Game two. SKA - Dinamo Minsk

Game two. SKA - Dinamo Minsk - 5:2

3 March 2023

With Dinamo Minsk racking up an unprecedented 58 penalty minutes, SKA put their ill-disciplined opponents to the sword at the Ice Palace, claiming a thrilling 5:2 victory to draw level at 1-1 in the first round of the 2022/2023 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs.

In stark contrast to the first match on Wednesday, this time a fired-up SKA side came flying out of the blocks with all guns blazing.

After wasting a series of great chances in the first half of the opening stanza, SKA deservedly opened up a commanding three-goal advantage with three markers in four minutes.

Vasily Glotov tallied the opener from the doorstep as Minsk returned to full strength, hitting the jackpot from the doorstep. Not long later, Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov doubled our money in similar fashion, beating Konstantin Shostak after receiving a superb pass from Nikita Kamalov with Dinamo once again returning to full strength.

Igor Ozhiganov then launched a huge one-timer beyond Shostak after stealing the puck from the dawdling Vladimir Alistrov. Visibly losing their tempers, the Belarusians subsequently made their task a lot more difficult, as young defenseman Timofei Kovgorenya received a five-minute penalty for a dirty hit against Dmitrij Jaskin and Nick Merkley was ejected from the game for displaying an abusive gesture.

To their credit, Minsk made a noticeable improvement in the second period.

After successfully killing Kovgorenya’s penalty, the Belarusians started to control the puck more effectively across the ice and forced two penalties out of Evgeny Ketov (hooking) and Alexander Volkov (tripping).

A lengthy spell of pressure resulted in Dinamo getting on the board. Unmarked on the right faceoff circle, Ryan Spooner thumped an unstoppable one-timer over Nikolaev’s glove with SKA caught sleeping in the defensive zone.

Even though they were competing on the front foot, Minsk were continuing to play in a seriously rough manner, and their defensemen Dmitry Deryabin and Ilya Shinkevich received penalties for elbowing and roughing respectively in a short space of time. Jaskin almost made them pay from the slot, but he couldn’t tuck the puck home during a goalmouth scramble.

Requiring goals, Minsk continued attacking with intent in the third period. On a 2-on-1 break-away, Spooner came agonisingly close to bringing the away team back to within one, smacking the right post with Nikolaev beaten.

SKA practically put the game to bed in the 56^th minute. Having noticed that Shostak was slightly out of position for Dinamo after saving the first shot, Marat Khusnutdinov tidily tucked his wraparound in.

The pulsating action wasn’t over there either. Following a horrible defensive mistake from SKA, the lively Nikita Pyshkaylo netted when alone to the right of the slot, but Cedric Paquette then ruined any chance of a Belarusian comeback when receiving a 5+20 penalty for a disgraceful spearing foul against Alexander Nikishin.

Stepan Falkovsky iced it on the ensuing powerplay, whipping his wrister in when completing a beautiful passing play.

Game three of the series will take place in Minsk, Belarus on Sunday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:10 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Dinamo Minsk – 5:2 (3:0, 0:1, 2:1)

Goals:

1:0 Glotov (Gusev, Ozhiganov), 12.29

2:0 Grebenshchikov (Kamalov, Zhafyarov), 15.33

3:0 Ozhiganov, 16.40

3:1 Spooner (Barberio, Kozun), 33.25

4:1 Khusnutdinov (Gusev, Kamalov), 55.02

4:2 Pyshkaylo (Pinchuk), 56.26

5:2 Falkovsky (Zykov, Zhafyarov), 58.25 PPG