SKA – Spartak

SKA – Spartak – 3:2

10 January 2023

In a blockbuster showdown of high quality, SKA held on for dear life against Spartak Moscow at the Ice Palace in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season, emerging victorious by a slender score of 3:2.

Both teams immediately started with energy and aggression.

A flurry of SKA penalties in the early stages allowed Spartak to apply some pressure on our team. Making his first appearance of the calendar year, Dmitry Nikolaev consequently had no problem in easing his way into proceedings, as he stopped a series of threatening attempts from Shane Prince and Maxim Chudinov.

SKA broke the deadlock in the eighth minute. When twisting to a shooting position on the crease, Zakhar Bardakov firmly backhanded beyond Spartak goaltender Alexei Krasikov.

Apart from when playing shorthanded, our players were competing on the front foot and creating chances at will. Our second goal was tallied on a delayed penalty in the 16^th minute, with Nikita Gusev thumping a powerful one-timer past Krasikov when unmarked between the faceoff circles.

On a subsequent powerplay, SKA came close to a third, as a deflected attempt from distance struck the right post with Krasikov already helpless for Spartak. Marat Khairullin and Arseniy Koromyslov also threatened the Spartak goal from ideal positions on the slot.

SKA started the second stanza in a similar manner. However, against the run of play, Spartak cut our lead in half.

Unmarked to the left of the slot on the counter-attack, Joseph Keane gave Nikolaev no chance.

That goal gave Spartak a visible impulse. Rapidly gaining confidence, the Muscovites were starting to create clear opportunities on a regular basis, often catching SKA out of position when skating away on the counter.

Our third goal was scored out of the blue. At the blue line, 28-year-old Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov decided to chuck the puck towards goal, and it deceived Krasikov thanks to Nikita Popugayev effectively blocking his view.

Nevertheless, Spartak didn’t let that setback affect them. Nikolaev pulled off two superb stops to shut the door on Alexander Khokhlachyov and Ilya Talaluev during a 5-on-3 Spartak powerplay, but he was powerless to prevent Artyom Serikov’s wrister from drifting into the right corner at equal strength with a mere seven seconds remaining in the period.

The somewhat undisciplined manner of proceedings continued in the third period. In the very first shift of the stanza, Matvei Zaseda came incredibly close to Spartak’s equaliser, thrashing the puck against the crossbar with Nikolaev seemingly beaten.

Spartak were handed another 5-on-3 powerplay early on in the frame. To our relief, SKA were defending solidly when shorthanded, blocking countless slap shots and receiving much-required help from Nikolaev who was in superb form in our goal.

As the minutes ticked by, the away team predictably increased their urgency. Throwing everything at our team, Spartak carved open a handful of promising chances, but Nikolaev stood tall to the challenge to pull off tricky stops at point-blank range and see SKA through to victory – even after the opponents had swapped Krasikov for the extra skater.

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

Match protocol:

SKA – Spartak – 3:2 (2:0, 1:2, 0:0)

Goals:

1:0 Bardakov (Volkov), 07.04

2:0 Gusev (Khusnutdinov, Nikishin), 15.56

2:1 Keane (Khokhlachyov, Prince), 24.51

3:1 Grebenshchikov (Falkovsky), 33.07

3:2 Serikov (Varone, Zaseda), 39.53

Goalkeepers: Nikolaev – Krasikov

Shots: 68 – 60

Shots on target: 31 – 32