KHL
Avangard – Dinamo Minsk 5:3 (end) | SKA St. Petersburg – Mytishchi 4:3 (end) | Ak Bars – Novosibirsk 5:4 (after SO)
Lev – Torpedo 4:2 (end)
final
SKA St. Petersburg
4:3 (1:1,2:1,1:1)
Atlant Mytishchi
Wednesday 05.12.2012, 15:30 • St. Petersburg Ice Palace • KHL
     
    Thank you for joining us today. See you next time! (18:42:40)
     
    SKA got a much-needed win to break their two-game losing streak, led by two goals by Ilya Kovalchuk and a goal and an assist by Kevin Dallman.

    SKA goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky allowed two questionable goals, which gave a game Atlant team a fighting chance to skate away with points. But it wasn't to be for the team from Mytishchi.
     
    Shots on goal in the third period were 15 for SKA (game total of 42) and 8 for Atlant (game total of 24).

     
    Today's attendance is 11,700.
     
    60:00
    Game over.
     
    55:20
    Dallman set up behind his own net and found Kovalchuk wide open for a stretch pass near the red line. The pass was on the money, Kovalchuk went in all alone and snapped a shot through the five-hole as he got Khudobin moving.

    The shorthanded goal puts SKA ahead, 4-3.
     
    55:20
    Goal for SKA!
    Scorer is KOVALCHUK. Assistants are Dallman and Alexandrov.
     
    54:23
    Officials confer after the Prucha hit. There was no initial call but they have now given Prucha two minutes for a check to the head and a 10-minute misconduct.
     
    Prucha hammers vulnerable Rukavishnikov up high into the boards. Atlant player has been helped off the ice.
     
    54:17
    Martensson had an open scoring chance but elected to make an extra pass intended for Thoresen, who got knocked down legally in front as he went to shoot.
     
    54:00
    Play has opened up with rushes going both ways. This is turning into an entertaining third period.
     
    Bobrovsky was beaten through the five-hole on the initial shot but the puck hit the post and came out back through his legs in front. With SKA defenders standing around as spectators, Engqvist alertly pounced on the puck, skated a half stride to his left and deposited the puck ahead of a slow-to-react Bobrovsky.
     
    46:26
    Goal for Atlant!
    Scorer is ENGQVIST. Assistant is Semyonov.
     
    46:22
    Stoppage of play. Last two shifts have been good ones for Atlant.
     
    43:22
    Bobrovsky gloves a Glukhov shot from the left circle with two Atlant players in front of the net. If there had been a rebound, it might have turned into a goal.
     
    42:12
    Prucha will a good scoring chance from the lower right circle. Good save by Khudobin to keep his team in the game, down 3-2.
     
    41:23
    Makarov laying in the offensive corner after getting hit from behind. Looked like it should have been a boarding minor -- I think he's embellishing the play a bit -- but there was no call.
     
    40:01
    3rd period began.
     
    Shots on goal in the second period were 14 for SKA (12 overall) and five for Atlant (16 overall).

    SKA dominated most of the second period after the early fluke goal by Engqvist. Khudobin nearly got his team to the locker room with the game tied, 2-2, but had no chance to stop the late Kovalchuk goal. The previous one by Klimenko looked stoppable despite the defenseman getting stripped of the puck a split second earlier.
     
    39:57
    A huge mistake by Atlant to lose track of the most dangerous player on the ice in the waning seconds of the period.

    Kovalchuk peeled off the walls and cut toward the net, received a pass by Tarasenko through the splayed legs of a defender. From point blank range, Kovalchuk beat Khudobin to put SKA ahead just before the end of the period.
    Commentary by

    Bill Meltzer

    Goals & lineups Match log
    Goals and assists: 18. Dallman (Afinogenov), 34. Klimenko, 40. Kovalchuk (Tarasenko), 56. Kovalchuk (Dallman, Alexandrov) - 12. Koltsov (Kablukov), 22. Engqvist (Zherdev), 47. Engqvist (Semyonov)

    SKA St. Petersburg: Bobrovsky (Ezhov); Dallman, Alexandrov, Kalinin, Chudinov, Vorobyov, Berdyukov, Serkin; Kovalchuk, Thoresen, Martensson, Tarasenko, Prucha, Fedorov, Nepryayev, Kucheryavenko, Makarov, Afinogenov, Klimenko, Rybin, Sigarev.
    Atlant Mytishchi: Khudobin (Davydov); Tyutin, Ozolinsh, Vishnevsky, Semyonov, Batyrshin, Bayev, Fregren; Zherdev, Stalberg, Mayorov, Kablukov, Engkvist, Glukhov, Koltsov, Shevchenko, Ignatushkin, Tochitsky, Dorofeev, Bobrov.
    Referees: Jerabek, Olenin. Birin (L), Medvedev (L)
    Attendance: 11700