CSKA – SKA

CSKA – SKA – 4:2

17 January 2023

SKA were made to pay for a series of avoidable defensive mistakes against CSKA, conceding a 2:4 defeat in Moscow in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season.

The teams opted for a cautious approach in the opening stanza.

Boasting the majority of possession, SKA tried to compete with the initiative. Alone on the crease, Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov and Vasily Glotov had great opportunities, with the former shooting wide and the latter wristing against CSKA goaltender Alexander Sharychenkov. Glotov’s chance had appeared after Dmitry Nikolaev had stopped a threatening attempt from Vitaly Abramov.

CSKA were causing us problems with their incisive counter-attacks. One of them unfortunately ended with a goal in the penultimate minute of the period, as Nikita Nesterov swept the puck between Nikolaev’s pads when in plenty of space on the right flank when playing 4-on-4.

SKA wasted a glorious opportunity to equalise on the powerplay at the start of the second stanza. Alone on the left faceoff circle, Nikita Gusev looked certain to score, but his strong one-timer was somehow kept out by Sharychenkov’s right pad.

Emil Galimov then passed up another superb chance on the doorstep.

If you don’t score, the opponents will. And that’s exactly what happened in the 27^th minute.

With our defence once again caught horribly out of position, Takhir Mingachyov skated through 1-on-1 and got the better of Nikolaev blocker-side.

Requiring goals, SKA rapidly began increasing their intensity as the frame progressed. Nonetheless, while our players were managing to protect possession inside the attacking zone, few shooting lanes were appearing with CSKA protecting Sharychenkov well.

The home team grabbed their third goal following a lengthy shift in our zone in the 39^th minute. Nikolaev stopped the initial slap shot with his left pad, but he was powerless against Maxim Sorkin’s rebound.

SKA were handed an ideal chance to get back into the game in the early stages of the third period, as familiar face Vladislav Kamenev was punished for boarding. For the ensuing powerplay, our coaches decided to pull Nikolaev for the extra skater, but the closest we came when playing 6-on-4 was a clattering slap shot from Andrei Pedan which struck the pipe. A quick video review confirmed that the puck hadn’t crossed the line.

Our team did finally get on the board in the 48th minute.

From the right flank, Gusev caught Sharychenkov cold with a sharp wrist shot.

However, just a minute later, we shot ourselves in the foot. In a seemingly harmless situation, our players lost track of the play inside their zone, and Konstantin Okulov’s pass was calmly tapped over the line by Sergei Plotnikov with our goaltender already out of the picture.

SKA weren’t about to give up though. On an ensuing powerplay, our coaches once again decided to swap Nikolaev for the sixth skater, a risk which was rewarded with a second goal as Andrei Pedan sent an unstoppable one-timer beyond Sharychenkov.

The deficit really should have been cut to one in the subsequent play, but the clean-through Grebenshchikov and Stepan Falkovsky failed to hit the jackpot with the goal begging to be hit.

Nikolaev skated to the bench again in the closing minutes, but CSKA managed to hold on.

SKA will now prepare to face Severstal in Cherepovets on Thursday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

CSKA – SKA – 4:2 (1:0, 2:0, 1:2)

Goals:

1:0 Nesterov (Slepyshev, Grigorenko), 18.26

2:0 Mingachyov (Grigorenko, Dyblenko), 26.34

3:0 Sorkin (Mamin, Svetlakov), 38.44

3:1 Gusev (Bardakov, Volkov), 47.48

4:1 Plotnikov (Okulov), 49.03

4:2 Pedan (Ozhiganov), 50.42 PPG

Goalkeepers: Sharychenkov – Nikolaev