SKA - Slovan - 1:2 SO

28 January 2015

SKA began its next home series in Saint Petersburg with the visit of Slovan Bratislava. Despite the recent defeat to Salavat Yulaev away head coach Vyacheslav Bykov kept the team mostly the same, although Jimmie Ericsson was relegated to the third line with Alexey Ponikarovsky stepping up. Mikko Koskinen kept his place in net, with his usual understudy Igor Shestyorkin backing him up.

It was a rather strange first period, with neither team being able to keep a decent hold of possession. Slovan did manage to trouble Mikko Koskinen glove side on a few occasions at the beginning, while SKA huffed and puffed inside the opponent’s zone without causing too much panic. Our team did have a few powerplay opportunities in a row though, and visiting goalkeeper Johan Backlund had to be alert to hold on to a few powerful slappers to his left.

Not much changed in the second either, as chances were at a premium at both ends. Indeed it was eventually Slovan who struck first, as Ladislav Nagy cruised into the attacking zone alone, and wristed brilliantly over Mikko Koskinen and in under the crossbar. Even that failed to wake our team up, as Johan Backlund was called into action less and less. Nikolay Belov had a promising opportunity when fed with a searing cross ice feed from the right hand boards, as the Ice Palace wasn’t having a lot to be entertained by.

Finally in the third frame SKA found the inner fire to go at it hard in Slovan’s zone, and it led up to the equaliser. On the powerplay Maxim Chudinov wound up, and Jimmie Ericsson expertly tipped in from the doorstep. Our team was completely dominant now and the puck barely left Slovan’s zone, as chance after chance at close range was passed up on. Overtime it was, and after Yevgeni Dadonov fluffed his lines when practically on the goal line, Igor Shestyorkin was traditionally brought in for the penalty shootout. This time he couldn’t bring the team luck though, as Roman Cervenka’s marker was wiped out by Ziga Jeglic and Tomas Netik. 1:2, and SKA picks up only one point against Slovan.

Match protocol:

SKA – Slovan – 1:2 (0:0, 0:1, 1:0, 0:0 – 0:1)

Goals:

0:1 Nagy, 24.46

1:1 Ericsson (Cervenka, Chudinov), 46.00

1:2 Jeglic, 65.00 PS

Goalkeepers: Koskinen (Shestyorkin) – Backlund

Shots: 37 – 19

Penalty minutes: 8 – 10

Faceoffs: 44 – 20

Hits: 17 – 18

Blocked shots: 8 – 7