Vityaz - SKA

Vityaz - SKA - 2:4

6 January 2016

For SKA’s second fixture of 2016, the team travelled to the Moscow suburb of Podolsk to play HC Vityaz. A number of changes were made by head coach Sergei Zubov for this match, as Ilya Kovalchuk didn’t play and Igor Shestyorkin took over from Mikko Koskinen in net. For Vityaz, Igor Saprykin was their goaltender instead of Harri Sateri.

Aiming to make up for the disappointment against HC Dynamo Moscow a couple of days ago our players came out with all guns blazing, and put Vityaz under serious pressure. Nikita Gusev fired off target when in a perfect position to the right, and Vadim Shipachyov couldn’t find the five hole when clean through. Vityaz got lucky when we took a too many men call though, and with their first chance they opened up the scoring. Our defence got sucked out of position, the puck was played to the left post, and familiar face Vyacheslav Solodukhin was on hand to net. Despite that setback our team kept on pressing, and should really have equalised. Roman Rukavishnikov smashed a slapper back down off the bar, and with Pavel Buchnevich lively plenty of clear openings went a miss. Vityaz resorted to fleeting counterattacks, but on one of them they doubled their lead. Vyacheslav Solodukhin got free at the tip of the slot, and he wristed over Igor Shestyorkin’s blocker to grab his second.

The emphasis was on our team to get back into the game in the second period, and the players immediately got stuck into the task. The pressure from our team was incessant, and five minutes into the frame SKA finally got on the board. With a man’s advantage Steve Moses was allowed to wrist on the left faceoff circle, and he struck gold. That gave our team lift-off, and the puck barely left Vityaz’s zone for the rest of the frame. Pavel Buchnevich was denied by an amazing stick save, Evgeny Dadonov blasted into the netminder’s stomach on the doorstep, and Nikita Gusev failed to score twice when at point blank range. It seemed as though that equalising goal would never come, but seventeen seconds before the end of the period Vityaz’s Igor Saprykin was finally beaten. A huge goalmouth scramble erupted, and Evgeny Dadonov managed to poke it over the line.

We were relieved to be going into the third frame level, however it was Vityaz who began the period the better. Igor Shestyorkin made two superb saves off close range Vyacheslav Solodukhin efforts from the right, and it took a few minutes for our players to get back into their rhythm. Nevertheless normal service was resumed, and a couple of powerplays allowed SKA to take back control. Vyacheslav Voynov slapped into the goaltender when alone at the point twice, and Nikita Gusev hacked wide of an open left corner. The pressure was building, and eventually it told. Vadim Shipachyov had all the time in the world to pick his spot at the high slot, and he gave SKA a well deserved lead. With the minutes ticking down Vityaz did pull their goaltender as they searched for a marker to take us into overtime, but that only resulted in Sergei Shirokov hitting the open net. 4:2, and SKA take a hard earned victory away from Podolsk! The next match will take place on Friday away against HC CSKA Moscow.

Match protocol:

Vityaz – SKA – 2:4 (2:0, 0:2, 0:2)

Goals:

1:0 Solodukhin (Korolyov, Koksharov), 05.54

2:0 Solodukhin (Berdyukov, Koksharov), 10.51

2:1 Moses (Buchnevich, Shirokov), 25.25

2:2 Dadonov (Rukavishnikov), 39.43

2:3 Shipachyov (Gusev), 50.41

2:4 Shirokov (Moses, Voynov), 59.04

Goalkeepers: Saprykin – Shestyorkin

Shots on target: 25 – 52

Penalty minutes: 10 – 8