No points for SKA in Kazan

28 November 2025

SKA couldn't finish this particular road trip on a positive note, conceding a 2:5 loss to Ak Bars away in Kazan.

The game was very much in the balance after two periods, but two Kazan goals at the start of the third frame allowed the hosts to comfortably see the match out.

Ak Bars quickly took the lead in the fourth minute, as ex-SKA forward Dmitrij Jaskin cleverly tipped beyond Sergei Ivanov.

SKA responded with Brendan Leipsic hitting the jackpot on the counter in the third minute of the second period. However, Ak Bars immediately reinstated their advantage, with Ilya Safonov powering clean through and beating Ivanov with a slick move.

And the Tatarstan-based organisation promptly registered their third in the 38th minute, as Artyom Galimov lashed a firm wrister into the left corner when pouncing on the loose puck.

The third period couldn't have gotten off to a worse start from a SKA point of view.

Familiar face Ilya Karpukhin grabbed Ak Bars' all-important fourth goal, powering to a shooting position from deep and neatly backhanding over the stranded Ivanov.

Nikita Dynyak well and truly ended the game as a contest midway through the frame, displaying impressive skill to burst past the SKA defence and backhand into the net after taking Ivanov out of the picture.

Leipsic did subsequently tally his second of the day and fifth in three matches when completing a clever passing play with Joe Blandisi, but it made little difference to the outcome.

SKA will now prepare to face Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl on Tuesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:00 local time.

Match protocol:

Ak Bars - SKA - 5:2 (1:0, 2:1, 2:1)

Goals:

1:0 Jaskin (Karpukhin, Barabanov), 03.24

1:1 Leipsic (Phillips), 22.36

2:1 Safonov (Galimov, Falkovsky), 24.38

3:1 Galimov, 37.20

4:1 Karpukhin (Galimov, Marchenko), 41.10

5:1 Dynyak (Brovkin, Luchevnikov), 50.02

5:2 Leipsic (Blandisi), 50.30

Goalkeepers: Bilyalov - Ivanov