ShareDynamo Minsk managed to piss off SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg to such an extent that he almost jumped onto the ice. The emotions of the fifth match of the first round of the KHL playoffs in the Ice Palace were recorded by the sports department of Fontanka.
The KHL playoffs of the 2022/23 season are a feast for the eyes. Never before in the history of the league in the first round has there been so much equal struggle. The lower seeded teams not only give the leaders a fight, but also make them lose and seriously think regarding their prospects for reaching the quarterfinals. Immediately in six of the eight series, following four matches, equality was established 2–2. The same score before the fifth meeting was in the confrontation between SKA and Dynamo Minsk.
The Minskers at the last moment of the regular season won the right to reach the playoffs from the eighth place in the Western Conference. They had to play with the leader of the championship – St. Petersburg SKA. No one doubted that the Petersburgers would easily pass the first round with a score of 4-0 or 4-1 maximum. But the Belarusians, led by Canadian coach Craig Woodcroft, had a different plan.
They started the series with a sensational victory 6:4, then there were two defeats 2:5, 0:4 and in the fourth match once more a victory – 4:2. “Such a “damn it” happened,” SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg commented on that game. By the fifth meeting, the teams came up with a 2–2 draw. The series, which should have ended by now, hung in the balance for the army from the Neva.
The fifth game began also unexpectedly. The opponent was still not going to give up and showed it at every opportunity. On the eighth minute there was a small brawl between the fives on the ice. As a result, two were removed from SKA – Andrey Pedan and Dmitry Yashkin with a powerful black eye under his right eye – hello from the last match. At Dynamo, they put one on the penalty box – Cedric Paquette. As a result, the Minskers remained in the majority and immediately realized their numerical advantage. Vitaliy Pinchuk scored.
The army did not loosen up. In the language of the head coach of SKA, the hockey players of the St. Petersburg team took “eggs in a fist and a nickel.” Something like this managed to level Yashkin, who, in a corporate style, fought for the puck in front of the goal. SKA scored the second goal following a quick counterattack. Vasily Glotov excelled. According to the results of the first period, the Petersburgers threw the opponent twice: 14 throws once morest 6.
Almost the entire second period was held in a more equal fight. Miraculously, Nikita Gusev missed the empty net.
The heat went on the last minute of the period. First, following the removal of Minsk residents, Dmitry Yashkin increased the advantage.
Then, following an unsuccessful collision, Zakhar Bardakov had to prematurely leave for the locker room. Then Marat Khusnutdinov was hit in the face with a stick from Joseph Dushak.
Harder, at first glance, hit Khusnutdinov. Blood spilled onto the ice. It seems that Dushak didn’t do it on purpose: the American was swinging for a throw, but then Marat unsuccessfully rushed under the throw. Roman Rotenberg did not care. He went berserk. You have never seen such head coach of SKA. First, he shouted something furiously in English to Dushak, standing at the open gate, as if he was regarding to jump onto the ice himself.
Then, when the judges, following watching the replay, determined that there had been no violation, Rotenberg was already trying to shout to them. Wow, as much as the blood runs cold from this look!
As a result, in the third period, Khusnutdinov returned in a special protective mask, but there was no Bardakov. At the start of the final game segment, the Minskers first scored the second goal, but Gusev almost immediately returned the two-goal difference with a wrist throw.
Dynamo continued to fight. At 52 minutes, SKA striker Alexander Volkov was sent off for tripping, and 34 seconds later Dmitry Sokolov converted the majority.
Almost three minutes before the end, the Minskers replaced the goalkeeper with the sixth field player, but this did not help. Having received the puck into an empty net from Marat Khairullin, they once more removed the goalkeeper and once more missed from the same Khairullin. So the game ended with the score 6:3 in favor of SKA. The series is now 3-2 in favor of the St. Petersburg team, which has one victory left to advance to the next round. The sixth game of the confrontation with Dynamo will be held in Minsk on March 11.
Artem Kuzmin, Fontanka.ru
