SKA - Spartak

SKA - Spartak - 3:1

16 February 2021

In Saint Petersburg, SKA had enough strength to defeat HC Spartak Moscow at home in the 2020/2021 KHL regular season, claiming an important 3:1 triumph.

Both teams set a furious tempo during the first period. Coming out with all guns blazing, our players immediately took the initiative at the Ice Palace, applying heavy pressure on Spartak which resulted in an opening goal in the sixth minute of play.

After brilliantly stealing possession, Malte Stromwall pulled clean through against Julius Hudacek, beating the opposing goalkeeper with an unstoppable wrister under the blocker.

Nevertheless, to their credit, Spartak responded well to that setback and earned two successive powerplays after killing two penalties of their own. Thankfully for SKA, Magnus Hellberg was fully focused, with our goalkeeper pulling off a number of difficult saves with Spartak often finding ideal shooting lanes with swift puck movement. Hellberg did particularly well to deny Spartak twice when the opposing team were clean through.

The manner of proceedings didn’t change in the second stanza.

Competing on the front foot, Spartak were creating opportunities on a regular basis, testing our defence with intense, aggressive play. SKA head coach Valeri Bragin eventually decided to signal for a time-out 26^th minute with our players struggling to move the play out of their own zone.

However, despite their impressive attacking play, Spartak lacked discipline and SKA doubled their money in the 34^th minute on the powerplay after Yakov Rylov had committed a cheap tripping foul.

Lurking at the blue line, Dinar Khafizullin opted to unleash a clattering one-timer, and his attempt flashed past Hudacek with Stromwall intelligently blocking the goaltender’s view.

Spartak hit back with more attack-minded play in our zone. To our relief, Hellberg was continuing to be as solid as a rock in our net, with our goalkeeper notably pulling off two tricky saves in one shift to keep Anatoly Nikontsev and Emil Djuse off the board.

SKA did make a major improvement in the third period in comparison to the first two frames.

In control of the match, our team calmly kept Spartak at bay for the majority of the period, protecting Hellberg effectively and rarely allowing the Moscow-based organisation to have big chances. With only three minutes remaining, Stromwall practically put the game out of sight, catching Hudacek cold when shooting from a tight angle on the left flank.

The match seemed done and dusted. Spartak, though, had different ideas, and they did get one back on the powerplay with less than two minutes left as Dmitry Vishnevsky ruined Hellberg’s shutout hopes with a low slap shot. Their head coach Oleg Znarok had pulled Hudacek for the extra skater after Kirill Marchenko had been penalised for tripping.

Stromwall then took another penalty for SKA straight after that goal. Sensing blood, Spartak threw everything at the home team, but SKA held on to successfully see the match out!

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

Match protocol:

SKA - Spartak - 3:1 (1:0, 1:0, 1:1)

Goals:

1:0 Stromwall, 05.22

2:0 Khafizullin (Kemppainen, Vey), 33.08

3:0 Stromwall (Khafizullin), 56.43

3:1 Vishnevsky (Shirokov, Djuse), 58.24

Goalkeepers: Hellberg - Hudacek

Shots on target: 23 - 34

Faceoffs: 28 - 34

Hits: 16 - 26