SKA Saint Petersburg’s record in the 2023-24 KHL season now sits at an even .500, with 5 victories and 5 defeats (all results in regulation) thanks to consecutive road wins against Amur Khabarovsk (4-0) and Admiral Vladivostok (2-1) after a decisive 4-1 home win against Severstal Cherepovets. These two most recent victories were quite different from one another. In their win over Amur on Saturday, September 23rd, while narrowly out-shot by the home team (39-34 shots on net in favor of Amur, with Amur blocking 14 attempts by SKA and Saint Petersburg blocking 16 shots by Khabarovsk) and out-hit 31-13, SKA dominated at the faceoff dot (38 to 20) and had/converted many great scoring opportunities. Amur were completely stone-walled by the performance of G Artemy Pleshkov, as the 20-year-old netminder put in an invincible outing (further demonstrating stability of the situation between the pipes despite Johan Mattsson current absence with an injury). Highly-touted former NHLer/offseason acquisition Alex Galchenyuk further finally had a dominant game, scoring his first two goals of the season (the second and third of the match, respectively). The top end of the forward group for SKA has been a bit suspect to this point this year, and it has been questionable to the point where Marat Khairullin has been a healthy scratch the last two games despite the high expectations for him going into the season. It is encouraging that Galchenyuk has a performance to instill confidence both in him from his teammates and head coach Roman Rotenberg and himself. Perhaps this is the beginning of him finding his game, which would be a great asset to the team. Further goals were scored in this game by Vladimir Alistrov, who opened the scoring early into the first period, and Vasili Glotov (on a perfect pass by Alistrov) with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

The next matchup for SKA on Monday, September 25th had them taking on Admiral Vladivostok on the latter’s home ice. While another matchup in which they were favored, this one was a much more hard-fought win than the game against Amur. SKA out-shot the home side 42-26 (with 18 shots that were blocked by Admiral to 19 shot blocks of their own) and crushed them at the dot, winning 46 faceoffs to Admiral’s 21 and narrowly won the physical battle 7 hits to 4. However, they escaped with just a 2-1 victory, and that was after conceding a goal very early into the game and having the fortune of a would-be go-ahead goal by Admiral waved off due to a high-stick upon review. It was also quite the cardio test for the players on the ice, as there were at least two stretches of several minutes played without any whistles. This was truly a trial both physically and psychologically for the players on SKA, as such dominance in possession yielding little scoring and significant uninterrupted-by-stoppage play is definitely both taxing on the body and frustrating. By merit of the game-tying goal by Nikolai Polyakov in the second period and the game-winner by Zakhar Bardakov in the final stanza, as well as solid goaltending yet again by Pleshkov (Admiral G Pavel Khomchenko, to his credit, stopped 40 of 42 for a .952 SV%, but Pleshkov’s 25 of 26 for a .962 was just a bit better on the day in the Fetisov Arena), SKA emerged triumphant in a difficult battle on this road trip. The narratives of these last few games have been interesting. Saint Petersburg snapped a five-game losing skid with a pretty convincing win over a strong opponent in front of a content and proud crowd by beating Severstal by 3 goals at home before taking to the road to face a couple of teams they should beat, tossing one aside easily despite their opponents’ best efforts, and being presented with some challenges but coming away with a win. This might be a perfect balance in trying to get the form they have been looking for to this point – Winning the games that they should in different manners while also showing they can withstand different difficulties after a solid win over a good team.

With these few wins, SKA has gained some ground in the standings. They currently sit in 6th in the Western Conference and remain in 4th in the Bobrov Division, but are just two points behind HC Sochi, though the latter does have a game in hand after having had a handful of days off. In pursuit of the Continental Cup (which SKA seeks to defend), Saint Petersburg sits at 13th out of 23 in the league standings. Their next game is on Wednesday, September 27th, in HC Sibir Novosibirsk’s home arena, before taking five days off and heading to Sochi to play against a familiar face in the form of the young talent they loaned out: Matvei Michkov. The Philadelphia Flyers prospect/seventh overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft’s exploits since being sent back to HC Sochi, whom he impressed with on a loan stint last season, are well documented and have been nothing short of exciting. With the on- and off-ice narratives leading into that matchup, it should be a memorable one with much hype surrounding it. For HC Sochi’s own part, their five-day break ends tomorrow (9/26) with a matchup against Spartak Moscow in the Russian capital. We will see if they have to shake the rust off as they seek to keep their own winning streak (which currently sits at 5 games) alive.