SKA - Neftekhimik

SKA - Neftekhimik - 2:1 OT

6 December 2015

The third match of this home series took place for SKA today against HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Head coach Sergei Zubov didn’t make many changes for this game, and kept the team largely the same. One of the only adjustments saw Alexander Barabanov return to the third line, while Mikko Koskinen kept his place in net with Ilya Ezhov his backup. Ivan Lisutin was between Neftekhimik’s pipes.

It was fast paced action right from the start, as both teams weren’t willing to begin slowly. The best of the early chances fell to a lively Neftekhimik side, and Mikko Koskinen was being kept on his guard. Andrei Stas backhanded wide of the right post at point blank range, and then another Neftekhimik forward missed the net when alone with only Mikko to beat. Nevertheless SKA were creating too, and had plenty of openings in front of Neftekhimik’s net. Maxim Chudinov slapped into Ivan Lisutin’s chest when in a great position, Vyacheslav Voynov had a dangerous wrister deflected over the bar, and Vadim Shipachyov was causing an all manner of problems on the right flank. Andrei Stas gifted our team a late powerplay, but after Ilya Kovalchuk came close with a couple of one timers Neftekhimik almost took the lead. Emerging from the penalty box Andrei Stas burst through one on one, but was denied by a superb Mikko stop.

Things were about to go up a level in the second frame, and chances kept on coming at both ends. SKA began with the initiative, and Neftekhimik spent the first few minutes deep inside their own zone. Vadim Shipachyov had a big chance when breaking away two on one, but on the right wing he could only wrist into Ivan Lisutin’s blocker. Neftekhimik were still posing a threat when skating away into the attack, and on a powerplay they opened up the scoring. Dan Sexton was given too much space on the left faceoff circle, and he clinically wristed high into the far corner. That shocked the Ice Palace a bit, but the equaliser wasn’t far away. Less than a minute later a huge goalmouth scramble erupted on Neftekhimik’s crease, and Nikita Gusev forced the puck over the line. All the momentum was with SKA now, and the rest of the period was spent in Neftekhimik’s end. Chance after chance was coming for our players, but Ivan Lisutin was standing tall. Nikita Gusev was denied by the mask, Evgeny Dadonov thumped wide of the target when between the circles, and with the puck laying on Neftekhimik’s goal line no one could poke it in.

There was a seriously tense atmosphere inside the arena moving into the third, and both teams shut up shop at the back. Very few opportunities were witnessed, and Neftekhimik were the more willing to emerge out of their own end. Mikko Koskinen was the busier goaltender, and he was making a few expert glove stops with the visitors getting the better of the one on one battles. Our team were struggling going forward, however finished much the stronger. Nikita Gusev drew a timely penalty out of Neftekhimik’s Maxim Berezin with 24 seconds remaining, and that was to prove crucial.

Overtime it was, and just like in the previous match it didn’t take long for our players to score the killer marker. Ilya Kovalchuk skated into Neftekhimik’s zone, and let rip with an absolute hammer that almost burst Ivan Lisutin’s net. 2:1 today, and SKA take a huge two points to keep the six game winning streak going!

Match protocol:

SKA – Neftekhimik – 2:1 OT (0:0, 1:1, 0:0 – 1:0)

Goals:

0:1 Sexton (Evseenkov), 29.27

1:1 Gusev (Dadonov, Yudin), 30.14

2:1 Kovalchuk (Shipachyov), 60.24

Goalkeepers: Koskinen – Lisutin

Shots on target: 41 – 28

Penalty minutes: 4 – 10

Faceoffs: 39 – 26

Hits: 13 – 7

Referees: Belyaev, Kiselyov