SKA - Severstal

SKA - Severstal - 4:3 OT

11 January 2015

Today on the 11th of January, SKA played its second home match of 2015 against HC Severstal Cherepovets. Some headlines were created with the line-up, with Igor Shestyorkin being stuck between the pipes, and Sergey Korobov backing him up. Captain Ilya Kovalchuk also made his long awaited comeback in the first line, much to the Ice Palace's joy.

The opening stages saw Severstal rather surprisingly take charge, and several fantastic early opportunities came their way. Ex SKA forward Sergey Monakhov skated alone on the left only to be denied by the goaltender, and Igor Shestyorkin then had to be alert to shut down Dmitry Kagarlitsky between the circles. Our guys needed something to kick them into life, and a powerplay did just that - Artemiy Panarin hung behind the net, fed Yevgeni Dadonov on the doorstep, and the latter hit the target. The momentum was all with our team now, and just five seconds before the buzzer it was two - again with a man's advantage Artemiy Panarin steamed down the right, and powered the puck into the far corner.

Despite those markers Severstal weren't willing to lay down, and they got on the board four minutes into the second. The puck cannoned hard off the boards behind the goal, and it was a simple task for Zakhar Arzamastsev to score. SKA didn't want the initiative to slip though, and they regained their two goal lead as Ilya Kablukov poked in from point blank range.

That looked to have calmed everyone down, however again the visitors wormed themselves to within one. Dmitry Kagarlitsky took aim from an impossible angle on the left, and after a cruel deflection off Ilya Kablukov, Igor Shestyorkin was left helpless. 3:2 after 40 minutes.

The third saw SKA take the game back under control, and chance after chance came inside Severstal's zone. The best of the lot fell to Czech forward Roman Cervenka, who backhanded over the crossbar on a penalty shot. That miss was duly punished late on, as Severstal's Nikolay Stasenko tipped in a long wrister on the powerplay. Overtime it was, although that didn't last for long. Again with a player extra Yevgeni Dadonov hacked around for the loose puck on the slot, and eventually sent it upstairs for the win. 4:3, and SKA wins their third game in a row in 2015!

Match protocol:

SKA - Severstal - 4:3 OT (2:0, 1:2, 0:1 - 1:0)

Goals:

1:0 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Panarin), 07.11

2:0 Panarin (Chudinov), 19.55

2:1 Arzamastsev (Thuresson, Shinin), 24.29

3:1 Kablukov (Ketov, Burdasov), 31.34

3:2 Kagarlitsky, 38.38

3:3 Stasenko (Shinin, Kagarlitsky), 54.36

4:3 Dadonov (Kovalchuk, Shipachyov), 60.39

Goalkeepers: Shestyorkin - Magarilov

Shots: 36 - 23