SKA - Traktor - 3:2 OT

4 December 2015

SKA’s second match of this home series took place today against HC Traktor Chelyabinsk. Head coach Sergei Zubov made a few changes for this one, with Mikko Koskinen taking the place of Igor Shestyorkin in net. Joakim Lindstrom returned to the third line, as Evgeny Ketov replaced Alexander Barabanov. Vasily Demchenko was between Traktor's pipes.

The game began with our team holding the initiative, and right away chances were created deep inside Traktor’s zone. Alexander Kadeikin had a wrister deflected over the bar during the opening minute, and Evgeny Dadonov fired off target when streaking down the left. Nevertheless Traktor slowly grew into the game, and out of nothing they took the lead. Alexei Petrov wristed at the blue line, and an unsighted Mikko Koskinen was unable to get anything on it. That threw our team slightly, but an equaliser wasn’t far around the corner. Evgeny Ketov’s effort was kicked out by the right pad, and Jarno Koskiranta netted the rebound with ease. Traktor sat back after that, and Maxim Chudinov slapped inches wide of the left corner on the powerplay.

Our players carried on from where they left off in the second frame, and piled on the pressure in Traktor’s zone. Vasily Demchenko was making save after save, and luck was on his side too. A loose puck rolled out to Joakim Lindstrom all alone on the doorstep, but at point blank range Joakim thumped off target. Unfortunately that miss was punished immediately, and you won’t see many stranger goals. Evgeny Ketov attempted to clear out from his own crease, but somehow ended up backhanding into his own net. Everyone seemed in shock, but SKA weren’t willing to back down. Traktor took two penalties as they struggled to cope with the heat inside their zone, and that led up to the equaliser. Beautiful build up play teed up Vadim Shipachyov on the right faceoff circle, and Vadim made no mistake. All the momentum was with SKA again, and Nikita Gusev should really have put the team ahead. Open on the crease he opted for a one timer, however with the goaltender out of position he failed to hit the net.

Things were tense moving into the third, and not many goalscoring chances were witnessed at all. Instead of searching for a winner SKA ended up spending a lot of time in their own end, and on a couple of powerplays Traktor had some big opportunities. Mikko Koskinen made eleven saves in the period in total, and his best came against Stanislav Chistov high glove side. However with the minutes running down our players did have the best of play, but despite holding the majority of possession nothing of note was created on Traktor’s crease.

Overtime it was, and that it where our players came to life. Ilya Kovalchuk wonderfully twisted the puck over to Alexander Kadeikin on the right, and the latter lashed in to give SKA the extra point. 3:2 against Traktor, and SKA take their fifth win in a row! The next match will be against HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk at home on Sunday.

Match protocol:

SKA – Traktor – 3:2 OT (1:1, 1:1, 0:0 – 1:0)

Goals:

0:1 Petrov (Sharov, Afonsyevsky), 04.10

1:1 Koskiranta (Lindstrom, Ketov), 10.34

1:2 Yakutsenya, 27.23

2:2 Shipachyov (Gusev, Kovalchuk), 31.20

3:2 Kadeikin (Yakovlev, Kovalchuk), 60.37

Goalkeepers: Koskinen – Demchenko

Shots on target: 44 – 23

Penalty minutes: 6 – 33

Faceoffs: 27 – 21