CSKA - SKA

CSKA - SKA - 1:3

22 January 2015

SKA made the trip to the Moscow, the Russian capital, to take on KHL league leaders CSKA Moscow. Head coach Vyacheslav Bykov didn’t opt to make many changes after the 1:0 win over Torpedo, with the team very much the same. Mikko Koskinen kept his place between the pipes after his first shutout with our team, and Dmitry Yudin acted as the spare defenceman in the fourth line. Pyotr Khokhryakov continued to partner Tony Martensson and Roman Cervenka in the second, covering for the injured Patrick Thoresen.

It was a fast and furious start to proceedings, as SKA began firmly on the front foot. Indeed in only the first attack of the game the deadlock was broken, as Anton Burdasov smashed a slapper into the far corner from the left faceoff circle. CSKA completely failed to get out of the blocks, and it really should have been two or three immediately. Roman Cervenka smacked the right hand post when one on one, and moments later Vadim Shipachyov failed to beat Stanislav Galimov when also clean through. The hosts slowly began to level the game out, and sure enough got back on terms. A goalmouth scramble erupted, and Sergey Andronov beat Mikko Koskinen blocker side. That gave CSKA the initiative, and after a cheap Vadim Shipachyov penalty for tripping, our netminder had to make some neat saves to keep it a tied game.

The second stanza kicked off slightly more conservatively, as defence became the priority for both sides. CSKA were the authors of the best early moves, as Mikko Koskinen had a few efforts from distance to deal with. Out of nothing though SKA were gifted a five on three, and that’s where the tempo again took fire. Artemiy Panarin blasted wide of an empty net, and Ilya Kovalchuk was thwarted from the blue line as the hosts somehow came out of that time unscathed. Our players weren’t going to leave the period goalless however, and after a poor CSKA turnover, Ilya Kovalchuk spectacularly wristed over the goaltender’s glove from a fantastic position on the left flank. 2:1 in our favour after 40.

CSKA began the third period with a man’s advantage after a late Maxim Chudinov interference call in the second, but straight after successfully killing it, the third hit the hosts’ net. Yevgeni Ketov powered away on the right all alone, and clinically thundered home into the far corner. Everything started to become a little rough after that, as penalties here there and everywhere were handed out. That didn’t bother our defence however, as CSKA’s attacks were constantly shut down just outside the attacking zone. Time really did fly by in the final few minutes, and despite CSKA pulling Stanislav Galimov for the extra skater, SKA saw out the game cleverly to claim a huge 3:1 triumph in Moscow!

Match protocol:

CSKA – SKA – 1:3 (1:1, 0:1, 0:1)

Goals:

0:1 Burdasov (Martensson), 02.11

1:1 Andronov (Makarov, Mursak), 16.17

1:2 Kovalchuk (Tikhonov), 36.39

1:3 Ketov (Chudinov, N Belov), 41.43

Goalkeepers: Galimov – Koskinen

Shots: 39 - 22

Penalty minutes: 8 - 18

Faceoffs: 32 - 29

Hits: 24 - 21