SKA - Torpedo - 6:3. Game One

27 February 2015

The long awaited KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs begun today as SKA hosted HC Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in game one of the series. Vyacheslav Bykov didn’t create any headlines with the line-up, with Mikko Koskinen in net and young defensive pairing Andrey Ermakov and Dmitry Yudin still in the fourth line. Anton Belov and Artemiy Panarin weren’t included into the squad for this game.

It was an electric atmosphere inside the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace, and just what a start it was. With only just a minute gone Vadim Shipachyov was fed skating beyond the blue line, and he brilliantly fired over the goalkeeper’s left pad. SKA had begun with such power and seconds after a powerplay had ended, all alone by the left hand post Tony Martensson tucked home a clever Patrick Thoresen dish. Our team were simply all over the depleted Torpedo, and it was three as Ilya Kablukov caught the netminder unawares when cutting in from the right. That proved to be the final straw for Torpedo head coach Peteris Skudra, and he pulled Yevgeni Biryukov for Ivan Kasutin. The latter, and former SKA goaltender, had to make an amazing save minutes after being introduced, somehow sweeping away Anton Burdasov’s backhanded rebound. Torpedo slowly grew in confidence as time went on though, and with a man’s advantage they struck. Jarkko Immonen was found on the doorstep, and he one timed it in.

If Torpedo were hoping that was going to prove a turning point though, they were to be horribly disappointed. SKA went about taking complete control again, and the side from Nizhny Novgorod were completely blown out of the water. On the powerplay Roman Cervenka drifted to the left faceoff circle, and expertly wristed high into the far corner. Ten minutes later after some Ivan Kasutin heroics the fifth goal went in, as Jimmie Ericsson beautifully tipped in Maxim Chudinov’s disguised pass with only four Torpedo players on the ice. Tempers began to rise, and our young defenceman Dmitry Yudin attempted to drop the gloves with Wojtech Wolski as the Torpedo player was shut down by Mikko Koskinen up close. With less than a minute in the frame left our fans were on their feet again, as Yevgeni Dadonov’s feed from behind the net took a wicked deflection off a Torpedo skate deceiving the goaltender. 6:1 after 40.

Moving on into the third, and naturally Torpedo took over the initiative as our team relaxed slightly. Wojtech Wolski batted the puck down out of mid air, and from point blank range Mikko Koskinen had no chance. They almost scored again not long later at all, as Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev’s effort was ruled off for standing on the goal crease illegaly. It mattered little though, as Jarkko Immonen soon made it a three goal game from a tough angle on the right. Vyacheslav Bykov took a timeout after that, and it did the trick as SKA calmly saw the match out to take game one of the series in thrilling style 6:3!

Match protocol:

SKA – Torpedo – 6:3 (3:1, 3:0, 0:2)

Goals:

1:0 Shipachyov (Kuteikin, Dadonov), 01.09

2:0 Martensson (Thoresen), 05.18

3:0 Kablukov (Burdasov), 10.26

3:1 Immonen (Wolski, Salminen), 19.23

4:1 Cervenka (Martensson), 23.24

5:1 Ericsson (Cervenka, Chudinov), 33.06

6:1 Dadonov, 39.47

6:2 Wolski (Immonen, Makarov), 45.46

6:3 Immonen, 50.57