Game 1: Thursday, March 27th

Dynamo Moscow 3-1 SKA

Game 2: Saturday, March 29th

Dynamo Moscow 2-1 SKA (OT)

Game 3: Monday, March 31st

SKA 5-3 Dynamo Moscow

Game 4: Wednesday, April 2nd

SKA 4-5 Dynamo Moscow (2OT)

Game 5: Friday, April 4th

Dynamo Moscow 3-4 SKA (OT)

The primary worries for SKA pertaining to their playoff run aspirations were goaltending and defense-based, perhaps not entirely without merit even though Flyers prospect Yegor Zavragin has punched above his weight relative to his age this season and been trusted with a heavy workload at junctures. That said, their falling into a 2-0 hole in their first two games in their opening matchup against rivals Dynamo Moscow seemed to be poor finishing and an inadequate power play. Zavragin did his job, stopping 68 of 73 shots against in these games. However, SKA lost the battle of making the most of scoring chances (with their PP particularly being a letdown in Game 1, where they went 0-for-5), seemingly alternating between not testing Dynamo G Maxim Motorygin enough and getting stonewalled by him. As a result, they lost two games that could have gone either way, with Nikita Gusev being the OT hero for Dynamo in the second matchup as he rifled one past Zavragin through traffic from a distance. SKA subsequently won a fairly high-scoring Game 3 at home, 5-3, with five different goalscorers getting on the sheet. Zavragin stopped 35 of 38 and even tallied an assist. Devils prospect Arseni Gritsyuk exhibited some hunger with seven shots on goal, accounting for nearly a fifth of the team’s total SOGs.

Zavragin subsequently regressed in Game 4, however, allowing 3 goals on 14 shots against in the first period. Consequently, Roman Rotenberg took him out in favor of Artemy Pleshkov, who stopped 41 shots the rest of the way, to start the second period. A herculean three goal third period helped SKA keep their hopes in this game alive, with extra hockey needed. In the most consequential section of the first overtime, Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov (who has gone up and down the lineup a bit, but has featured more prominently in this series than Rotenberg originally led onlookers to believe and contributed to SKA’s offense when it had clicked) had the would-be GWG negated due to goaltender interference upon the conclusion of video review. It’d ultimately be ex-Anaheim Duck Maxime Comtois who won it for Dynamo Moscow in the fifth period. This placed SKA in a 3-1 hole, ergo on the brink of a first round elimination. Cedric Paquette, one of Dynamo’s most reliable players this year, gave SKA a lot of headaches in this game, as he had 2g-2a.

Pleshkov was given the start in Game 5, a must-win for SKA in enemy territory. He was tested early and often and would ultimately perform his duties strongly enough when called upon. SKA took the first lead of the game and ultimately led 2-1 going into the final stanza. Captain/D/Hurricanes prospect Alexander Nikishin scored a memorable goal through a screen in response to Jordan Weal’s GTG. However, Dynamo would tie it up with Motorygin pulled for the extra attacker, as Artyom Ilyenko made good on a terrific rebound opportunity. That said, on yet another long distance goal in this series, Sergei Sapego scored after quite a bit of high drama extra hockey, giving SKA the 4-3 win and giving them another opportunity to play in front of the home crowd.

With that said, I don’t know if SKA has another close win in them. If they are to keep their season alive, I think they need a truly dominant performance. Dynamo’s attackers must be given little possession time and the finishing has to be very strong on SKA’s part. At minimum, if this does go the full seven and both games are this competitive, I have to give the advantage to the better team (Dynamo).

Game 6: Sunday, April 6th @ SKA Arena