KOVALCHUK'S HAT-TRICK LIFTS SKA

Kovalchuk scores his first

blood on the ice after huge hit
at the benches

Ilya Kovalchuk went to work on October 8 in Russia. It was a bloody game...literally. A few bone-crushing hits set the pace in this game. Despite Kovalchuk's "gentlemanly" style of play, I guess when going against a NHL rival goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, he will always have a little more gas in the tank. Pavel Datsyuk, a teammate of Bryzgalov on CSKA Moscow, joined the scoring party as well. However, Datsyuk's goal party seemed as small as a 10 year old's birthday get-together compared to Kovalchuk's college fraternity party-sized goal-fest.

Datsyuk scored a very nice goal, nevertheless. Pavel skated parallel to the red line towards the front of the net, where he received the pass from the point at his skates, then proceeded to kick it to his stick while still skating around SKA Saint Peterburg's goalie for the score. The scoreboard read 1-0 CSKA.

Kovalchuk celebrates his second
goal with his teammates

Kovalchuk's first goal came with his team trailing 2-0. With half a game played, and half the amount of goals as CSKA, Kovalchuk kept pushing and put SKA even at 2 goals per team. The first time Kovy brought the crowd to their feet was a very similar goal to Datsyuk's. Kovalchuk was dished the puck from the high slot to where he was planted at the top of the crease. The next similarity to Pavel Datsyuk's goal was the skate-to-stick-to-back of the net sequence. Ilya's second goal sure did get him pumped up! He followed up on teammate/line-mate Vladimir Tarasenko's shot that managed to sneak behind Ilya Bryzgalov. Crashing at the net hard, Kovy skated past Bryzgalov and netted his second lamp-lighter of the night. Tarasenko and Kovalchuk worked magic against CSKA by combining for 6 points in the game. The "dagger", hat-trick goal from Kovy's stick came from a beautiful one-timer pass by Tarasenko. Vladimir Tarasenko skated behind and around the net and gave a firm pass back across the front of the crease to a streaking Kovalchuk. The "trick" was completed.

Kovalchuk after scoring his
hat-trick goal

SKA Saint Petersburg defeated CSKA Moscow 4-2. SKA stands 2 points ahead of CSKA in the standings for the Western Conference.

Notable Performances:
Kovalchuk- 3 points
Vladimir Tarasenko- 3 points
Pavel Datsyuk- 2 points