SKA strikes back to tie Western final. April 4 playoffs
After going down in OT on Sunday, SKA came from behind in Tuesday’s game to square the series.
SKA St. Petersburg 2 CSKA Moscow 1 (0-1, 1-0, 1-0)
(Series tied at 1-1)
For defending champion CSKA, this year’s playoff campaign has brought plenty of hockey. After back-to-back seven-game series, it opened the Western Conference final with a game that went to a third period of overtime. Despite that gruelling workload, head coach Sergei Fedorov showed little inclination to change a winning team and made just one alteration: Vladimir Bryukvin made way for Matvei Guskov on the fourth line.
For SKA, Roman Rotenberg also tweaked his fourth line, replacing Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov and Nikolai Prokhorkin with Mikhail Vorobyov and Evgeny Ketov. He also elevated Marat Khairullin to the first line where he exchanged places with Dmitrij Jaskin.
After losing out in OT last time, SKA clearly wanted to make a good start as it looked to level the series. The home team got on the power play as early as the second minute, but was unable to make much of an impression on the CSKA defense. The visitor survived unscathed and steadily gained the initiative. There wasn’t a huge difference between the teams, but it was enough to see Andrei Svetlakov open the scoring in the 17th minute after blocking Anton Slepyshev’s shot and turning to shoot past Dmitry Nikolayev.
That goal set the template for the day’s scoring: all the big moments were decided by the players’ ability to win their battles in front of the two nets. In the second period, SKA responded with a power play goal that closely resembled Svetlakov’s opener. This time it was Igor Ozhiganov with the point shot and Valentin Zykov with the finish. Along the way, Damir Zhafyarov collected an assist in his 50th playoff appearance.
Zykov’s goal was fair reward for an improved SKA performance in the second period. The home team narrowly shaded the play in the middle frame, just as the visitor had in the first period. However, in the third period the game’s logic was turned on its head. CSKA again took the initiative, helped by a penalty for Andrei Pedan. However, the power play did not bring a goal for the visitor and, back at equal strength, SKA provided another demonstration of how to play on the slot. This time it was Vorobyov, recalled to the team, who had the crucial touch to take Alexander Nikishin’s shot away from Adam Reideborn.
CSKA’s task got harder a few minutes later when it lost Sergei Plotnikov. Within a couple of shifts, he twice found himself smashed to the ice and, after the second incident, retreated to the locker room clutching what looked like an injured shoulder. Then the visitor ran into penalty trouble: Svetlakov sat for two, emerged and immediately saw Darren Dietz take his place in the box. Although SKA was unable to turn the extra man into a decisive goal, it did manage to eat up the remaining time until there was less than 90 seconds left to hold on. Despite CSKA’s best efforts, the home team did just that, securing a victory that levels this series. The action now moves to Moscow, where game three is scheduled on Thursday.
