Slovan - SKA - 1:2 OT

17 September 2015

SKA’s four match long European tour began today in Bratislava against HC Slovan. A few noticeable changes were made by Andrei Nazarov were made for this one, with Ilya Ezhov replacing Mikko Koskinen in net and Alexander Barabanov coming straight into the first line. Anton Burdasov went back to partnering Evgeny Dadonov and Vadim Shipachyov in the second, while Evgeny Artyukhin and Joakin Lindstrom completed the first.

The Slovnaft Arena was packed to the rafters for the visit of the reigning KHL champions, and right from the off they created a hot atmosphere. SKA were the faster starters though, and shorthanded Jarno Koskinata should have scored the opener. Bursting through off a Slovan error he cut blocker side, but couldn’t lift it over the goaltender. Nevertheless he wasn’t to be denied, and not long later he had his goal. Alexander Barabanov chucked the puck in from the right boards, and Jarno poked it through Michael Garnett’s legs. That gave our team a surge of confidence, and Maxim Chudinov almost finished off a beautiful play when cutting down the right. Slovan picked up as time went on however, and they drew a few penalties out of our players. Ilya Ezhov was having a decent amount of work to do, and he did well to stop a number of heavy slappers from distance.

Slovan kept up that pressure moving into the second period, and our players were really coming under the cosh. Shot after shot was being fired in on our goal from all angles, and our defencemen were having a hard job of clearing the puck. All eyes were on Ilya Ezhov, and he made a few excellent saves at point blank range on juicy rebounds. The home fans were raising the volume even louder, and Rok Ticar should really have drawn Slovan level. The puck took a number of deflections on the crease, and the Slovan forward contrived to thump wide of an empty left corner. Despite those chances SKA were gifted a couple of powerplays, however no real chances were created in front of Slovan’s net.

If we thought that the first two periods were tough, something else was coming in the third. Slovan absolutely laid siege to our net, and our players seriously had their backs up against the wall. Maxim Chudinov took an unwanted 2+10 as everyone struggled to cope with the heat, however Ilya Ezhov refused to be beaten with the crossbar coming to his rescue at one stage. Nevertheless SKA even managed to work a five on three powerplay as Slovan became frustrated, but Jarno Koskiranta couldn’t convert when off balance up close. Moments like that often prove to be crucial, and Slovan eventually got their desired equaliser. Cam Barker slapped from the blue line, it crashed into the boards, and a tricky deflection fooled Ilya Ezhov as it squirmed past him. Following that goal both teams visibly tightened up with the closing stages coming up, and overtime was a logical outcome.

An overtime that completely belonged to SKA. Despite their loud support Slovan seemed to tire at the final hurdle, and a Cam Barker penalty gave our players an ideal chance to finish the game. Michael Garnett wasn’t having any of it though, and two huge Andrei Kuteikin slappers were brilliantly saved. Our players still weren’t willing to settle for the shootout, and one minute from the end the winning goal finally came. Pyotr Khokhryakov stylishly fed Evgeny Ketov, and the latter did the rest one on one. 2:1 in Bratislava today, and SKA take away a very hard earned win from Slovakia!

Match protocol:

Slovan – SKA – 1:2 OT (0:1, 0:0, 1:0 – 0:1)

Goals:

0:1 Koskiranta (Barabanov), 06.27

1:1 Barker, 51.02

1:2 Ketov (Khokhryakov), 64.01

Goalkeepers: Garnett – Ezhov

Shots on target: 40 – 40

Penalty minutes: 12 – 18

Faceoffs: 34 – 39

Hits: 7 – 16

Referees: Odins, Ravodin