SKA - Metallurg Magnitogorsk

SKA - Metallurg Magnitogorsk - 5:3

11 December 2015

The final home match of 2015 took place for SKA today against HC Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Sergei Zubov sprung a surprise for this one, as young goaltender Igor Shestyorkin took the place of Finn Mikko Koskinen. Alexander Barabanov stepped down to the fourth line, while Steve Moses kept his place in the third with Jarno Koskiranta and Joakim Lindstrom. Vasily Koshechkin was in Metallurg’s net.

It was a quiet opening period inside the Ice Palace, as both teams refused to open up. Defence was the order of the day, and the fans didn’t have much to cheer about during the opening stages. Metallurg did a solid job of breaking SKA’s attacks up, and when going forward themselves they had the best openings. Igor Shestyorkin held on to a Jan Kovar wrister from distance, and when a man down he closed the five hole in time to stone Wojtek Wolski. As the period wore on SKA found a bit of joy on the counterattack, and after Vadim Shipachyov earned a powerplay the deadlock was broken. Vadim and Nikita Gusev combined to set up Andrei Kuteikin on the left faceoff circle, and just like against Salavat he sent an unstoppable rocket into the near corner.

That goal helped the game burst into life, and it was an action packed second period. Being a goal down Metallurg had to open up, and that led up to SKA have more goalscoring chances. Maxim Chudinov had a wide open opportunity between the circles, but despite having the goal at his mercy he thumped wide of the left post. Metallurg often make their opposition pay for missed chances, and that's exactly what they did here. On a counter Bogdan Potekhin was fed on the right, and he swept beyond Igor Shestyorkin. The visitors drew confidence from that, and could have gone ahead had Jan Kovar not lost control of the puck when alone on the slot. Nevertheless SKA weren’t going to let Metallurg have it all their own way, and on a powerful attack the second was scored. Nikita Gusev’s effort pounded off the boards, the puck fell at the feet of Evgeny Dadonov, and from a tight angle the latter squeezed it in blocker side. The home fans loved that, but afterwards SKA got into some horrible penalty trouble. Both Dmitry Kalinin and Evgeny Ketov took 2+2 calls for high sticking, and Metallurg took full advantage. Sergey Mozyakin let rip from the point, and the puck flew into the left corner. It looked as though Metallurg would now take over, however out of nothing SKA retook the lead. Shorthanded Steve Moses was illegally brought down when clean through, and he brilliantly executed his ensuing penalty shot between the goalkeeper’s pads.

It was set up to be a tense third, and predictably Metallurg took over the initiative. Jan Kovar drew a top right toe save out of Igor Shestyorkin, however despite his best efforts he couldn’t prevent the visitors from levelling again. The puck rolled across SKA’s crease, and Sergey Mozyakin reacted quickest to backhand in. It looked as though now Metallurg would hold the advantage, but a terrible Jan Kovar challenge against Vadim Shipachyov spoiled their plans. The away forward was dealt a 5+20 penalty, and that paved the way for SKA to wrestle back control. Two minutes into the powerplay Andrei Kuteikin hung back at the point, drew his stick back, and slapped menacingly into the net for SKA’s fourth lead of the day. That would prove crucial too, as despite their best efforts Metallurg couldn’t create anything at Igor Shestyorkin’s goal. They opted to pull Vasily Koshechkin for the extra skater with three minutes to go, and SKA captain Ilya Kovalchuk sealed the deal with a backhander into the empty net. 5:3, and SKA take their eighth win in a row against HC Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The next game will take place on the 22^nd of December away to HC Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod.

Match protocol:

SKA – Metallurg Magnitogorsk – 5:3 (1:0, 2:2, 2:1)

Goals:

1:0 Kuteikin (Shipachyov, Gusev), 17.55

1:1 Potekhin (Filippi, Zaripov), 24.35

2:1 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Gusev), 30.27

2:2 Mozyakin (Zaripov), 35.15

3:2 Moses, 35.49

3:3 Mozyakin (Lee, Kovar), 47.42

4:3 Kuteikin (Moses, Burdasov), 52.14

5:3 Kovalchuk (Zubarev, Burdasov), 57.55

Goalkeepers: Shestyorkin – Koshechkin