2021 Nikolai Puchkov Tournament. SKA - Sochi

2021 Nikolai Puchkov Tournament. SKA - Sochi - 4:1

24 August 2021

In our first match of the 2021 Nikolai Puchkov Memorial Tournament, a youthful SKA line-up powered past an experienced HC Sochi side, emerging victorious by a score of 4:1 at the Ice Palace.

Pavel Shen quickly gave Sochi the lead on the powerplay in the third minute of play, bundling the puck past Dmitry Nikolaev at point-blank range. Nevertheless, after weathering a subsequent onslaught from the dangerous visitors, our players managed to settle into proceedings and tallied an important equaliser 15 minutes later as Ivan Morozov launched a powerful wrister under Magnus Hellberg’s right arm.

SKA continued competing on the front foot in the second stanza. Our dominance did arrive after a brief scare, however, as Nikolaev expertly shut the door on the clean-through Kirill Petkov after Grigory Gryaznov's stick had snapped in half.

With the likes of 16-year-old Matvei Michkov, Marat Khusnutdinov, Alexander Skorenov and Morozov causing huge problems for Sochi, SKA applied overwhelming pressure on the opponents and deservedly took their first lead of the evening on the powerplay in the 30^th minute.

Alone on the left flank, Morozov attempted to find the lurking Michkov on the opposite wing, but his pass was inadvertently tapped beyond the helpless Hellberg by Sochi defenseman Yury Alexandrov. That goal arrived seconds after Michkov had smashed the crossbar with an unstoppable wrist shot.

To their credit, Sochi did manage to find their feet in the closing moments of the frame, testing the reactions of the rock-solid Nikolaev with a series of attempts from promising positions.

21-year-old Nikolaev really did come to SKA’s rescue at the start of the third period.

Twice in quick succession, Sochi looked sure to score on the crease after our skaters had committed sloppy mistakes, but Nikolaev somehow kept the away side out with incredible acrobatic stops.

Those saves did indeed prove decisive.

With a mere five minutes remaining, Michkov tallied his deserved goal on his senior SKA debut when unleashing a wicked wrister glove-side, before the lively Zakhar Bardakov hit the jackpot when clean through just nine seconds later.

Nikolaev stood his ground in the concluding minutes of regulation to see SKA through to an entertaining triumph in Saint Petersburg. Furthermore, in accordance with the competition regulations, an overtime period - which finished goalless - and a penalty shootout were subsequently staged. Nikita Chibrikov scored the only goal in the ensuing shootout.

Match protocol:

SKA - HC Sochi - 4:1 (1:1, 1:0, 2:0)

Goals:

0:1 Shen (Glotov, Vikharev), 02.28

1:1 Morozov (Bardakov), 17.46

2:1 Morozov (Kamenev, Stromwall), 29.05

3:1 Michkov (A. Brinkman), 54.43

4:1 Bardakov (Galenyuk), 54.52

Goalkeepers: Nikolaev - Hellberg

Shots on target: 35 - 34

Faceoffs: 37 - 23

Hits: 12 - 4