Sakhalin Sharks confidently beat SKA-Varyags at home

The Sakhalin Sharks defeated their rivals from St. Petersburg – SKA-Varyags. The game ended with a score of 4:2, the press service of the island hockey club reported.

The coaching staff of the Sakhalin team did not make major changes to the line-up, limiting themselves to point replacements of players – Sergey Oganezov and Ilya Koval missed the game, and Ruslan Opotsky and Vyacheslav Perelygin appeared on the ice instead.

The “Sharks” reflected several dangerous moments at the start of the game, after which they took their word. In total, in the first period they attacked the gates of Alexander Novoselov 22 times. Twice they managed to break through the goalkeeper of the guests. Alexander Morozov was the first to do this – the best sniper of the MHL ran away “1 v 1” and outplayed the goalkeeper of the SKA-Varyags team. This goal was his 30th this season. Morozov is the first MHL player to overcome the bar of three dozen abandoned goals this season.

His initiative in the next shift was supported by Ruslan Tyutyunnikov – the forward pushed the puck into the net in close combat. The score 2:0 made the hosts’ advantage very comfortable. They could have increased it, but it never came to a goal. In the second period, the guests began to equalize the game, but the Sharks kept the advantage. The score on shots after two game segments was 39:23 in favor of the hosts.

The Sharks’ weakest record this season is a shorthanded play. The very first violation of the rules on their part, which took place at the start of the third period, turned into a goal – Vladislav Paray completed a beautiful combination of guests. It became quite hot after a couple of minutes, when Sevastian Kapchuk scored another goal of the SKA-Varyag team in a counterattack, equalizing the score.

The Sakhalin Sharks got their bearings in the worsening situation for them and again regained their advantage on the scoreboard – Ruslan Tyutyunnikov won the throw-in, Arseniy Bardyshev threw at the defender, and Konstantin Dochkin shot from the rebound. The score was 3:2, and Sakhalin continued to press on the gates of the guests. Twice they had a numerical advantage and over and over again fired at the gates of the guests. However, they managed to throw the “Sharks” into the already empty net, when the “SKA-Varyags” staged the final assault – Alexander Kokarev hit the gate a second before the siren. The result is 4:2, the Sakhalin Sharks win.

Today, February 2, the teams will meet again. The start of the game on the ice of the Arena City complex is scheduled for 19:00 Sakhalin time (11:00 Moscow time). We are waiting for the fans in the stands. Free admission.