Quickfire double sees SKA tie the series. April 8 playoffs
Two goals late in the second period turned this game upside down as SKA rallied to claim a victory that ties the Western Conference final series. The action returns to Petersburg on Monday with the teams locked at 2-2.
CSKA Moscow 1 SKA St Petersburg 3 (0-0, 1-2, 0-1)
(Series tied at 2-2)
It was no surprise that SKA made changes for this game. During the third encounter in the series, head coach Roman Rotenberg stopped using Nikita Gusev and the vastly experienced forward was not on today’s roster. Emil Galimov replaced him on the top line, with Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov taking Damir Zhafyarov’s place on the second. Alexander Volkov returned to the team for the first time in this series.
The new-look roster for the visitor made a good early impression. SKA had the better of the first 10 minutes and posed several questions for Adam Reideborn in the home net. The Swedish goalie blanked this opposition two days ago, but only the post denied Mikhail Pashnin an opening goal. Gradually, the Muscovites came into the game but the most notable moment before the intermission saw CSKA’s Artyom Sergeyev ejected from the game after kneeing Nikita Kamalov.
SKA was unable to convert that power play and after returning to full strength, CSKA took the lead in the 25th minute. Konstantin Okulov potted his second goal in successive games, once again finding a flamboyant finish into the top corner. However, it says much about SKA’s performance that the goal came from only the third shot at Dmitry Nikolayev’s net.
Once the deadlock was broken, the pace stepped up a notch and for much of the second period the puck was rarely seen in center ice. Ultimately, the faster tempo played into SKA’s hands: as the intermission approached, Stepan Falkovsky tied the game. Then, 17 seconds later, the visiting third line fashioned the go-ahead goal. Zakhar Bardakov robbed Darren Dietz of possession, Valentin Zykov raced to the net only to see his shot ding the piping, then Alexander Volkov converted the reboun.
The fast tempo continued in the third period, with few breaks in play at either end. To nobody’s surprise, CSKA looked to press forward in search of a tying goal but on this occasion Sergei Fedorov’s men could not find a way past Nikolayev in the SKA net.
In the end, the visitor had the final word when Bardakov stripped Nikita Nesterov of the puck and calmly slotted past the on-rushing Reideborn to make it 3-1. That ties the series at 2-2 and increases the likelihood of CSKA going to game seven for the third time in this year’s playoffs.
