The Ice Palace in Saint Petersburg did not have much downtime during the KHL’s 2023-24 All-Star break, as it was the lively host of the major festivities. Mind you, that barn is huge as it can seat up to 21,500 people, and in correspondence with that, the event set an attendance record (c/o HockeyNewsHub on X) for the K’s All-Star Game. That said, SKA Saint Petersburg’s ultras and other passionate fans were assuredly looking forward to the return of the host’s regular season action. They got quite the comeback when it occurred on Tuesday, December 19th, 2023.

HC Sochi visited without marquee young forwards RW Matvei Michkov (Flyers, 7th overall, 2023 NHL Entry Draft) and C Marat Khusnutdinov (Wild, 37th overall, 2020) in tow. This was an excellent opportunity for the home team to knock down the visitors without much issue. The opening period showed determination to do that, as they out-shot Sochi 33-1 (not a typo), really putting Sochi G Maxim Tretyak (grandson of Vladislav Tretiak) to the test; however, they scored just 1 goal. After two periods, SKA had out-shot Sochi 48-10, but the score was tied 1-1 thanks to Sergei Popov aiding a Jesse Graham blast into the net. The picture was also somewhat worrisome for SKA as Vladimir Alistrov had to be helped off due to injury upon an awkward collision. However, despite some positive moments for HC Sochi in the third period such as a penalty shot attempt by Michal Kristof (which SKA G Johan Mattsson turned away with a strong save) and an impressive counter-attacking goal by Timur Khafizov upon a successful Sochi penalty-kill, they would be overwhelmed.

Truth be told, SKA were actually fairly passive throughout much of the game’s first forty minutes, without much speed to their game or much killer instinct in converting their high volume of scoring opportunities. The team changed that on a dime in the third, pouring on 6 goals. In just the final stanza alone, Borna Rendulic, Sergei Tolchinsky, Mikhail Vorobyov, Stepan Falkovsky, and Marat Khairullin contributed multiple points. Vasily Glotov also scored a goal to complement his secondary assist (the primary assist going to Hurricanes prospect Alexander Nikishin) on Khairullin’s first period goal. This would be all she wrote for this game, as the final score was 7-2 in favor of Roman Rotenberg’s group over Dmitry Kokorev’s shorthanded HC Sochi squad. Shots were 66-17 in favor of SKA. This was their first victory over Sochi this season, as the underdogs had earned two 5-4 victories (their first ever regulation triumphs over SKA, according to en.khl.ru) in the first two matchups.

With this being the first day of action back since the All-Star break, it feels pointless to discuss standings implications at length at this time, despite there having been nine games on the schedule today. However, we will look ahead to both teams’ next games by noting that HC Sochi’s next game on their road trip will be against Avangard on Thursday, December 21st. Michkov and Khusnutdinov will remain home for this road trip, so the team will likely be taking their bumps for the next couple of games. SKA Saint Petersburg return to action at home again that same day, in an Army Derby matchup with rivals CSKA Moscow. The two are close to one another in the Western Conference standings and CSKA took one on the chin against intracity rivals Dynamo Moscow today 4-1, so Roman Rotenberg’s team will have a determined adversary to face in Sergei Fedorov’s group.