SKA - Dinamo Riga

SKA - Dinamo Riga - 4:1

13 October 2016

For the fourth match of this KHL home series, SKA took on HC Dinamo Riga. Head coach Oleg Znarok didn't make any huge changes to the line-up, as goaltender Igor Shestyorkin kept his place in net. In a surprise to many, Dinamo's starting netminder was Janis Kalnins, not Jakub Sedlacek.

Despite their terrible form this season, Dinamo are generally awkward opponents for SKA. They kept up that tradition in the first period, not letting our players get anything going in the Latvian zone. Indeed it was Dinamo coming the closest, as after making Igor Shestyorkin work, Pyotr Schastlivy smashed the crossbar. At the other end, SKA were struggling against the Dinamo back line, registering only six shots on target.

Something had to change in the second period, and it did. All of a sudden, SKA took it up a gear, crashing Dinamo's net at any opportunity. Eventually, it led up to a goal - Jarno Koskiranta took up possession, closed down and fired under Janis Kalnins' glove. That knocked the stuffing out of Dinamo, and the rest of the period belonged to SKA. Our team had chance after chance, but stunning goaltending from Janis Kalnins prevented us from deservedly extending the lead.

In the third frame, SKA continued dominating on the ice. Coming under unbelievable pressure, Dinamo made their lives even more difficult when taking five penalties in a row. Predictably, it proved to be their downfall - with a man's advantage, Vadim Shipachyov fired hard into the right corner after a speedy breakaway. Out of nowhere, Dinamo's Mikelis Redlihs did get one back for the hosts, backhanding between Igor Shestyorkin's pads, however that proved to be a mere consolation. Ilya Kovalchuk made the game safe with a ripping slap shot, and in the final minutes, Steve Moses hit the target between the circles. 4:1 today, SKA keep the winning streak going!

Match protocol:

SKA - Dinamo Riga - 4:1 (0:0, 1:0, 3:1)

Goals:

1:0 Koskiranta, 25.12

2:0 Shipachyov (Dadonov, Gusev), 46.28

2:1 M. Redlihs (Pujacs, Darzins), 50.15

3:1 Kovalchuk (Barabanov), 51.56

4:1 Moses (Yakovlev, Plotnikov), 56.17

Goalkeepers: Shestyorkin - Kalnins

Shots on target: 39 - 21

Penalty minutes: 0 - 10

Faceoffs: 44 - 18