The SKA Report: Taking Moscow

SKA's week began with a road game in Croatia against Medvescak, and unlike the home opener, the result was a little different.  The first period opened with Ilya Kovalchuk scoring to give SKA the lead, but Mathieu Carle tied the game.  Ryan Vesce gave Medvescak the lead with a goal in the second period and Matt Murley upped the lead to two to open the third period.  Late goals by Roman Cervenka and Kovalchuk forced the game into overtime, giving SKA at least a point in the standings.  However, they would not get any more, as Vesce had the deciding goal in the shootout to hang a loss on Alexander Salak.  Friday saw SKA travel to Moscow and their bitter rivals Dynamo Moscow, who have knocked out SKA in each of the last two playoff meetings.  Evgeny Skachkov and Maxim Chudinov put SKA up 2-0 before Leo Komarov pulled Dynamo within one to close the period.  Komarov would tie the game in the second period before SKA took over in the third period.  Artemy Panarin would score back-to-back goals, and Anton Malyshev and Patrick Thoresen would add on to give SKA and Salak a 6-2 victory in Moscow.  Sunday, SKA stayed in the Moscow region to take on Vityaz.  A scoreless first period gave way to both teams exchanging goals, Tony Martensson for SKA and Anton Korolyov for Vityaz.  Yury Koshkarov would open the third period with a goal for Vityaz, but Kovalchuk's goal halfway through the period would force overtime.  Nothing was settled there, so a shootout was needed, where Kovalchuk scored the winner, putting SKA over the top 3-2 and made a winner of Ilya Ezhov.

SKA travels east to Nizhny Novgorod to face Torpedo and will conclude the week on Thursday with a tilt in Kazan against Ak Bars.  Roman Cervenka is tied for the league lead in points and Kovalchuk is tied for second in the league in goals, with Viktor Tikhonov one spot behind.  Salak is third in GAA.

The SKA Report: 3 out of 4 Recommend it

SKA returned home to start a four game home stand on Monday.  They started off the week with a 3-0 win against Medvescak in which they played without Ilya Kovalchuk and Kevin Dallman.  Dmitry Kalinin scored twice and Roman Cervenka added a goal to help Alexander Salak earn the first shutout of the season.  Wednesday was a game against Dinamo Minsk, and they were still without Kovalchuk and Dallman (Dallman would miss all four games this week).  This time, they were also without Kalinin for the game, but none of those would matter, as they took home a 5-1 win, thanks to goals by Andrei Kuteikin, Vadim Shipachyov, Viktor Tikhonov, Evgeny Skachkov, and Evgeny Ketov.  Ilya Ezhov earned the win in this game, allowing only a Geoff Platt goal.  In a battle of two hot goaltenders on Friday, it was Salak who earned the upper hand on Jeff Glass, as Glass would be chased out in the second period as SKA beat Spartak 4-1.  Spartak opened the scoring on the strength of an Alexei Krutov goal in the first period.  However, it was all SKA in the second period, as Maxim Chudinov and Tony Martensson would score, but it was Kovalchuk making an impact in his return, scoring two goals, the last one chasing Glass from the game.  The Sunday game against Donbass would not turn out so well, as Donbass would jump out to a 3-0 lead by the midway point of the game, with Maxim Yakutsenya scoring twice and Randy Robitaille adding a goal for the Ukranian squad.  Patrick Thoresen would pull SKA within one, as he scored both goals.  However, an empty net goal by Evgeny Dadonov would seal the deal for Donbass and hand SKA their first defeat of the season.  Ezhov was in net for the loss.

SKA hits the road this week, as they play on Tuesday at Medvescak, Friday at Dynamo Moscow, and Sunday at Vityaz.

KHL Medvescak Zagreb

The KHL Medvescak Zagreb hockey club has its origins dating back to 1961, and will begin their first season in the Kontinental Hockey League this coming season as a member of the Bobrov Division.  They are the first team in the KHL to play their home games in Croatia and are sometimes known as "The Bears."  The Bears are coached by Mark French and will feature players such as Steve Montador, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Patrick Bjorkstrand (brother of current Portland Winterhawks forward Oliver Bjorkstrand).