Game one. SKA - Dinamo Minsk

Game one. SKA - Dinamo Minsk - 4:2

2 March 2021

In the opening match of the first round of the 2020/2021 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs, SKA had enough to keep Dinamo Minsk at bay, claiming a hard-fought 4:2 triumph at home.

Dinamo Minsk initially came flying out of the blocks.

Playing without any pressure weighing on their shoulders, the Belarusians made a quick start inside the Ice Palace, catching a rather static SKA defence sleeping on the counter-attack. Thankfully for SKA, Alexander Samonov was in solid form in goal, but after making a series of wonderful saves he did have to pick the puck out of the back of his net in the fifth minute.

On the doorstep, Pavel Varfolomeev gave a flowing play the perfect finish, tapping the puck beyond Samonov.

Dinamo Minsk then contrived to take a series of penalties. However, despite applying plenty of pressure, SKA couldn’t make them pay for their ill-discipline. Furthermore, Minsk even came close to scoring shorthanded, as Denis Mosalyov could only backhand wide of the target when clean through.

The start of the second stanza saw Dinamo Minsk continue to compete with the initiative and cause serious problems for our defence.

SKA, however, tallied a vital equaliser against the run of play in the seventh minute of the period.

Battling for the puck on the slot, Andrei Kuzmenko registered SKA’s maiden goal of the playoffs, forcing it over the line following a series of ricochets.

That goal set the tone for the remainder of the second frame.

All of a sudden, SKA started to press Minsk with aggression, forcing the visiting team into a series of needless mistakes. The opponents didn’t help their cause as young forward Alexei Protas received a minor penalty for boarding, and they were promptly punished for that foul as Kuzmenko lashed a wrister under Dominik Furch’s glove after a sloppy Belarusian turnover.

Dinamo Minsk simply couldn’t live with SKA’s overwhelming pressing. Four minutes later, the hosts took full advantage of their spell in the driving seat, with Vasily Podkolzin going top-shelf on Furch after receiving a pinpoint pass from Ivan Morozov on the right flank.

SKA appeared to be in charge. Minsk had other ideas, though, and made it a one-goal game midway through the third period.

Following a sloppy error at the blue line, SKA allowed Dinamo Minsk to skate away on an odd-man rush, and Kirill Voronin halved the deficit with a looping attempt from the right faceoff circle.

The remainder of the stanza saw Dinamo Minsk crash SKA’s net. Soaking up severe pressure, SKA’s players were pinned deep in their own zone, with Samonov regularly having to save the day with alert stops at close range.

Thankfully, SKA did manage to hold on, and Joonas Kemppainen virtually ended the match as a contest in the penultimate minute when sending Evgeny Ketov’s intelligent feed into the net.

The second game of the series will be staged in Saint Petersburg on Thursday at 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA - Dinamo Minsk - 4:2 (0:1, 3:0, 1:1)

Goals:

0:1 Varfolomeev (Demkov, Usov), 04.53

1:1 Kuzmenko, 26.06

2:1 Kuzmenko (Morozov), 27.53

3:1 Podkolzin (Morozov, Galimov), 32.06

3:2 Voronin (Demkov, Usov), 50.08

4:2 Kemppainen (Ozhiganov, Ketov), 58.14

Goalkeepers: Samonov - Furch

Shots on target: 22 - 25