MINSK, 3 March (BelTA) – HC Dinamo Minsk lost 2-4 to HC SKA St Petersburg in the first match-up of the Gagarin Cup playoff on 2 March, BelTA has learned.
Dinamo's Pavel Varfolomeyev opened the scoring five minutes into the game, beating Alexander Samonov from close range.
Subsequently, Minsk took four penalties — two of them overlapping for 78 seconds. SKA, however, was limited to just six shots on target in the first period.
The game changed in the second period, as SKA found three unanswered goals. Andrei Kuzmenko got two of them, tying the scores first and, then, on the power play, putting SKA in front. In the 32nd minute Vasily Podkolzin fired home a third goal.
One of the counter-attacks in the final stanza brought Dinamo the second goal of the night thanks to Kirill Voronin and his one-timer.
That made it a one-goal game once again, but Joonas Kemppainen made it 4-2 and ended Minsk's chances of forcing overtime.
The Bisons will hold their second match-up against HC SKA at the Ice Palace of St Petersburg on 4 March. The playoff series continues till four victories of one of the rivals.
Three days ago the two rivals met in St Petersburg in the final match of the KHL regular season, with SKA leaving the ice victorious, 4-2.
