Western Conference final, Game 2
(1) SKA St. Petersburg 1
(3) Dynamo Moscow 2
Dynamo leads the series 2-0
For the second time in three days, SKA was left wondering just how it managed to lose to Dynamo - and the side has little time to find the answer as it trails 2-0 in Western Conference final series.
If Wednesday saw a sensational fightback to sink SKA, Friday was settled by a sucker punch with 2:17 left to play. The home side had bombarded the Dynamo goal for much of the third period, and Maxim Rybin’s equalizer looked likely to be a springboard to a SKA victory which would level the series - but Marek Kvapil had other ideas.
The Czech forward, who had earlier played a key role in Dynamo’s opening goal, burst over the blue line and got his shot past Ilya Ezhov despite the close attentions of defenseman Dmitry Kalinin.
That cancelled out Rybin’s well-worked leveler on 54:40, when he exchanged passes with Vladimir Tarasenko to draw Alexander Yeryomenko out of position and fire home from close range, and put Dynamo firmly in control of the best-of-seven series.
Inevitably, SKA sought to unleash a storm on Yeryomenko’s goal in the dying seconds, but when Patrick Thoresen failed to get his shot away when well-placed with just 25 seconds left, it was clear the game was up.
Dynamo took the lead for the first time shortly after halfway through Jakub Klepis. The Czech forward battled his way on to a Kvapil pass and swiveled to slam home his fourth play-off goal in six appearances. Earlier Mikhail Anisin had missed a penalty shot after being brought down by Dmitry Kalinin when closing in on Yezhov’s goal. SKA also had chances in the first period, most notably when Kirill Koltsov clipped the outside of the post early on.
The action continues on Sunday when the teams meet again at Moscow’s Luzniki Arena.
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КХЛ 2008—2021
KHL 2008—2021
All rights to materials posted on the website www.khl.ru (hereinafter referred to as the Website) and which are the objects of exclusive rights, including the registered trademarks and symbolics of the “КХЛ”/“KHL”, “МХЛ” / “JHL”, “ЖХЛ” / “WHL” (hereinafter referred to as the Trademarks), as well as on photo and video images, articles, etc., which are owned by CHL LLC, are protected in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The placement and / or use of Trademarks and other intellectual property of CHL LLC without the direct consent of CHL LLC are considered and prosecuted as intellectual property rights violations of CHL LLC in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. It is forbidden to automatically extract information from the Website by any services without the official permission of CHL LLC. Quoting from the Website and satellite projects of the official messages of the Kontinental Hockey League is allowed only with a direct link to the site www.khl.ru.