SKA - Dinamo Riga

SKA - Dinamo Riga - 3:1

11 February 2015

SKA took on Latvian visitors Dinamo Riga today inside the Ice Palace, as the team looked to recover from a heavy defeat against Ak Bars on Monday. Not too many changes were made to the team at all, with Mikko Koskinen still in net, and Andrey Ermakov and Dmitry Yudin being the defensive partnership in the fourth line.

The points were very much needed for Dinamo as they battle away for a playoff spot, and they made it obvious early on as they took the game to SKA. Mikko Koskinen had to make a huge couple of early saves on the penalty kill, with the pick of them coming off a slapped puck from the doorstep. The visitors wouldn’t let up, and sure enough their pressure turned into a goal. With Artemiy Panarin down injured Lauris Darzins wristed from the left, and up close the netminder had no chance. Despite that setback SKA earned a very timely powerplay minutes later, and carved out several golden openings. Maxim Chudinov’s slapper was barely stopped by Jakub Sedlacek, and Yevgeni Dadonov thrashed wide when open at point blank range. As the period went on Dinamo took back the initiative though, and our goalkeeper pulled off a couple of alert pad stops to keep the difference at one.

If the first frame was dramatic, then the second was on a different level. SKA simply laid siege to Dinamo’s net creating chance after chance, and spurning the lot of them. Tony Martensson wristed wide when open on the right, Ilya Kovalchuk saw a number of slapped efforts crash off target, and young defenceman Andrey Ermakov smashed the left post from distance. The best chance fell to Maxim Chudinov – with an open net to aim, he contrived to smack the woodwork. That miss was then almost punished to the full, as Gints Meija fired into Mikko Koskinen with a penalty shot. Our captain Ilya Kovalchuk was seriously fired up, and he got into a couple of fights with Mikelis Redlihs and Charles Genoway as the tension went up a notch.

Our team had no other option than to keep piling on the pressure in the third period, and finally, yes finally, Jakub Sedlacek in Dinamo’s net gave way. Directly off a faceoff draw on the left Tony Martensson wristed high, and went water-bottle on the netminder. That gave the team the needed confidence, and the heat was simply incessant deep inside Dinamo’s zone. Five minutes later the go ahead goal came, as Roman Cervenka neatly fired home from up close. Dinamo were sinking fast now, and a later Lauris Darzins foul was taken advantage of as Maxim Chudinov’s slap shot was expertly tipped in by Swede Jimmie Ericsson. Mikko Koskinen saw his left post hit as Dinamo gave a late charge, but it made no difference as SKA soared to a dramatic 3:1 triumph over Dinamo Riga!

Match protocol:

SKA – Dinamo Riga – 3:1 (0:1, 0:0, 3:0)

Goals:

0:1 Darzins (Cibulskis, Indrasis), 07.32

1:1 Martensson (Tikhonov), 44.56

2:1 Cervenka (Y Alexandrov, Burdasov), 49.39

3:1 Ericsson (Chudinov, Cervenka), 57.40

Goalkeepers: Koskinen – Sedlacek

Shots: 40 – 27

Penalty minutes: 12 – 14

Faceoffs: 33 – 27

Hits: 32 – 18