KHL: Ezhov and Ketov shoot down the Eagles

SKA St. Petersburg tried to make pressure right from the get go, but it was the home team to have the first real scoring opportunity when Rok Ticar tried to convert on the rebound. The Slovaks also the first PP opportunity, even though SKA's Jarno Koskiranta was the most dangerous player on a 1-on-0 situation.

In the 7^th minute Koskiranta made up for his missed chance defeating Michael Garnett on the rebound giving St. Petersburg the lead. Maxim Chudinov, on a perfect pass by Shipchayov, had the next big chance for the defending KHL champion, denied by Garnett’s sprawling save.

In the second period SKA-goalkeeper Ilya Ezhov became the center of attraction, stopping Ladislav Nagy, the star of Slovan Bratislava, three times during one single shift. More saves on Slovan’s Ticar and Anatolji Protasenja would make the home team seemingly desperate.

The 10,055 fans in Slovnaft Arena kept pushing their team also in the final 20 minutes of regulation play, but getting one though Ezhov was a tough task this evening. Slovan could play on the power play for 4 minutes at the beginning of the period, but a beautiful glove save on Filip Novak’s onetimer was followed by another great stop on Vaclav Nedorost.

When SKA had a 5 on 3 Power Play some may have feared the game was over, but Michael Garnett was not one of them. Another showcase of his experience on Maxim Shypchayov and Evgeni Dadonov kept Bratislava in the game.

Slovan kept trying and finally got rewarded with a classic ‘dirty goal’ in the 52^nd minute. Cam Barker's shot from the blue line bounced off the boards and somehow the puck squeezed through the Russian net minder for the 1-1 tying goal.

The game did not lose its intensity and Garnett was the saviour of his defence not only once, sending the game to overtime.

In the OT Cam Barker took two minutes for interference giving SKA a 4-on-3 man advantage, but Garnett and his teammates killed off two more minutes. In the 64^th minute the Canadian goalkeeper thoug was chanceless on Evgeny Ketov, who sent the puck top-shelf to give his team the extra point.

Despite the loss, goalkeeper Michael Garnett was happy about the one point since his team was one minute away from the shootout, but still disappointed about not getting the 2nd one too. “We played well. We were playing shorthanded a lot, the guys blocked a lot of shots. We played right there with the defending champions.” Garnett was also excited to play in front of such a big crowd: “Especially in the end when I was feeling really tired I felt the energy by the crowd. The crowd here is so loud and gets you going. I feel it.”.

Slovan will need such a crowd again on Saturday, when they take on Spartak Moscow.

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