Vityaz – SKA

Vityaz – SKA – 6:5 OT

30 December 2022

In a thriller, SKA only managed to take one point away from Balashikha, conceding a narrow 5:6 defeat to Vityaz Moscow Region on the road in the 2022/2023 KHL regular season.

To the surprise of many, Vityaz bossed proceedings throughout the opening frame. On a delayed penalty, Dmitry Kugryshev wasted a big early opportunity, as he effort from the left flank with the goal gaping was cleverly saved by Vladislav Podyapolsky.

Against the run of play, SKA opened the scoring midway through the period on the powerplay. Unmarked at the point, Igor Ozhiganov launched an unstoppable one-timer beyond Vityaz netminder Maxim Dorozhko.

However, that goal didn’t change the flow of play. Continuing to compete with a lot of energy, Vityaz were creating several opportunities, with Jeremy Roy hitting the crossbar on the powerplay and Stanislav Yarovoi failing to score when clean through.

Their equaliser eventually arrived with only 39 seconds remaining in the frame, as Stepan Starkov backhanded into the right corner when clean through after SKA had sloppily coughed up possession.

Buoyed by that goal, Vityaz went on to firmly take charge in the second stanza.

Two markers within two minutes allowed the Balashikha-based outfit to suddenly open up a two-goal advantage. When 1-on-1, Alexander Yaremchuk made no mistake, before Tyler Graovac completed a neat play with Scott Wilson and the lively Yarovoi from the tip of the crease. The third goal prompted the SKA coaching staff to pull Podyapolsky in favour of 18-year-old Sergei Ivanov.

Ivanov was soon picking the puck of his net too, as Starkov got the better of the teenager when speeding to our net.

SKA made the bold move to swap Ivanov for the extra skater on a subsequent powerplay. Initially, the risk paid off for us, with Dmitrij Jaskin forcing the puck over the line at point-blank range.

But, on another powerplay and with Ivanov once again on the bench, Alexei Volgin reinstated Vityaz’s three-goal lead with an empty-netter from his own zone.

Interestingly, Podyapolsky returned to his net instead of Ivanov for the third period.

SKA got to work straight away.

Within the first five minutes of the stanza, the away team managed to get back to within one goal, as Marat Khairullin wristed the puck high into the right corner and Mikhail Vorobyov bundled his attempt in after taking control of possession.

Sensing blood, SKA grabbed the equalising goal in the 49^th minute. From a seemingly impossible angle on the right, Jaskin opted to take aim, and Dorozhko got his angles all wrong for Vityaz as the puck snuck under him and over the line.

Both teams passed up ideal opportunities to snatch the win in the closing stages when competing on 5-on-3 powerplays.

Sadly, in the ensuing overtime, Vladimir Galuzin hit the jackpot with only Podyapolsky to beat to grab the extra point for Vityaz.

SKA will now prepare to face Traktor in Chelyabinsk on Wednesday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 14:30 Moscow time.

Match protocol:

Vityaz – SKA – 6:5 OT (1:1, 4:1, 0:3, 1:0)

Goals:

0:1 Ozhiganov (Pedan, Khusnutdinov), 09.27 PPG

1:1 Starkov, 19.39

2:1 Yaremchuk (Kugryshev, Roy), 29.55

3:1 Graovac (Wilson, Yarovoi), 31.17

4:1 Starkov (Volgin, Kara), 34.21

4:2 Jaskin, 38.16