SKA Saint Petersburg:

Game 1: Thursday, September 5th

SKA 4-5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk (OT)

The 2024–25 campaign began with a playoff atmosphere, on the road against an Eastern Conference giant and last season’s Gagarin Cup conquerors. There were some bright spots for the visitors as early as the opening ten minutes, as LW/C Ivan Demidov registered his first professional point at 7:09 when tallying an assist on a power play goal by D Stepan Falkovsky (with an assist further being credited to RW Arseni Gritsyuk, a great start for the New Jersey Devils prospect in an important year for him), and this game also featured C Evgeny Kuznetsov’s first goal in a SKA Saint Petersburg uniform. However, the former would account for the only lead SKA held during the game, as they consistently had to play catch up every time defending champions Metallurg scored and never really looked in control. They ultimately fell in the 3v3 overtime on a wicked breakaway backhander by ex-UMass Lowell Riverhawk/Pittsburgh Penguin LW Scott Wilson (with assists going to C Luke Johnson and D Robin Press). Some things to be happy about in such an important, tone-setting game, but not enough from the group as a whole.

Game 2: Saturday, September 7th

SKA 3-1 Lada Togliatti

In the middle match of the season opening three game road trip, the team didn’t seem to overwhelmingly dominate this game possession-wise (the stats reinforce this, with Togliatti having both the shots and the puck control time advantages), but were efficient and also persistent when necessary, as evidenced by Gritsyuk’s nose for the net on what ultimately stood as the game-winning goal. RW Marat Khairullin also had a good break in this game, registering a secondary assist and the empty-net goal to ice the game, which hopefully does good things for his confidence. He was very slow out of the gate last season and it will serve the team well for him to be clicking. Meanwhile, while he wasn’t overwhelmingly dominant in the first game, either (not by a long shot, really), Demidov was more subdued in this game, not registering a point. He had one fantastic look but ultimately hit the iron. Rotenberg also chose not to use him on the power play this time around. One has to imagine, though, that playing alongside a star of Kuznetsov’s caliber in a fairly sheltered role will benefit him in the long run.

Notably for SKA, D Alexander Nikishin has still yet to return from last year’s season ending injury. So much of the team’s fortunes depend on the Hurricanes prospect’s abilities and reliable and steady presence. We may not be able to judge anything about how good this team truly will be this year until he debuts.

Next game:

@ Lokomotiv Yaroslavl: Monday, September 9th – 12:30 PM ET

Home opener:

vs. Traktor Chelyabinsk: Thursday, September 12th – 12:30 PM ET

HC Sochi:

Game 1: Saturday, September 7th

Sochi 2-1 Spartak Moscow (SO)

The beginning of the coaching reunion with Sergei Zubov (who is in his second stint behind the Sochi bench) actually looked really good on the road against a tough opponent in the nation’s capital. I was impressed by Sochi’s defensive structure (which often served to prevent an offensively skilled and well-coached Spartak squad from even being able to set anything up in the OZ) and oftentimes seamless transition play. Sergei Ivanov was also outstanding between the pipes; the Blue Jackets prospect’s positioning and reads appeared to have him covering almost the entire net every time. Pulling G Dmitry Nikolayev for an extra attacker was the only time that Spartak was able to get anything done and it tied the game up with 24 seconds remaining. Ultimately, however, after OT didn’t solve anything, a tense shootout concluded with winger Alexei Vasilkov (incidentally a Togliatti player on loan last season) bringing Sochi the win on a slick backhander. Vasilkov had a day for himself between this and assisting C Kirill Rasskazov on Sochi’s tally in regulation. Hopefully, this performance is indicative of what this squad can do under a “new” coaching philosophy.

Next game:

@ Vityaz Moscow Region: Monday, September 9th – 12:00 PM ET

Home opener:

vs. Traktor Chelyabinsk: Saturday, September 14th – 10:00 AM ET