SKA earn dramatic shootout win at Torpedo!

22 March 2025

In a dramatic encounter, SKA edged past Torpedo on the road in Nizhny Novgorod, tallying an important 3:2 shootout triumph.

After Ilya Karpukhin had salvaged a draw in regulation time with a late powerplay marker, our players kept their hopes of a sixth-placed finish alive in the penalty shootout, as Marat Khairullin twice scored with wonderful efforts.

Khairullin had initially given SKA the lead in the fourth minute of proceedings, converting when unmarked on the doorstep.

Both teams wasted plenty of opportunities throughout an eventful encounter. Familiar face Vyacheslav Voynov eventually drew Torpedo level in the last knockings of the second stanza, completing a flowing passing play with Yegor Zavragin left exposed.

Torpedo then moved ahead midway through the third frame not long after Evgeny Kuznetsov had seen his penalty shot stopped by home goaltender Ivan Kulbakov.

Having escaped his marker to the left of the crease, Evgeny Svechnikov carefully deflected an attempt from deep beyond Zavragin.

However, SKA weren't prepared to go down without a fight. Karpukhin registered the all-important equaliser a little over two minutes before the buzzer, thumping a strong one-timer in on the PP.

Khairullin earned a potentially vital second point for SKA with two fantastic shootout efforts.

We will now await our opponents in the first round of the 2024/2025 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs, which will begin next week.

Match protocol:

Torpedo - SKA - 2:3 SO (0:1, 1:0, 1:1, 0:0 - 0:1)

Goals:

0:1 Khairullin (Vorobyov, Tolchinsky), 03.41

1:1 Voynov (Shavin, Svechnikov), 38.32

2:1 Svechnikov (Thompson, Belevich), 49.34

2:2 Karpukhin (Grigorenko, Khairullin), 58.41 PPG

2:3 Khairullin, 65.00 SO

Goalkeepers: Kulbakov - Zavragin

Shots: 68 - 59