Game two. SKA - Lokomotiv

Game two. SKA - Lokomotiv - 1:2

17 March 2018

In Saint Petersburg, SKA hosted HC Lokomotiv Yaroslavl for the second match of the 2017/2018 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs second round series. Following the 4:0 victory on Friday, head coach Oleg Znarok kept the team the same. Mikko Koskinen and Alexander Sudnitsin were the starting goaltenders.

Unlike the first game, the teams set a slow tempo at the Ice Palace. Lokomotiv were happy to sit back and wait for counterattack opportunities, while our players simply couldn't find that aggression which was so effective on Friday. Nevertheless, midway through the first period, SKA made the breakthrough. Seconds after a Lokomotiv penalty expired, Vadim Shipachyov lashed a one timer between the goalkeeper's pads from the right faceoff circle. 1:0 after 40 minutes.

Unfortunately, the tables turned in the second period. Slowly but surely, Lokomotiv began to dominate in Saint Petersburg, as the teams earned a number of penalties. Eventually their pressure resulted in a goal. Hanging to the right of the crease, Artur Kayumov slammed a powerful wrist shot beyond Mikko Koskinen on the powerplay. Lokomotiv continued pressing, registering 21 shots on goal compared to SKA's six. Ilya Lyubushkin made their advantage count in the dying moments of the frame, smashing a huge slap shot into the net.

SKA did improve in the third period with time running out, throwing everything at the sturdy Lokomotiv defence during the closing stages. Sergei Shirokov came the closest to an equaliser, backhanding wide at point blank range. Lokomotiv goalkeeper Alexander Sudnitsin refused to be beaten though, steering his team to a 2:1 victory which makes the series 1:1 ahead of the next two matches in Yaroslavl.

Match report:

SKA - Lokomotiv - 1:2 (1:0, 0:2, 0:0)

Goals:

1:0 Shipachyov (Kovalchuk, Zub), 13.55

1:1 Kayumov (Loktionov, Mosalyov), 27.54

1:2 Lyubushkin (Kraskovsky), 38.45

Goalkeepers: Koskinen - Sudnitsin

Shots on target: 29 - 36

Faceoffs: 38 - 31

Hits: 23 - 15

Penalty minutes: 14 - 24

Referees: Ravodin, Sidorenko