Late blow condemns SKA to Spartak setback

20 December 2025

In what turned out to be a tense battle decided by fine margins, SKA came up short against a fired-up Spartak Moscow side, conceding a slender 1:2 loss.

Overtime looked to be on the cards in Saint Petersburg, but a late individual marker from Ilya Vorobyov condemned our team to a disappointing defeat on home ice.

SKA had initially taken the lead with their very first attack.

Alexander Georgiyev kicked the initial shot from Markus Phillips directly onto the stick of Rocco Grimaldi, who expertly whacked the rebound in.

The remainder of the opening frame saw Spartak lay siege to our net with increasing urgency.

Applying overwhelming pressure on our team, the Muscovites were creating clear opportunities with alarming regularity, taking aim from any angle possible and putting together neat passing plays. Artemiy Pleshkov was being forced to make challenging saves time and time again, dancing around his crease with impressive agility.

The 23-year-old tallied 16 (!) saves during the first period alone. He was beaten on two occasions, but Joey Keane smacked the left post and Valentin Zykov pulled off an outstanding goal-line clearance.

SKA did manage to gain a foothold of a kind in the second stanza.

However, Spartak were still bossing proceedings with their slick, creative attacking play, and they did eventually find their equaliser in the 34^th minute.

After Zykov had been penalised with a five-minute penalty for a slashing foul, ex-SKA forward Mikhail Maltsev bundled the loose puck in at point-blank range.

The hosts defended solidly for the remainder of that lengthy Spartak powerplay. In the last knockings of the period, Nikolai Goldobin was presented with a rare golden opportunity when breaking away 2-on-1, but he contrived to thump over the crossbar with only Georgiyev to beat.

Naturally, with the game finely balanced, tension rose in the third period with neither team willing to take any unnecessary risks.

The decisive moment arrived with a little over four minutes remaining on the clock.

And, to our dismay, it was Spartak who were celebrating, as Vorobyov backhanded home after swinging through Yegor Zelenov with an intelligent move.

SKA pulled Pleshkov in a last-gasp attempt to save the day, but Spartak held on.

Our next game will take place on 26 December against Dinamo Minsk in Belarus. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:00 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Spartak – 1:2 (1:0, 0:1, 0:1)

Goals:

1:0 Grimaldi (Phillips, Blandisi), 01.40

1:1 Maltsev (Todd, Keane), 33.03 PPG

1:2 Vorobyov (Lockhart), 55.43

Goalkeepers: Pleshkov – Georgiyev