10-goal thriller falls the way of Kunlun

22 February 2025

Defensive woes once again made SKA pay, as our team suffered a surprise 4:6 home defeat to Kunlun Red Star in a 10-goal thriller.

Matters initially started positively for SKA, as Sergei Andronov tapped in from the doorstep in the 17th minute. However, Kunlun managed to get back on level terms a mere matter of 30 seconds before the break, as the gifted Yaroslav Likhachyov whipped the puck beyond Yegor Zavragin.

That set the tone of things to come.

Valentin Zykov equalised on the powerplay after Luke Lockhart had given Kunlun the lead shorthanded. Unfortunately, that marker didn’t change the momentum, as the Chinese visitors subsequently netted three unanswered goals within two (!) minutes through Ian McCoshen, Jan Drozg and Kyle Rau – with the latter getting the better of Pavel Moisevich who had replaced Zavragin in our net.

SKA rallied in the third period, clawing the deficit back to one as Mikhail Grigorenko scored a beauty on the PP and the in-form Matvei Korotky slammed home the rebound. Kunlun weren’t to be denied, though, as they sealed the deal with an empty-netter from Tyler Graovac with a little more than five minutes remaining.

Our players will now prepare to host Spartak Moscow at the SKA Arena on Tuesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Kunlun Red Star – 4:6 (1:1, 1:4, 2:1)

Goals:

1:0 Andronov (Akolzin, Pedan), 16.14

1:1 Likhachyov (Lockhart), 19.30

1:2 Lockhart, 27.51 SHG

2:2 Zykov (Kuznetsov, Nikishin), 29.02 PPG

2:3 McCoshen (O’Reagan), 31.25

2:4 Drozg (Graovac), 31.59

2:5 Rau (S. Foo, Clendening), 33.10

3:5 Grigorenko (Kuznetsov, Khairullin), 49.39 PPG