If you can believe it, we are at a point now where SKA Saint Petersburg, the defending Continental Cup champions in the KHL, are on a 5-game losing streak at the beginning of the year. They are now 2-5, with all 5 defeats defeats coming in regulation time. Yet again, they lost despite winning the SOG battle, putting 44 shots on net against Sibir netminder Anton Krasotkin, but the 26-year-old Lokomotiv Yaroslavl product turned away 43 of them as his team triumphed over SKA 2-1 in SKA’s home barn on Sunday, September 17th. G Sergei Ivanov got the start between the pipes for Saint Petersburg, as starter Johan Mattsson apparently continues to nurse the injury he acquired against Dynamo Moscow on the 15th. He allowed 2 goals on 20 shots, therefore posting a SV% of .900. Ivanov had it easy in this game and yet, SKA was not able to assist him by winning the possession and shots-on-net battle, but also simply were not able to convert those shots into goals to support him with. Simply an unacceptable performance by this group.

The sole goal for SKA was scored unassisted by Valentin Zykov, as the typical members of line one (head coach Roman Rotenberg has been shuffling the groupings up somewhat recently), featuring Sergei Tolchinsky, Alex Galchenyuk, and Marat Khairullin, was held without a point. So far, this top group, despite its high expectations and all the hype surrounding the acquisitions of Tolchinsky and Galchenyuk, has not impressed in the early stages of the 2023-24 KHL season. To their name, they have just a combined 2 goals and 6 assists, with Galchenyuk yet to find the back of the net this season. Roman Rotenberg and his team are going to need more out of their top unit if they are going to end this losing streak and surge back up in the standings. At present, SKA is 10th in the Western Conference, 4th in the Bobrov Division, and 20th in the Continental Cup race. Their next matchup is the final game of their four-game home stint against Severstal on Wednesday, the 20th. This is the last chance they have to exhibit better performance before going on a six-game road trip that begins with a matchup against Amur Khabarovsk. Will this be when they finally get it together?

Meanwhile, HC Sochi improved their record to 5-3 with their fourth consecutive victory, a 5-3 home ice victory over Severstal (a team they opened the season against with a loss in regulation, then defeated in overtime in a rematch) on Monday, September 18th. Severstal G Konstantin Shostak did not have the best day, allowing 5 goals on 19 shots. The back of the net was found by five different Sochi players, namely Amir Garayev (more on his goal, which was the final one of the matchup, momentarily), Danila Galenyuk, Artur Tyanulin, Sergei Popov, and Timur Khafizov. This was basically the inverse of the loss by SKA the previous day. Sochi was out-shot 19 to 35, but G Maxim Tretyak turned away 32 shots (SV% .914) and the Sochi attackers created and converted many great scoring opportunities to get the victory at home with a diverse group of players potting goals. They now sit at 3rd in the Western Conference, 2nd in the Bobrov Division, and fifth in the Continental Cup race. This run may or may not be indicative of what the 2023-24 season will shape up to be for them. However, it definitely is not the early form we expected from last year’s bottom-placed team, much like many likely did not anticipate SKA’s struggles.

On an individual note regarding top Flyers prospect and highly touted Russian phenom Matvei Michkov, he impressed yet again in this performance. In 15:41 of playing time, he earned a secondary assist on Garayev’s final goal (therefore bringing his assists and points-per-game to exactly 1 since getting loaned out to Sochi), registered 3 shots on net, one body check, and blocked 2 shots (courtesy of Twitter page Hockey News Hub, which specializes in providing updates on NHL prospects playing in the KHL). He truly seems to wow audiences and hockey observers in the two-way game every time he sets foot on the ice so far this year as he grows his already impressive player profile. While yet to find the back of the net, his all-around performance has been stellar to this point as he inevitably gained an increased role since being loaned out by SKA yet again. Sochi’s next matchup is another home game against Traktor Chelyabinsk on Thursday, the 21st, which precedes a three-game road swing that begins with a showdown with Spartak in Moscow on Tuesday, the 26th. One has to wonder and be excited about what Michkov’s exploits will be going forward as he continues to make an impact on games for Sochi.