On Saturday, Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov and his SKA St. Petersburg teammates were taking on the Dynamo Moscow in the second game of their best-of-seven first-round series. SKA had lost the first duel 3-1, with the youngster skating as their 13th forward and seeing very little action.
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For the second game, coach Roman Rotenberg dramatically changed his approach. He promoted the Habs prospect to his team’s first line alongside former Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, and former New Jersey Devils seventh-round pick Zakhar Bardakov.
Demidov wasted no time showing his coach what he deprived his team of in the first tilt by scoring the game's first goal halfway through the first period. Unfortunately for SKA, it would turn out to be their only lamplighter.
Rotenberg’s men put up a good fight, pushing the game to overtime, but former NHLer Nikita Gusev gave Moscow the 2-1 win after a little over 10 minutes of extra time. SKA now heads back home down 0-2 and finds itself in dire need of a win when the battle resumes on Monday.
Of the nearly 71 minutes the game lasted, Demidov spent 17:36 on the ice, including 2:50 in overtime with the game on the line. He finished his workday with a goal and five shots (the most amongst SKA players). It was the right winger’s best performance in the last month, which should allow him to keep his top-line spot for the next duel.
With his back nearly against the wall, Rotenberg will be obligated to use the right winger to his full potential, refusing to sign an extension of not. The time to try and pressure the kid into signing is long gone, and the goal must now be to win at all costs, which should always have been the case.
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