Table-topping SKA suffered an evening to forget, going down to a 2-0 defeat at Lokomotiv. There was little to choose between the teams throughout, but Emil Galimov’s decisive goal in the 44th minute proved to be one to forget for the SKA defense. After his team won a face-off in its own zone, Maxim Chudinov was caught in possession on the red line – and Galimov went on to leave goalie Alexander Salak red-faced as he scored on him at the near post.
Loko’s second came right on the hooter, with Daniil Apalkov finding the empty net. At the other end Vitaly Kolesnik made 27 saves for his shut-out.
In Thursday’s other game Vadim Berdnikov scored twice for Severstal to force a 2-2 tie at Atlant. His efforts were ultimately in vain though – the home team triumphed in a shoot-out with Yury Trubachyov getting the winner.
