SKA - Sochi

SKA - Sochi - 7:2

19 December 2023

After initially struggling for two periods, SKA woke from their slumber in the third, netting six beautiful goals to emerge victorious by an emphatic score of 7:2 against Sochi at the Ice Palace in the 2023/2024 KHL regular season.

SKA dominated the entirety of the maiden two frames without managing to ever really get motoring.

Marat Khairullin tallied our opener in the seventh minute, catching impressive Sochi goaltender Maxim Tretyak cold with a seemingly harmless wrister. Incredibly, SKA outshot Sochi 33-1 (!) in the first period, but we were fortunate to enter the break ahead as Danil Avershin struck the right post when clean through.

The flow of play remained the same in the second stanza.

To their credit, though, Sochi managed to confidently weather the storm largely thanks to Tretyak’s excellent performance in net.

The improving visiting side did indeed equalise with their only powerplay of proceedings midway through the period. In the preceding play, Sergei Popov had wasted a glorious opportunity at close range, but he immediately made amends when tipping Jesse Graham’s pass beyond the stricken Johan Mattsson.

Another negative moment of the second period was when Vladimir Alistrov appeared to receive a serious injury tumbling into the boards.

In truth, the maiden 40 minutes made for a somewhat sleepy, unenthusiastic affair. However, following a strict team talk during the break, SKA came out all guns blazing for the third period.

Mikhail Vorobyov quickly netted our all-important go-ahead goal, firing into the right corner when unmarked on the doorstep.

Sochi were gifted a perfect chance to equalise seconds later when Khairullin conceded a penalty shot for a foul against the onrushing Nikita Feoktistov. To our delight, Mattsson came to the rescue SKA, shutting the door on Slovakian forward Michal Kristof who had stepped up to take the shot.

That moment proved decisive.

SKA beat Tretyak for the third time in the subsequent play, with former Sochi forward Borna Rendulic calmly getting the better of former teammate Tretyak 1-on-1.

Timur Khafizov registered Sochi’s second in the fifth minute of a pulsating third period when lashing over Mattsson’s blocker on the counter. Nevertheless, SKA weren’t about to let this game get away from them, and our players went on to score a further four goals before the match was over!

Khairullin calmed the fans’ nerves in the 46th minute with a scorching effort which was only given by the referees after they had received the call from the KHL’s control room.

Arseniy Gritsyuk etched his name on the scoreboard when giving a flowing counter the perfect finish, before Vorobyov scored again from his favourite position and Vasily Glotov slid the puck between Tretyak’s pads with the backhand when completing a superb one-two with Khairullin.

It’s worth noting that SKA managed to record an unprecedented 66 shots on target in this game!

SKA will now prepare to host CSKA Moscow in Saint Petersburg on Thursday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – Sochi – 7:2 (1:0, 0:1, 6:1)

Goals:

1:0 Khairullin (Nikishin, Glotov), 06.23

1:1 Popov (Graham, Tyanulin), 30.50 PPG

2:1 Vorobyov (Tolchinsky), 40.45

3:1 Rendulic, 42.00

3:2 Khafizov, 44.23

4:2 Khairullin (Galchenyuk, Falkovsky), 45.50

5:2 Gritsyuk (Zinchenko, Rendulic), 49.30