SKA Saint Petersburg:

Game 27: Wednesday, November 13th

SKA 1-0 Sibir Novosibirsk (SO)

Game 28: Friday, November 15th

SKA 2-3 Ak Bars Kazan (OT)

Game 29: Monday, November 18th

SKA 6-3 Amur Khabarovsk

The first game of the two-game eastern road swing was marked by a goalie duel. Flyers prospect Yegor Zavragin, returning to his hometown of Novosibirsk, stopped 29 of 29 through the overtime frame while Sibir netminder Denis Kostin had an even busier night, making 39 saves. Ultimately, though, Zavragin would be the one standing tall, as Sibir never solved him in hockey’s equivalent of the home run derby. Things came to a close with Valentin Zykov being the difference maker and Sibir LW/captain Sergei Shirokov blasting his attempt wide. Aside from his third shutout of the season (second with SKA accompanying his one clean sheet with HC Sochi), per SKA, this performance in the shootout made Zavragin just the second goaltender in SKA history to not be scored on in a shootout after former Philadelphia Flyer Robert Esche.

However, this game did demonstrate the persistence of issues, as it continued the team’s offensive woes. Including the Sibir game and its corresponding shootout winner by Zykov, SKA had tallied just nine goals in their previous six outings going into their matchup against Ak Bars to conclude the two-game road swing. In a sense, even that game was a striking demonstration of their offensive impotency. The reason that the game went to overtime was they were able to respond quickly inside the last three minutes of regulation to erase a 2-0 deficit. To their credit, Tony DeAngelo and Marat Khairullin did so very shortly after Yegor Korshkov tallied the second Ak Bars goal. DeAngelo would also be the goat, though, committing a turnover off a defensive zone faceoff in overtime that led to the OT GWG and sullying Zavragin’s 42 save performance.

In their homecoming against Amur, the club came alive offensively, with Vladimir Alistrov and Sergei Plotnikov both scoring within the handful of minutes and the game ultimately being defined by a phenomenal performance by Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Stanley Cup winner registered two goals (including a highlight reel master work that you have probably seen by now) and one assist as the team came alive in a way they hadn’t done in quite some time. With Zavragin getting a well-earned day off, Pavel Moisevich would stop 24 of 27 as the team skated to a 6-3 win.

Next game:

vs. Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod: Thursday, November 21st – 11:30 AM ET

HC Sochi:

Game 25: Friday, November 15th

Sochi 6-5 Kunlun Red Star (OT)

Game 26: Sunday, November 17th

Sochi 3-6 Barys Astana

The first matchup on this brief homestand was a game of blown leads, as Sochi relinquished advantages of 2-0 (which had its final touches placed on it via a 5-on-3 power play), 3-2, and 5-3 in a gun-slinging, all offense matchup with a fellow cellar dweller. The first lead is noteworthy by singlehandedly being erased by Kunlun forward Lucas Lockhart. At the end of it all, though, Timur Khafizov would be the hero. The Sochi forward would score a hat trick on five shots on goal, including the game winner pretty quickly into the extra frame, and tally an assist to factor into four of the team’s six goals. At this point, Sochi has beaten Kunlun in three consecutive games, having one both of their matchups this season and the finale of their six-game regular season series last year. After having been beaten by this club the first five times they played them in 2023-24, it must inspire confidence that they can defeat them routinely now, which may earn them some valuable points in the standings that they could have used last season.

The next match would not inspire the same confidence. Sochi played Barys fairly tight, leaving the first period dealing with only a 2-1 deficit. The club would fall into a 3-1 hole in the second period but Daniil Avershin and Khafizov (with the hot hand staying hot) would erase that. Yet again, they would enter the next frame only down by one goal, but two strikes in the third period’s middle segment would erase all hopes of a comeback. The club had fight until they didn’t, which falls in line with a pattern I have noticed the last couple of seasons of them simply crumbling when having to play from behind, particularly in the final stanza. We shall see how Sergei Zubov’s squad recalibrates themselves over the next few days and what it does for them when they return to action at the end of the week.

Next game:

vs. Sibir Novosibirsk: Friday, November 22nd – 11:30 AM ET