SKA - Barys

SKA - Barys - 9:0

15 November 2016

SKA returned to Saint Petersburg for a KHL home match against HC Barys Astana. Head coach Oleg Znarok was forced into dropping Yegor Rykov because of a small injury, while Igor Shestyorkin kept his place in net. Kevin Poulin was Barys' starting netminder.

To the delight of the Ice Palace, SKA begun in stunning fashion. Evgeny Dadonov opened the scoring within a minute, knocking the puck over the line off balance. We didn't have to wait long for a second either, as a clattering Vyacheslav Voynov powerplay slapper beat the goalkeeper. In complete shock, Barys contrived to go into meltdown. On another man's advantage, Sergei Plotnikov expertly tapped in, and Evgeny Dadonov sealed a fantastic first period hat trick with two close range efforts.

Amazingly, Barys opted to switch the forlorn Kevin Poulin in net for Swede Henrik Karlsson only at the start of the second stanza. Nevertheless, it didn't make any difference. In the mood for more, Nikita Gusev lifted a neat effort over the glove to make it six. Barys were all over the place, being given no time to regroup. Sergei Plotnikov was the next to score, notching his brace with a powerful slap shot. However, our players did take their foot off the gas towards the end of the period, allowing Barys to create some dangerous openings by our net.

We got back on our game in the third period, once again crashing Barys net. Our pressing got its deserved rewards - Evgeny Dadonov netted his fourth of the day when his pass across the slot was deflected in by a Barys defenseman, and a thumping Ilya Kovalchuk one timer almost burst the net. Igor Shestyorkin kept his eighth shutout intact with some alert saves, and SKA calmly saw the game out to take a huge 9:0 win against Barys Astana!

Match protocol:

SKA - Barys - 9:0 (5:0, 2:0, 2:0)

Goals:

1:0 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Gusev), 01.22

2:0 Voynov (Kovalchuk), 02.04

3:0 Plotnikov (Voynov, Kovalchuk), 04.20

4:0 Dadonov (Khafizullin, Gusev), 09.37

5:0 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Khafizullin), 15.48

6:0 Gusev (Dadonov), 22.09

7:0 Plotnikov (Kovalchuk, Shipachyov), 25.06

8:0 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Gusev), 41.56

9:0 Kovalchuk (Gusev, Shipachyov), 51.53