Ketov, SKA win tightly over Severstal
20 Nov 2013 | Alan Ilijic
Tuesday featured only one KHL clash between the leading SKA and Severstal of Cherepovets. In a laggard game between the two, the host managed to get the late winner.
Evgeny Ketov strikes late shorthanded to assure the win for the hosts. Being on a penalty kill Vadim Shipachyov bursts out in a breakaway and from the blue finds Evgeny Ketov in the middle who drives the puck to the slot and beats Jakub Stepanek to the left.
A little before the end of the end of the first period, Pakhrudin Gimbatov received a hard slapper from the blue into the crotch and remained on the ice craving in pain. The medical stuff patched him up soon, so he returned to play later in the game.
Roman Cervenka opened the scoring at 31:05 with his 8th strike of the season after the assists from Viktor Tikhonov and their goalie Alexander Salak, who snapped his first point of the season. The hosts started strong from early on and it finally paid off.
The game became a lull afterwards, until the 56th minute when Anatoly Nikontsev picks up the rebound after Vadim Berdnikov took the shot turning in the slot, Salak deflected into the glass but lost the stick and from the right corner Nikontsev strikes a one-timed slapshot while Salak couldn't retrieve.
The shots were even 26, and powerplay effectiveness at 0%, as SKA went 0/2 and Severstal 0/4 on the powerplay.