Game two. SKA – CSKA

Game two. SKA – CSKA – 2:1

4 April 2023

SKA earned a vital victory at the Ice Palace in the second match of the 2022/2023 KHL Gagarin Cup semi-finals against CSKA Moscow, tallying a tense 2:1 win to consequently tie the series 1-1.

A sleepy first period set the tone for the evening.

Barely any realistic goalscoring opportunities were witnessed with the teams not displaying intense ice hockey. When virtually clean through, Nikita Gusev did have one clear chance for SKA, but he could only backhand against Adam Reideborn’s pads.

Moments after that miss, CSKA opened the scoring.

After SKA had failed to clear the puck, Andrei Svetlakov pounced on the rebound on the doorstep and swept it beyond Dmitry Nikolaev.

The second stanza continued with the sides playing at a slow pace without any kind of fluidity.

Thankfully, though, a goal on the powerplay in the 35^th minute sparked SKA into life.

Lurking in front of Reideborn, Valentin Zykov carefully tipped Igor Ozhiganov’s effort in to score SKA’s first PP marker since the first round of the competition against Dinamo Minsk.

In the subsequent shifts, SKA applied much-needed pressure against a seemingly tiring CSKA outfit, landing several crunching hits against the Muscovites and earning another powerplay which wasn’t taken advantage of.

The disjointed manner of proceedings returned for the third period.

However, with a little over 11 minutes remaining in regulation, SKA struck the decisive blow.

Having escaped his marker on the doorstep, Mikhail Vorobyov intelligently knocked Alexander Nikishin’s accurate pass past the stricken Reideborn.

SKA’s hard-hitting approach prevented CSKA from generating notable attacking traction throughout the remainder of the frame. With the fatigued Moscow-based organisation committing two late fouls, SKA had a guilt-edged chance to end the match as a contest, but Reideborn stood tall to the challenge to keep his team in the game.

Nonetheless, despite pulling the Swede for the extra skater in the concluding minute, CSKA couldn’t create any opportunities and SKA successfully held on.

Game three of the series will take place in Moscow on Thursday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

SKA – CSKA – 2:1 (0:1, 1:0, 1:0)

Goals:

0:1 Svetlakov (Slepyshev, Dietz), 16.17

1:1 Zykov (Ozhiganov, Zhafyarov), 34.31 PPG

2:1 Vorobyov (Nikishin, Khairullin), 48.39

Goalkeepers: Nikolaev – Reideborn

Shots: 54 – 51

Shots on target: 30 – 27

Faceoffs: 27 – 27

Hits: 22 – 7