We saw two very different performances from SKA Saint Petersburg this week. On Tuesday, February 20th, they were blanked 3-0 in their home game against Severstal Cherepovets. They narrowly out-shot Severstal 21-20, but looked lifeless and never really meaningfully in control. This is reflected by the puck controlled time, with Severstal having the advantage 18:42 to 15:00. Backup netminder Johan Mattsson was saddled with the loss (credited with a .895 SV% and a 2.08 GAA for his 17/19 performance, with the final Severstal goal being scored on an empty net by winger Adam Liska), as marquee starter Nikita Serebryakov was given the night off. This would see their regular season record at the new SKA Arena drop to 4-1-0 (in NHL terms). Subsequently, however, anchored by a 2g, 1a performance by Sergei Tolchinsky, SKA exorcised their demons on the road in Belarus with a dominant performance against Dinamo Minsk in a potential preview of their first round matchup. They emerged victorious 5-1, chasing starting Minsk netminder Alexei Kolosov (Philadelphia Flyers) by scoring 3 goals on their first 14 shots on net, before potting 2 on 22 against replacement Dylan Ferguson. Nikolai Polyakov, Vasily Glotov, and Mikhail Vorobyov additionally had multi-point nights of their own (1g+1a, 1g+1a, and 2a, respectively), while Serebryakov stopped 36/37 shots on net for a save percentage of .973. Though it was against the bottom seed, it is valuable for Roman Rotenberg’s squad to have put in such a comprehensive team win on the road against a playoff team who may very well be their first opponent in their Gagarin Cup pursuits. Their final game of the season is at home on Sunday, February 25th against Kunlun Red Star. They may be able to clinch the Continental Cup and defend their regular season title, but a lot also rests on the shoulders of Dynamo Moscow’s results in their remaining two games (they take on Admiral Vladivostok tomorrow and CSKA Moscow on Monday), with their rivals just one point behind them with a game in hand and two opponents they are quite capable of defeating on tap. We shall see if the chips fall in their favor.

In the meantime, in HC Sochi news, they were defeated for the fifth time in a row this season on by Kunlun Red Star on Tuesday in a game where they were simply out-classed. Nine of the “Dragons”, as they are affectionately known, tallied points and starting “Leopards” netminder Mikhail Berdin was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 19 shots, with his night ending just under six minutes into the second period. Maxim Tretyak was perfect in relief, but the damage was already done, with 4-0 being the final scoreline as they mustered nothing via their 29 total shots on goal. However, they would avoid the 6-0 sweep with an impressive win on Friday, wherein Matvei Michkov (Philadelphia Flyers) posted a three point performance of his own. He tallied 2 goals and 1 assist as he was heavily involved in the netfront game, with all three points coming from him getting down and dirty at the goal mouth. This was an essential game for Michkov, as he reminded hockey observers that he can score the kind of goals that you will see most commonly in the setting he is developing for and should be lauded for that as much as he is for his impressive perimeter play. This performance bumped him up to now have the most goals, assists, AND points by a KHL/RSL player in his D+1 year, and he is now just one point shy of tying Kirill Kaprizov’s U-20 KHL single season points record. His linemate Artur Tyanulin, meanwhile, tallied his 45th point of the season in this game upon earning his 28th assist (on Michkov’s first goal of the match) and scoring his 17th goal in the proceedings of this match. These historic 5 combined points by this pair with solid chemistry facilitated a 6-3 victory for Sochi, with Tyanulin being given the Olympic torch for the team’s player of the game in a home victory. This was definitely a monumental night for some members of head coach Dmitry Kokorev’s group. Their season wraps up on Sunday with a game against HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. While the cinderella promise that the early goings of this season showed did not ultimately manifest, perhaps they can put a bow on it with one more feel-good win and Michkov making one last mark on Russian hockey history for the year.