SKA edges thriller vs Lada, Dynamo claims revenge win. January 7 round-up

Rocco Grimaldi and Nikolai Goldobin scored twice as SKA took a 5-4 OT verdict at home to Lada. The win maintains a six-point gap for the Petersburg club as it looks to consolidate a top eight spot in the West. Earlier, Shanghai Dragons recorded back-to-back wins with a 2-0 success over Amur, while Dynamo Moscow blanked Sochi 3-0.

Veteran Kablukov makes his mark

Shanghai Dragons 2 Amur Khabarovsk 0 (0-0, 1-0, 1-0)

Ilya Kablukov picked up his first point for Shanghai Dragons following his recent signing with the team. The 37-year-old forward, a three-time Gagarin Cup winner and 2018 Olympic Champion, is now the seventh player to feature in all 18 KHL seasons to date.

However, his first statistical contribution to his new club was a penalty – one of many in a disjointed first period. Between them, the teams were assessed 12 minor penalties in the opening 20 minutes. Despite regular power play chances, neither team could find an opening goal.

The breakthrough came in the 28th minute. Kablukov started the play before Nate Sucese got the puck back to Alexander Bryntsev at the top of the left-hand circle. His shot seemed to lack power, but found a weird trajectory over goalie Damir Shaimardanov’s shoulder.

That failed to trigger a goal rush, although the second period brought an improvement in discipline. And both goalies had work to do: Andrei Karayev made 32 saves for his shut-out, while Shaimardanov made 41 stops in a losing cause. The Dragons made the game safe thanks to an empty-net goal for Nick Merkley, posting back-to-back victories for the first time since Nov. 19.

Revenge win for Dynamo

HC Sochi 0 Dynamo Moscow 3 (0-1, 0-1, 0-1)

Dynamo did not have long to wait for revenge after Monday’s 0-2 loss at Sochi. The Muscovites stayed beside the Black Sea and hit back on Wednesday with a 3-0 verdict over the Leopards.

Both teams made a few changes for this game, with Nikita Gusev notably dropping from the first line in favor of Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. As the game progressed, head coach Vyacheslav Kozlov reverted to his more familiar combinations, but when Dylan Sikura and Jordan Weal created the opening goal for defenseman Magomed Sharakanov, Der-Arguchintsev was still part of the first line.

That goal halted Pavel Khomchenko’s shut-out streak after 125:12 – the 13th longest in the KHL this season. For a long time it was the only marker in the game. It wasn’t until late in the second frame, after an evenly matched contest, that we got a second. Dynamo had three strong shifts in a row, then secured a power play on the fourth. Moreover, Nikolai Polyakov went to the box leaving his team without a key part of its penalty kill.

It took Max Comtois less than a minute to convert that power play. He then had a penalty of his own, but Sochi’s PP was unable to extend the visitor on either side of the intermission. Back at equal strength, Dynamo soon added a third when Anton Slepyshev converted another power play goal.

That left Sochi deflated and the home offense struggled to generate much hope of a fightback. Indeed, Dynamo looked the more likely to score in the closing stages as the Blue-and-Whites ended a three-game skid.

SKA’s G-Force outlasts Lada

SKA St. Petersburg 5 Lada Togliatti 4 OT (1-1, 2-0, 1-3, 1-0)

SKA returned from the holiday period with a win thanks to two-goal performances from its G-Force of Rocco Grimaldi and Nikolai Goldobin.

American forward Grimaldi ended 2025 in fine form, enjoying a four-game hot streak (1+3). Today his tallies turned things around against Lada after the Western Conference struggler grabbed an early lead.

But it was far from plain sailing for SKA, which led 3-1 and 4-2 in the third period but still had to rely on an overtime winner from Goldobin against a struggling opponent.

The Motormen, on a six-game skid as they arrived in Petersburg, got in front in the eighth minute. Nikolai Makarov’s shot seemed to be drifting harmlessly wide of Sergei Ivanov’s net, but a deflection off one-time SKA prospect Andrei Altybarmakyan steered it into the goal.

Lada weren’t bad value for that lead in an even first period. However, SKA’s first power play of the game brought Grimaldi’s first of the night. Nikolai Goldobin went behind the net and spun a pass out to the right-hand circle, Brendan Leipsic instantly moved the puck on to Grimaldi and his one-timer flashed inside the near post.

Before the intermission, SKA found itself reduced to three skaters but Lada could not take advantage on either side of the break. Then, in the middle frame, the home team stepped up the pace. The visitor struggled to cope and a five-on-three opportunity for the host. Grimaldi was on hand once again to get his second power play goal of the game in the 28th minute.

And the host padded its lead a minute before the intermission when Goldobin flashed a wrist shot beyond Alexander Trushkov to make it 3-1.

In the third, Lada tried to raise its game. There was reward midway through the session when Tomas Jurco pulled a goal back, and a minute later Dmitry Kugryshev was denied by Ivanov as he bore down on the SKA net.

Yegor Savikov seemed to have calmed any home nerves when he made it 4-2 in the 56th minute, but Lada conjured an incredible fightback to take the game to overtime. Just 26 seconds after Savikov’s marker, Andrei Chivilyov’s one-timer on his former club put Lada back in the game. And a further minute brought a tying goal from Ivan Savchik, capitalizing on a defensive error to beat Ivanov at the second attempt.

But overtime was settled by two of the previous goalscorers. First, Jurco took a tripping minor to hand SKA the power play. Then Grimaldi and Leipsic combined for Goldobin to win it with a low shot from the right-hand circle.