SKA – Sochi

SKA – Sochi – 5:2

2 November 2022

In an entertaining encounter, SKA had to show character against Sochi at the Ice Palace in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season, scoring four goals in the third period to earn a 5:2 win.

Despite languishing at the bottom of the standings with a mere nine points on the board, Sochi started with energy and pace.

Nikita Feoktistov opened the scoring in the fifth minute on the odd-man rush, sending his one-timer beyond the stricken Alexander Samonov.

That goal predictably sparked SKA into action. Following a lengthy spell of pressure, the equaliser arrived with a little over two minutes remaining in the first period, as Andrei Pedan’s hopeful effort from the left wing was inadvertently deflected past Maxim Tretyak by a Sochi player.

We hoped that the equalising goal would galvanise SKA for the second stanza, but the exact opposite happened.

Sochi competed on the front foot for the majority of the period. Drawing penalties out of SKA and playing with admirable confidence, the southern visitors took the game to our team, with the likes of Andrei Altybarmakyan, Artyom Nikolaev and Nikita Popugaev proving to be particular dangerous.

The away side took their second lead with only 33 seconds left in the stanza. Taking advantage of a sloppy SKA defensive error, Altybarmakyan powered through 1-on-1 and calmly slotted the puck under Samonov’s blocker. That goal arrived not long after a video review had determined that Pedan’s sneaky wraparound hadn’t crossed the line.

Down by one and facing a shock defeat, SKA had to produce a superb third period.

And that’s exactly what we got.

Stepan Falkovsky quickly equalised on the powerplay in the second minute, hitting the jackpot from the right faceoff circle after brilliantly being found by Nikita Gusev.

Not long later, Amir Garaev wasted a glorious opportunity to once again put Sochi in the driving seat, shooting against Samonov with only our goalkeeper to beat.

That moment proved decisive.

SKA took their maiden lead of the evening with nine minutes remaining. All of a sudden, a large goalmouth scramble erupted, the sprawling Tretyak couldn’t get hold of the puck, and Marat Khusnutdinov lashed it into the net after Igor Ozhiganov had managed to gain control of possession.

There wasn’t any stopping SKA now. In the remaining minutes, two more powerplay goals came our way to end the match as a contest, with Gusev’s pass from the left being knocked in by a Sochi player and Vasily Glotov going top-shelf on Tretyak from the doorstep.

SKA will now prepare to host Metallurg Magnitogorsk in Saint Petersburg on Saturday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:00 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Sochi – 5:2 (1:1, 0:1, 4:0)

Goals:

0:1 Feoktistov (Popugaev), 04.28

1:1 Pedan, 17.56

1:2 Altybarmakyan (Gormley), 39.27

2:2 Falkovsky (Gusev, Pylenkov), 41.51 PPG

3:2 Khusnutdinov (Ozhiganov), 51.08

4:2 Gusev (Pylenkov), 52.30 PPG

5:2 Glotov (Zykov, Khairullin), 55.43 PPG

Goalkeepers: Samonov – Tretyak