SKA Saint Petersburg:

Game 45: Thursday, January 16th

SKA 4-7 Severstal Cherepovets

Game 46: Tuesday, January 21st

SKA 5-2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

Game 47: Thursday, January 23rd

SKA 3-5 Dynamo Moscow

To say this week was challenging for SKA would be an understatement. Looking to turn the page from the ending of the truncated Tony DeAngelo era, they got off to an ignominious start. They trailed 6-1 in the matchup against Severstal and never fully climbed back. It is difficult to imagine a game wherein three-point performances by both Ivan Demidov and Mikhail Grigorenko were rendered meaningless, but that is precisely what occurred. Against Lokomotiv, they were clinical and efficient on offense, including making good utilization of their power play. Yegor Zavragin stopped 26 of 28 in his first win since the Army Derby matchup on January 3rd and the team’s first since Vityaz on January 5th. This led them to come away with what should have been perceived as an important victory against the league’s best team. However, it came at a cost, as captain and defensive talisman Alexander Nikishin was injured in the matchup. SKA is already dealing with an important depth blow in the form of Kuznetsov, who is still out with the concussion the Stanley Cup champion suffered against CSKA on December 25th. How will this team handle this level of adversity when already spiraling?

The club had a terrific first period against Dynamo, wherein they had many great offensive chances. Subsequently, they scored two very fast goals in the middle frame and would chase G Maxim Motorygin from the game with their third. However, from there would be only a collapse. The times ahead could be dark. They may be able to produce offense, but it seems as though the ability to produce and build upon leads may go out the window. Their best hope may be a physical and mental reset across the All-Star break this coming month.

HC Sochi:

Game 45: Friday, January 17th

Sochi 3-1 Dynamo Moscow

Game 46: Sunday, January 19th

Sochi 1-2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg

Game 47: Thursday, January 23rd

Sochi 1-8 Salavat Yulaev Ufa

The matchup against Dynamo had everything you would want as a fan. They defeated a significantly better team on the road. To boot, this was no PDO bender while getting caved, either. The “Leopards” hung right with them the entire time. Will Bitten scored what ultimately stood as the winning goal on a terrific play by Alexander Yaremchuk from behind the net. To top it all off, the game ended with a mini-line brawl. However, the game against Avtomobilist was a crashing back down to reality. They lost a low event game despite having the coveted “power play plus empty net” scenario at the end of the match to provide them a potential chance to tie it up. Subsequently, everything came crashing down against Ufa. It was indicative of everything about the game and their season that it felt as though the home crowd was erupting into applause when they even so much as generated a scoring chance. With the team trailing 5-0 at the end of the second stanza, I opted to turn the game off upon 40 minutes elapsed time. Despite watching many brutal Sochi games the last two seasons both with and without Matvei Michkov on the roster, I never decide that I have seen enough to get the gist of the game until it is over. I made an exception this time, however, as it felt as though I had already since 60 minutes worth of pounding in 2/3rds of the time. I felt vindicated in this decision by the news that Sochi felt compelled to apologize to their fans for this performance and offered an 18% discount for the next home game. I think this is indicative of how much of a nadir this was for this particular campaign, which already entered hopelessness territory long before this.

Standings update:

SKA: 2nd in the Bobrov Division, 6th in the Western Conference

Sochi: 5th in the Bobrov Division, 11th in the Western Conference

Next games:

SKA: Tomorrow (1/25), 9:00 AM EST – vs. Salavat Yulaev Ufa

Sochi: Sunday, January 26th, 9:00 AM EST – vs. Severstal Cherepovets