KHL - Baltic - Round Up January 03-09, 2016

SKA
* In the second period, SKA was facing an unprecedented beating in a season of majestic progress. In the third, Dinamo was contemplating the serious prospect of giving up a five-goal lead. 2017 got underway with a bang in Minsk. The home team, fresh from its exploits in the Spengler Cup during the festive period, seemed full of the reviving effects of the Alpine air it sampled in Davas, while SKA looked to be struggling with a holiday hangover in the early stages. Fredrik Pettersson scored in the sixth minute, wasting little time in celebrating his first KHL game for Dinamo. SKA surged forward in response, but found Ben Scrivens in unyielding mood as he stopped 17 shots on goal.
The middle stanza, though, began with an astonishing SKA collapse as Dinamo rattled up four goals inside 12 minutes to take a seemingly unbreakable grip on the game. Aaron Palushaj got the second in the 22^nd minute before Pettersson got his second of the night on a 26^th-minute power play. A penalty on Andrei Stas handed the momentum back to the visitor, but Andrei Stepanov broke out to make it 4-0 and Sergei Drozd added a fifth on 33:32. Few would have believed that Drozd’s marker would ultimately be the game-winner, even after Ilya Kovalchuk clawed one back on a power play late in the second. SKA was struggling to turn possession and shots into clear scoring chances, and Scrivens seemed to have the measure of the Petersburg offense.
All that changed in the third, though. Pavel Datsyuk conjured up SKA’s second to set nerves on edge, Evgeny Dadonov made it 3-5 with 10 minutes to play and when Yegor Yakovlev made it a one-goal game with exactly seven minutes remaining, Oleg Znarok’s team scented a remarkable recovery. It wasn’t to be. Dinamo dug deep, Scrivens recaptured his first-period form. Gradually, the home team managed to weather the storm and run down the clock. The siren confirmed a sixth successive win for the Belarusians, reinforcing that playoff push. More surprisingly, it also heralded a third successive loss for SKA; too soon to call a crisis, but food for thought as the focus begins to shift to the likely post-season match-ups.

SKA returned to the top of the KHL table after claiming the honors in a breathtaking Army derby in the capital. It took a shoot-out to separate the top two in a game that pulsated with excitement from start to finish, and SKA claimed its third victory in four meetings between the clubs: but only after surviving a mighty scare in overtime.
The moment of controversy came in the 62^nd minute when Igor Ozhiganov fired in a shot that Igor Shestyorkin couldn’t handle and saw the puck dribble slowly into the net. The home celebrations were delirious, but sadly premature. From the away bench, a challenge came in; the video officials checked it out and confirmed that the play began with an offside. No goal, 2-2, an on to a shoot-out. In that shoot-out, Shestyorkin proved invincible, stopping attempts from Dmitry Kugryshev, Geoff Platt and Andrei Kuzmenko. At the other end, Nikita Gusev beat Ilya Sorokin to secure the win. Both goalies were in the thick of the action at the start of the game as well, pulling off smart saves in the opening exchanges before Anton Belov gave SKA a sixth-minute lead on the first power play of the night.
Discipline, or the lack of it, was to prove significant: Kirill Petrov tied it up in the 13^th minute, with help from a kind deflection, as Pavel Datsyuk sat out a tripping call. Near misses followed, both teams pinging the puck off post and bar, before a visionary pass from Vadim Shipachyov set Gusev free to make it 2-1 in the 40^th minute. Maxim Mamin cancelled out that goal early in the third period, the only goal scored with both teams at full strength, to set up the dramatic denouement of the day’s events.


Jokerit

* Jokerit’s playoff hopes took a hit with an unexpected heavy loss at home to struggling Severstal. The Finns failed to get to grips with the game and were undone by Yury Trubachyov in the third period. He picked up two assists in three minutes as Maxim Trunyov and Alexander Yevseyenkov put the Steelmen 3-1 ahead. Dmitry Kagarlitsky added a fourth soon after.

* It took 18 penalty shots, 17 of them unsuccessful, to finally separate the teams in Finland after a topsy-turvy game between Jokerit and Lada.
The home team, looking to strengthen its grip on a playoff spot, took an early lead through Marko Antilla, only to find itself 1-3 behind after 26 minutes. Semyon Valuisky and Vasily Streltsov scored two goals in 26 seconds to turn the game around in the first period; Taylor Aronson extended the advantage in the middle session. But Jokerit fought back, tying the game thanks to efforts from Brian O’Neill and Tommi Huhtala, with Jesper Jensen assisting on both. Neither team could find a winner in the remaining 15 minutes, nor in overtime, and for a long time Riku Helenius and Ilya Ezhov bossed the shoot-out. Georgy Belousov scored for Lada with the 17^th attempt, before Joey Hishon fired wide of Ezhov’s net to give the Motormen the bonus point.

Dinamo Riga

* Dinamo enjoyed a comfortable win over Severstal in the clash of the Western Conference outsiders. The Latvians romped to a 5-0 lead inside 32 minutes on goals from Roberts Lipsbergs, Krisjanis Redlihs, Gunars Skvorcovs, Oskars Cibulskis and a first KHL career goal for 20-year-old D-man Uvis Balinskis. Severstal got two goals back in the third from Dmitry Kagarlitsky and Maxim Trunyov, but the game was long gone.

* For two periods, there was little to choose between two teams at opposite ends of the Western Conference table. Dinamo more than held its own in the opening session, narrowly outshooting its high-flying guest as the scoresheet remained blank. The second period was dominated by CSKA, but a penalty shot squandered by Andrei Kuzmenko was as close as we got to an opening goal.
By the start of the third, though, the Army Men knew the score from Helsinki and realized that top spot was up for grabs. Kirill Petrov finally made the breakthrough in the 47^th minute, wrapping up a counter attack that started with Ivan Telegin surging down the right and feeding Alexander Popov for the killer pass to Petrov. Vladimir Zharkov added an empty-net goal to secure the victory, while Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves to claim a shut-out.

* Lokomotiv denied Dynamo Moscow the chance of climbing to fourth place despite trailing at the first intermission against the Latvians. The home team started in confident mood, but was rocked on 1:56 when Mikelis Redlihs scored on Alexander Sudnitsyn with Dinamo’s first shot of the game. Loko responded by dominating the play, but could not force a goal until Staffan Kronwall ended Janis Kalnins’ resistance late in the second period. A Dmitry Lugin power play goal made it 3-2 in the 45^th minute and Brandon Kozun added a third late on with a fine solo effort. Kalnins, a 25-year-old Latvian goalie gaining his first experience in the KHL this season, faced 47 shots on the night and acquitted himself well in the face of such an onslaught, even though he could not save his team from defeat.

Jokerit v SKA 3-2 - Thursday, January 05, 2017
SKA went down to a fourth successive defeat in the regular season for the first time in its KHL history, losing out 3-2 in Finland to a third-period goal from Antti Pihlstrom. The experienced former Salavat Yulaev and CSKA man potted only his third of the season in the 50^th minute, snapping a 2-2 tie and giving Jokerit a vital win in its push for a playoff place. The Finns only managed three shots on goal in the final period, but Pihlstrom did enough to put away the rebound from Jesper Jensen’s effort.
Earlier, SKA seemed to be carrying on the form that saw it come so close to clawing back a 0-5 deficit in Minsk last time out. Pavel Datsyuk put the visitor ahead in the sixth minute, finding space to collect a Vyacheslav Voynov pass and fire past Ryan Zapolski. Jokerit hit back with two goals either side of the first intermission. Pekka Jormakka tied the game before Peter Regin made it 2-1 in the 21^st minute. The lead, though, was short-lived. Patrik Hersley got a short-handed goal for SKA, surviving a claim of offside from the home bench to tie the game. It wasn’t enough though, and not even a late flourish from the visitor could save SKA from another loss than enabled CSKA to edge into top spot.


Dinamo Riga v SKA 3-2 - Saturday, January 07, 2017
After four defeats on the spin, an unwanted KHL record for the club, SKA found the perfect riposte with an emphatic victory in Latvia. Evgeny Ketov led the way with two goals and an assist as Dinamo’s resistance crumbled in the second half of the game. SKA had dominated from the off, the first period ended with the visitor 11-2 up on shots, but could not find a way past Jakub Sedlacek until a 27^th-minute power play goal from Slava Voynov opened the scoring. Ketov quickly added a second and the game was up for the host.
Vadim Shipachyov then came to the fore, getting his 39^th assist of the season as Maxim Chudinov made it three, before making it 4-0 with his 15^th goal of the campaign late in the middle stanza. The outcome was beyond doubt, but there was still time for Ketov to chip in with a second goal and an assist on Viktor Tikhonov’s late marker, while Nikolajs Jelisejevs got a consolation strike for Dinamo.