Goals:

1:0 Kovalchuk (Gusev), 03.30

2:0 Barabanov (Kovalchuk, Chudinov), 04.42

3:0 Barabanov (Datsyuk, Kovalchuk), 09.04

3:1 Pare (Tryamkin), 13.15

4:1 Gusev (Prokhorkin, Rundblad), 13.45

5:1 Gusev (Rundblad, Zubarev), 29.35

6:1 Kovalchuk (Barabanov, Datsyuk), 30.14

6:2 Schemerov (Chesalin, Pestunov), 50.26

Goalkeepers: Koskinen - Sokhatsky