Game four. Vityaz - SKA - 1:7

SKA played HC Vityaz Podolsk in game four of the 2016/2017 KHL playoffs first round. Head coach Oleg Znarok was happy to welcome long term absentee Sergei Plotnikov back to the line-up, while Vadim Shipachyov also returned from illness. Mikko Koskinen and Harri Sateri were the starting goalkeepers.

Leading 3:0 in the series, SKA knew that they had the perfect opportunity to calmly close it out and move on to the next round. With that in mind, our players began the match strongly, immediately taking the game to Vityaz. Our first powerplay led up to the opening goal: Patrik Hersley hung at the blue line, smacked the puck with serious force and Jarno Koskiranta deftly tipped in. Vityaz’s Mario Kempe could have equalized in the next play when clean through, but after he was stoned by Mikko Koskinen, SKA promptly made it two. Vadim Shipachyov lost his marker, took aim and fired under the blocker. Facing elimination, Vityaz contrived to make their lives even more difficult. Another powerplay was gifted to SKA and, predictably, Sergei Shirokov scored SKA’s third goal. Vityaz simply didn’t know what had hit them.

In complete control, SKA put the game to bed in the second. Jarno Koskiranta ruined Vityaz’s hopes of an unlikely comeback, fooling fellow Finn Harri Sateri with a seemingly harmless wrist shot. Knowing that their playoff dream was over, Vityaz fell apart, giving up two more goals. Nikolai Prokhorkin escaped the Vityaz defence to score one on one, before Evgeny Dadonov redirected Ilya Kovalchuk’s slap shot on target one second before the break.

Six to the good, our players could afford to relax. However, unfortunately, it resulted in Mikko Koskinen waving goodbye to his shutout. Midway through the period, Alexei Makeev reacted quickest to a loose puck, bundling it over the line. SKA still had the final word though, scoring yet another powerplay goal as Evgeny Dadonov lashed in from the doorstep in the dying moments. 7:1, SKA sweep HC Vityaz Podolsk 4:0 in the series and move on to round two!

Match protocol:

Vityaz – SKA – 1:7 (0:3, 0:3, 1:1)

Goals:

0:1 Koskiranta (Datsyuk, Hersley), 03.46

0:2 Shipachyov (Gusev, Dadonov), 04.18

0:3 Shirokov (Datsyuk, Ketov), 08.53

0:4 Koskiranta (Khokhlachyov), 26.07

0:5 Prokhorkin (Yakovlev, Plotnikov), 31.45

0:6 Dadonov (Kovalchuk), 39.59

1:6 Makeev (Horak, Afinogenov), 46.58

1:7 Dadonov (Gusev, Shipachyov), 59.30

Goalkeepers: Sateri – Koskinen

Shots on target: 32 – 51

Penalty minutes: 30 – 4

Faceoffs: 29 – 36

Hits: 8 – 2

Referees: Ravodin, Buturlin

27.02.2017. Vityaz Ice Palace, Podolsk.