The SKA Report: The Calm Before the Storm

Before SKA hits the road this coming week, they had a game on Friday against Atlant at home.  The result was one that SKA wanted and needed in getting that momentum heading into a tough four game road trip through the division rivals, as SKA jumped to a 3-0 lead after one period on goals from Alexei Semenov, Evgeny Ketov, and Maxim Chudinov.  Ilya Kovalchuk padded the lead in the second period, and except for a Roman Rukavishnikov goal late in the third period, SKA prevented Atlant from getting anything past Alexander Salak as SKA cruised to a 4-1 win and in the process, has some momentum going into next week.

SKA hits the road this week and they will have a chance to pad their lead in the Bobrov Division, as they take on Lev Praha on Monday, Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday, CSKA on Friday, and Dinamo Riga on Sunday.

The SKA Report: Kicking Off the Rust

SKA started the first game after break in Yaroslavl on Thursday and a matchup with Lokomotiv.  Their offense didn't get the memo, as they failed to score a goal in the game.  For most of the game, it was their defense that carried the game, and certainly, Alexander Salak deserved a better result than he did, as SKA held Lokomotiv off the board for two periods.  Emil Galimov broke the tie early in the third period and Sergei Plotinkov added an empty net goal to hand SKA a loss to start the second stanza.  Saturday, the offense showed up enough to get past Atlant 2-1.  Alexander Kucheryavenko made it 1-0 SKA after one period, but Alexander Kadeikin would score the equalizer in the second period.  Viktor Tikhonov would score early in the third period, and Salak would make it stand up, giving SKA three points in the standings.

SKA is home for the week, and they get their first chance at revenge on Monday as Lokomitv comes into town.  Severstal arrives for a Wednesday game, Traktor will be looking for revenge on Friday, and Neftekhimik will look to gain some momentum on Sunday.

KHL Coaching Carousel

The KHL season is barely three weeks old and already, the coaching carousel is going full speed.  Tuesday, Avangard ended the tenure of Petri Matikainen and replaced him with Milos Riha.  A team with high expectations, Avangard stumbled out of the gate, and the loss Sunday against Barys Astana was the final straw in Matikainen's time as head coach.  Wednesday, Atlant parted ways with head coach Sergei Svetlov and assistant coach Alexander Nesterov.  Like Avangard, Atlant stumbled out of the gate, losing four games to start the season.  Alexei Kudashov is the interim coach for the season.  Today, Lokomotiv ended the tenure of Tom Rowe and replaced him with Pyotr Vorobyov.  Dmitry Yushkevich and Igor Yefimov were also named assistant coaches.  Rowe took over Lokomotiv in their return after taking the 2011-12 season off due to the plane crash in September 2011.

HC Atlant

HC Atlant is a member of the Tarasov Division and play their home games in Mytischi, located in the Moscow Oblast Region. They came to be in their current incarnation in 2005 after over 50 years of playing as Khimik Voskresensk (incidentally, there is a team that took that name after the original team became HC Atlant).  Among the players to have played in the NHL on the Atlant roster include Bobby Sanguinetti, Igor Radulov, and Evgeny Artyukhin.