SKA - CSKA

SKA - CSKA - 6:3

21 November 2016

SKA played their final match of this particular KHL home series against HC CSKA Moscow. Preditcably, it was a young Russian goaltending match-up, with SKA's Igor Shestyorkin doing battle against national team partner Ilya Sorokin. Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Sergei Plotnikov made up SKA's first line.

A sold out Saint Petersburg Ice Palace didn't have long to wait for the first goal. Ilya Kovalchuk went on a mazy skate, set the puck back to the doorstep, and captain Pavel Datsyuk was on hand to sweep home. Fired up, SKA amazingly netted a second moments later - escaping the CSKA defence, Nikita Gusev calmly slotted between Ilya Sorokin's pads. The fans were loving it, but just as it seemed SKA would cruise to victory, CSKA came back with a shocking response. Sergei Andronov halved the deficit, Greg Scott tied it up at point blank range, and in practically the next play, the same CSKA forward gave his team the lead with an arrowed wrister into the right corner.

Dazed by that CSKA charge, SKA struggled to get anything going in the second stanza. In the end, it was CSKA themselves who turned the game around. Two horrible fouls in succession were committed against Igor Shestyorkin, and after a mass brawl, SKA punished the visitors for their ill discipline. Maxim Chudinov hung at the point, took on a slap shot and caught Ilya Sorokin cold. We weren't finished there either, as Dinar Khafizullin scored a stunning individual effort.

All of a sudden, it was now CSKA having to make a comeback. As expected, the Muscovites did crash SKA's crease early in the third period, but, thankfully, Igor Shestyorkin refused to be broken down. The game was sealed midway through - busy attacking, CSKA forgot about their defensive duties, and were picking the puck out of their goal after Evgeny Dadonov finished a clinical counterattack. CSKA did pull their goalkeeper in the final minute, however that only resulted in Ilya Kovalchuk notching an empty netter. 6:3, SKA get back to winning ways against CSKA Moscow!

Match protocol:

SKA - CSKA - 6:3 (2:3, 2:0, 2:0)

Goals:

1:0 Datsyuk (Kovalchuk, Shestyorkin), 05.33

2:0 Gusev (Shipachyov), 06.39

2:1 Andronov (Popov), 08.05

2:2 Scott (Kugryshev, Naumenkov), 09.44

2:3 Scott (Koshelev), 10.56

3:3 Chudinov (Dadonov, Shipachyov), 35.54

4:3 Khafizullin (Datsyuk, Voynov), 36.09

5:3 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Gusev), 51.13

6:3 Kovalchuk (Shestyorkin), 59.11