Torpedo - SKA

Torpedo - SKA - 2:6

21 January 2023

In a thoroughly entertaining encounter, SKA had too much attacking power for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod away in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season, thrashing them by a score of 6:2.

SKA practically put the game to bed in the first period.

Incredibly, our players tallied four goals inside the opening 20 minutes! Dmitry Jaskin initially opened the scoring in the seventh, bursting clean through and finishing clinically.

Andrei Altybarmakyan doubled our lead nine minutes later with his first senior SKA goal, wristing firmly under Ivan Kublakov's blocker. Mikhail Vorobyov then got on the scoreboard when completing a 2-on-1 counter-attack, before Nikita Gusev cooly converted his penalty shot after he had been hooked by Torpedo defenseman Maxim Fedotov when 1-on-1.

Torpedo predictably opted to pull the luckless Kulbakov in favour of Adam Huska for the second stanza.

That decision didn't particularly change the manner of proceedings. Competing with plenty of confidence, SKA continued bossing the game, protecting the puck inside the attacking zone and regularly creating clear scoring opportunities.

SKA seemed to be cruising. However, a quick goal in the third frame provided Torpedo with an unexpected lifeline.

After his pass had been knocked back towards his path by SKA defenseman Igor Ozhiganov, Vladislav Firstov tapped the puck over the line with Dmitry Nikolaev already out of the picture.

That goal allowed Torpedo to gain visible momentum. Out of the blue, the fired-up hosts grabbed a second marker when playing shorthanded, as Fedotov hammered the puck over Nikolaev after our goalkeeper had lost possession as he tried to find a teammate with an unexpected pass.

Nevertheless, Nikolaev quickly atoned for his error, denying Nikolai Kovalenko at point-blank range during the same SKA powerplay. Nikolaev was certainly a busy man in the third frame, stopping 12 of the 14 Torpedo shots he faced.

SKA got back on track in the 52nd minute with a vital marker. With the Torpedo defence out of position, our third line had enough space to put together a flowing move which was completed by Emil Galimov when receiving a superb pass from Altybarmakyan.

In the closing stages, Torpedo did search for a way back into the game when replacing Huska for the extra skater, but their forward Kirill Voronin inadvertently slid the puck into his own net when trying to find a player at the blue line. The marker was credited to Nikita Kamalov.

SKA will now prepare to host CSKA Moscow in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

Torpedo - SKA - 2:6 (0:4, 0:0, 2:2)

Goals:

0:1 Jaskin (Bardakov, Nikishin), 06.15

0:2 Altybarmakyan (Khusnutdinov), 15.20

0:3 Vorobyov (Khairullin, Nikishin), 17.35

0:4 Gusev, 19.27 PS

1:4 Firstov (Sato, Letunov), 41.07

2:4 Fedotov (Voronin), 47.53 SHG

2:5 Galimov (Altybarmakyan, Khusnutdinov), 51.58

2:6 Kamalov, 58.24