Outshot 37-18, winning 3-4 anyway: SKA's night of theft in Kazan

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Thirty-seven shots, three goals. Eighteen shots, four — and the two points. SKA St. Petersburg left Tatneft Arena with a 3-4 win over Ak Bars Kazan despite being outshot better than two to one, because Sergei Ivanov turned 34 of those shots into saves.

The hosts owned the first period. Alexander Chmelevski opened at 12 minutes, assisted by Albert Yarullin, and Denis Zernov doubled the lead at 20 from Grigori Denisenko — 2-0 into the break. SKA's discipline was already creaking: five infractions for 13 penalty minutes on the night, including Vladislav Syomin's five-minute term at 12, against a single two-minute visit to the box for Kazan.

The middle frame flipped the game. Vasily Atanasov pulled one back at 25 from Matvei Korotky, Yegor Savikov equalized unassisted at 30, and although Semyon Terekhov restored the lead at 36 off Yarullin's second assist, SKA carried 52% of the puck possession and the better of the exchanges.

Then came the third. Danil Aimurzin tied it at 41 from Rocco Grimaldi, and at 45 Atanasov scored again, Savikov with the helper, for the 3-4 that stood. Ak Bars fired 37 shots and converted 3 of 5 power plays to SKA's 0-for-1, yet nothing went in after the 45th minute.

Atanasov owned the decisive role: two goals on four shots, a plus-2 rating, the winner included — on a night his team spent 13 minutes shorthanded. Ivanov's 34 saves made 37 shots look ordinary. For Kazan it was arithmetic gone wrong: Terekhov scored and assisted yet finished at minus-4, Yarullin set up two goals and left at minus-2.

SKA absorbed the punches all evening — and departed with the only number that matters.