SKA – Kunlun Red Star

SKA – Kunlun Red Star – 6:2

9 October 2023

SKA earned a routine victory at the Ice Palace in the 2023/2024 KHL regular season against Kunlun Red Star, thrashing the Chinese visitors 6:2.

After Nikita Serebryakov had denied the practically clean-through Luke Lockhart, SKA went on to quickly open the scoring in the second minute.

When swinging for an unexpected wraparound, defenseman Mikhail Pashnin caught Kunlun goaltender Matt Jurusik by surprise.

Our advantage was subsequently doubled six minutes later.

Lurking on the doorstep, fellow defenseman Maxim Fedotov forced the puck over the line after Alex Galchenyuk’s wrister had been saved. It was indeed the 21-year-old’s maiden competitive goal for SKA.

SKA were bossing the play, but Kunlun were admittedly providing a threat on the counter. With our defence looking somewhat shaky at times, a handful of opportunities did fall Kunlun’s way, and Serebryakov had to pull off another challenging save to deny Lockhart again after the away forward had managed to skate through 1-on-1.

Our dominance continued in the second stanza.

Sergei Tolchinsky made it three in the 25^th minute, sending his low one-timer between the pads. Controlling the flow of the play with ease, SKA made it four midway through the period, with Vladimir Alistrov thumping his instant effort in from the right flank when skating away 2-on-1 with Mikhail Vorobyov.

Against the run of play, Colin Campbell got Kunlun on the board in the 36^th minute as he got the slightest of deflections on Doyle Somerby's seemingly harmless shot. Nevertheless, the lively Alex Galchenyuk conjured up the perfect response a mere 52 seconds later, whipping the puck home from the high slot.

In comparison to the opening two periods, the third wasn’t contested at such a high tempo.

Parker Foo whacked a fierce wrister in for Kunlun’s second on the break-away in the 49^th minute. Seconds later, Pashnin contrived to commit tripping, but instead of conceding SKA scored shorthanded for the second time in as many matches.

Once again Vorobyov was the man of the moment, backhanding Alistrov’s deflected pass past the helpless Jurusik. The 26-year-old had previously netted the winner against CSKA Moscow away on Friday shorthanded.

That ended the game as a contest once and for all. In the dying seconds, Devin Brosseau did have a golden opportunity to score another for Kunlun, but Serebryakov came to the rescue with a fantastic left-pad stop.

SKA will now prepare to host Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Kunlun Red Star – 6:2 (2:0, 3:1, 1:1)

Goals:

1:0 Pashnin (Gritsyuk, Vorobyov), 01.27

2:0 M. Fedotov (Galchenyuk, Vorobyov), 07.46 PPG

3:0 Tolchinsky (Zemchyonok, Kadeikin), 24.10

4:0 Alistrov (Vorobyov), 30.33

4:1 Campbell (Somerby, Yuen), 35.05

5:1 Galchenyuk (Tolchinsky, Kadeikin), 35.57

5:2 Foo, 48.21

6:2 Vorobyov (Alistrov), 49.59 SHG