KHL - Baltic - Round Up December 08-14, 2016

Hockey Across The Baltic

Jokerit

* Jokerit suffered a disappointing result last Thursday, crashing at home to an inconsistent Slovan team. Ziga Jeglic put the Slovaks 2-0 up before Jesse Joensuu got the host on the board in the second period. There was no fightback, though: Patrik Lusnak added a third late in the middle stanza.

SKA

* The rivalry between SKA and Dynamo has been one of the most compelling of the KHL era. It pits Russia’s biggest cities against each other, it’s generated several thrilling playoff series and now, for added spice, it puts SKA head Oleg Znarok up against the club he led to two Gagarin Cup triumphs. This season, though, the two teams are on divergent paths. While SKA is romping away at the top of the table, Dynamo is entrenched in a hard-fought battle to confirm a playoff place. On paper, it was no surprise that SKA extended its winning run to seven games; on the ice, it was a rather more hard-fought affair.
There wasn’t much between the teams in the first period, and only a power play goal just before the intermission gave SKA a slender advantage. Vadim Shipachyov rattled one into the top corner from the left-hand face-off spot with just 17 seconds left on the clock. In the middle stanza, Dynamo faced a tougher task as both teams put the accent on defense. Despite chasing the game, the visitor was limited to just two shots at Igor Shestyorkin’s goal. But come the third the Blue-and-Whites tied it up. Artyom Fyodorov, who was in the penalty box when SKA opened the scoring, atoned for his indiscretion by getting his stick on Ansel Galimov’s pass from behind the net. Game tied, 10 to play; all bets were off.
Ultimately it needed a shoot-out. Again, SKA didn’t have it easy. Vladimir Bryukvin scored with Dynamo’s first attempt; Alexander Yeryomenko backed him up with a glove save against Pavel Datsyuk. Fyodorov hit the post, and Sergei Shirokov shot over Yeryomenko’s glove to tie it up again. Then, after Alexei Tsvetkov missed the target, Kovalchuk demonstrated his skills to outwit the Dynamo goalie and claim the win.

Dinamo Riga

* The clash of the outsiders saw Medvescak win 4-0 at Dinamo Riga last Thursday. Terry Galiardi, Lukas Lessio, Francis Pare and Bobby Butler got the goals, Drew MacIntyre made 34 saves.
* Dinamo Riga won the battle of the Western outsiders, edging Slovan 3-2 in Latvia. Roberts Lipsbergs got his first goal of the season to put Dinamo up in the first period and when Mikelis Redlihs added a second in the 51st minute the game seemed as good as over. Slovan attempted a rally, though, with Jonathan Cheechoo reducing the arrears 58 seconds later. Nothing daunted, Miks Indrasis needed just 30 seconds to reinstate the two-goal cushion. Jeff Taffe’s goal was too late to save Slovan from defeat.