Yes, I stole the association football term for two goals in the headline. What about it?

Anyway, there was plenty of excitement the last couple of days for both of the KHL teams that I cover here as a window into the current happenings in Russian ice hockey. In a home game against Severstal Cherepovets on Wednesday, September 20th, SKA Saint Petersburg finally got the result that they were looking for after a five-game losing skid that succeeded them winning their first two games of the year. On the support of two goals by fourth liner/ex-NHLer Valentin Zykov (with additional scoring by second liner Vladimir Alistrov, who also tallied an assist, and elite blue liner Alexander Nikishin), SKA defeated Severstal 4-1 in a decisive win where they had significant control over possession, outshooting Severstal 33-23. For his part, G Artemy Pleshkov performed quite well, posting a .957 SV% and appeared not to be mentally shaken after allowing a goal to Ilya Ivantsov (formerly a member of the SKA organization) on a turnover at roughly the midway point of the first frame. It will be extremely helpful for Saint Petersburg if their situation in between the pipes remains solid and reliable despite Johan Mattsson’s unavailability. Additionally, this game was a bit feisty by KHL standards, as it featured a fairly uncommon fight, taking place between SKA’s Zakhar Bardakov and Severstal’s Nikita Sedov. Bardakov got an extra two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, but this was no matter, as the SKA penalty kill unit held strong. This was the result that SKA needed, and we will see if this win serves as a catalyst for them going forward. Unfortunately, their nominal best forwards remain without much impact on the scoresheet, as Sergei Tolchinsky, Alex Galchenyuk, and now-former captain/current alternate Marat Khairullin (who, despite the shuffling that head coach Roman Rotenberg has been doing with his lines, seems to be solidly demoted to line 2) all were held pointless yet again. Khairullin did not even so much as register a shot on net. While their depth scoring aided them to a victory and Nikishin has consistently been doing what he does, the team will need more from their most highly touted players if they are going to perform well down the stretch. This mode of operation cannot consistently sustain a winning culture by itself.

Today (Thursday, September 21st), HC Sochi won their fifth consecutive game with a home victory against Traktor Chelyabinsk, 4-3. There was a lot of drama in this game as the home team entered both the first and second intermissions down a goal, 0-1 and 1-2 respectively. Additionally, Sochi put up just 32 shots (20 on goal, 12 blocked) to Traktor’s 51 (33 on net, 18 blocked, giving Sochi the blocked shots advantage) and were also narrowly outplayed physically, with Chelyabinsk registering 15 hits to Sochi’s 11, and spent more time on the penalty kill with 6 team PIMs to Chelyabinsk’s 4. In the end, however, on the backs of a resilient attack and success at the faceoff dot (with 42 wins to Traktor’s 28), they were able to emerge triumphant as Philadelphia Flyers prospect (#7th overall, 2023) and 18-year-old phenom Matvei Michkov put in his most dominant performance yet. With his first goal of the year (which came off of a bounce right to his stick blade off of the back boards), he tied the game at 2-2, and with his second of the game on a rifle of a shot over Traktor G/former Washington Capital Zach Fucale’s glove with just under a minute remaining in regulation, he won the game for HC Sochi, who subsequently were able to hold off a last ditch effort by Traktor Chelyabinsk with their goalie pulled. Michkov was the target of some aggression in the third period, as he took a hit to the head in open play, but this did not prevent him from delivering when it mattered the most. For his exceptional play (his two goals coming on just four shots), he was awarded the Olympic torch, which is given to the Sochi player with the biggest impact on their victory. A much deserved accolade, but to the credit of other players with a hand in today’s win, Sergei Popov scored Sochi’s first goal and Kirill Rasskazov scored the game-tying goal to knot it up at 3-3 just over six minutes prior to Michkov’s GWG (which was prompt and timely, at it came only 2 minutes and 22 seconds after Alexander P. Sharov made the score 3-2 in favor of Chelyabinsk). Additionally, G Maxim Tretyak (grandson of Soviet hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak) posted a .917 SV% in the crease for HC Sochi. While Michkov was undoubtedly the game’s MVP, this was a team win, and one that head coach Dmitri Kokorev and his group should be content with. That said, Michkov having five points in four games since coming back to Sochi while also playing an excellent all-around game is something to be incredibly excited about.

At present, SKA is ninth in the Western Conference and fourth in the Bobrov Division with a record of 3 wins and 5 regulation losses. They are 19th out of the league’s 23 teams. They assuredly aspire to have this win serve as an engine to improve their record and ramp them up further in the Continental Cup race in their defense of the KHL’s regular season championship. Their next game is against Amur Khabarovsk in the latter’s home barn in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District on Saturday, September 23rd at the beginning of a six-game road trip, which will conclude on October 6th with a matchup against CSKA in Moscow and include their first game against HC Sochi on October 2nd. Sochi, meanwhile, are ranked fourth in both the Western Conference and KHL, with 5 regulation victories and 1 overtime win against 3 regulation losses. They are currently placed 2nd in the Bobrov Division, behind only Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Their next two games are both road matchups against Moscow teams, facing Spartak on Tuesday, September 26th and CSKA on Thursday, the 28th. They will then face Torpedo on the road on Saturday, the 30th before returning home to Sochi to face SKA Saint Petersburg in the aforementioned matchup as the beginning of a four-game homestand which will end on October 9th with a game against CSKA. There has already been a lot building up in terms of narratives for these teams in their own respective vacuums. When they finally do collide on the 2nd, it will be an exciting watch. Michkov is already determined to prove himself in prep to go to the Philadelphia Flyers, the team he wanted to play for the most, and is playing excellently. What will he do when facing the team that loaned him out two seasons in a row, particularly now that the Sochi team he landed with yet again appears to be stronger than they were last season?