Road trip ends with narrow loss to Salavat

12 November 2025

In a game of fine margins, SKA were made to pay for a series of missed chances, as Salavat Yulaev struck back to condemn our team to a slender 1:2 defeat in the concluding match of this particular road trip.

SKA had initially taken the lead and bossed proceedings. However, after wasting several golden opportunities to put the game to bed, our players ended up conceding two avoidable goals before falling away in the third period.

Rocco Grimaldi opened the scoring in the seventh minute, thumping a strong effort beyond Semyon Vyazovoi on the powerplay.

Dominant in the early stages, SKA continued to pile the pressure on Ufa, drawing three penalties out of the hosts and testing Vyazovoi on a regular basis.

Salavat equalised against the run of play, though, as a flowing counter-attack was given the perfect finish by onrushing defenseman Dean Stewart.

Buoyed by that marker, the home team did predictably improve in the second stanza. Unfortunately for us, their strong play resulted in their go-ahead marker midway through the frame, with Ildan Gazimov bundling the loose puck in after Yegor Zavragin had just been unable to freeze the initial attempt.

A huge effort was required in the third from SKA. Nonetheless, Salavat continued controlling the game, spending far too much time inside the attacking zone for our liking and forcing Zavragin into challenging saves.

Zavragin was pulled in favour of the extra skater in the closing moments, but to no avail.

SKA will now prepare to host Metallurg Magnitogorsk in Saint Petersburg on Sunday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Salavat Yulaev - SKA - 2:1 (0:1, 1:0, 1:0)

Goals:

0:1 Grimaldi (Murphy, Dube), 06.37 PPG

1:1 Stewart (Rodewald, Brosseau), 16.45

2:1 Gazimov (Nabiev, Sorokin), 31.02

Goalkeepers: Vyazovoi - Zavragin

Shots: 59 - 61

Shots on target: 30 - 29

Faceoffs: 23 - 22