Torpedo – SKA

Torpedo – SKA – 4:3

6 September 2023

In an entertaining encounter, SKA came up short in Nizhny Novgorod against Torpedo in the fourth match of the 2023/2024 KHL regular season, conceding a narrow 3:4 loss.

The two sides traded early goals.

Initially, Svyatoslav Grebebshcikov drew first blood with a whipped wrister on the counter-attack, but Torpedo responded within 26 seconds as the lively Vasily Atanasov bundled the puck over the line.

Buoyed by their instant equaliser, Torpedo bossed the majority of the opening stanza. Applying pressure on our team with their typical brand of intense, fast ice hockey, the hosts forced away goaltender Johan Mattsson into 12 saves during the first period alone. SKA, on the other hand, were happy to soak up the incessant pressure and wait for break-away opportunities to appear.

Torpedo did eventually grab their second goal at the start of the second stanza.

Following an influx of penalties, the hosts were gifted a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity which ended with Vladislav Firstov getting the better of Mattsson with a rasping one-timer.

Mattsson was a thoroughly busy goalkeeper throughout the frame. With Torpedo continuing to display remarkable energy and pace, our defence was struggling to cope, and we had to rely on the tall Swede pulling off several tough close-range stops to keep SKA in the game. His best was in the latter half of the period, flashing leather brilliantly to shut the door on impressive Torpedo forward Nikita Artamonov.

A major improvement was required from SKA in the third.

Our players did indeed increase the urgency of their play greatly. Unmarked to the right of the slot, Marat Khairullin came agonisingly close to tallying our second marker, but his low shot was swept off the line with Ivan Kulbakov already helpless.

Nonetheless, Torpedo subsequently started attacking with real gusto again, putting together a spell of pressure which resulted in their third with less than nine minutes left in regulation time.

And it was a beauty too, as a stunning pass from Atanasov was buried by Kirill Voronin from a tight angle on the left wing.

SKA weren’t about to wave the white flag though. Vasily Glotov halved the deficit to one, whipping a fierce wrist shot over Kulbakov’s blocker when powering to the slot from the left.

Nikolai Kovalenko reinstated Torpedo’s two-goal advantage not long later with an empty-netter after Mattsson had been pulled for the extra skater. However, SKA still made it a nervy finish, as Alexander Nikishin blasted an unstoppable slap shot into the right corner while competing on a two-man advantage.

In the dying seconds, SKA almost saved the day, but Alex Galchenyuk could only aim his desperate attempt into the glove.

SKA will now prepare to face Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl on Friday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:00 local time.

Match protocol:

Torpedo – SKA – 4:3 (1:1, 1:0, 2:2)

Goals:

0:1 Grebenshchikov (Kadeikin), 04.50

1:1 Atanasov (Silaev, Larionov), 05.16

2:1 Firstov (Konyushkov, Maximov), 23.43 PPG

3:1 Voronin (Larionov, Atanasov), 51.06

3:2 Glotov (Alistrov, Leipsic), 56.56

4:2 Kovalenko, 58.02 EN

4:3 Nikishin (Galchenyuk, Tolchinsky), 59.34