One-Sided Rematch

In what is one of the better traditions that the KHL has, the first regular season game of the new season sees one game played between the two Gagarin Cup finalists from the prior year. It's almost like the league takes a short pause for summer before throwing the teams back into the water at the same place they were a year ago in terms of the matches. Today marked the kickoff for the 2018-19 KHL season, so Ak Bars Kazan had the privilege of travelling to meet SKA St. Petersburg in Game One of the new season. If you recall, Ak Bars Kazan won the Gagarin Cup last season, but both teams have gone through some roster changes over the summer, so would the same result be found on this day?

Without giving too much away, it was not a good night for Emil Garipov.

Just 3:50 into the game, Patrick Hersley opened the scoring for SKA when he beat Garipov on what appeared to be a fairly routine one-timer from the point.

Hersley officially becomes the first goal-scorer of the season with Pavel Datsyuk and Nikita Gusev picking up the helpers on that marker. St. Petersburg was out in front 1-0. FYI, that won't be the last time you read the names Datsyuk or Gusev in this article.

Ak Bars would find the equalizer 7:24 into the second period when Albert Yarullin beat Magnus Hellberg on a big rebound after stopping Vladislav Kara on a nice feed from Rob Klinkhammer.

Rob Klinkhammer does it all to drag Hellberg to far corner, puck rebounds in front of an empty net and Albert Yarulin is there to tie the game. pic.twitter.com/B5DS7LEUkl

— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) September 1, 2018

However, the walls would start to cave in on Kazan minutes later when SKA went on the power-play and Garipov surrendered another goal that looked to be a fairly routine save.

Nikita Gusev's shot through the wickets of Garipov at 9:54 while on the power-play put SKA back in front by a 2-1 score. Datsyuk picked up his second helper of the game on that goal, and St. Petersburg was only getting started.

At 13:41, another former NHL player strikes for SKA off a face-off win in the offensive zone.

Viktor Tikhonov wired the one-timer home through traffic off the perfect face-off win from Ilya Kablukov, and it was 3-1 for St. Petersburg.

Tikhonov and Kablukov would combine forces on another goal at the 4:38 mark of the third period, and this one seemed like Garipov probably should have made the save, but even the referee missed the goal.

I don't know if the referee is wearing an earpiece that allows some control room to let him know that was a goal, but seeing him blow down the play during the middle of action and signal a goal was a little weird to me. In any case, it was Kablukov's shot that eluded Garipov and rang off the middle post for the goal, and Tikhonov picked up his second point of the night with the helper.

SKA would continue to pile on after Alexander Barabanov stripped Alexei Popatov of the puck in the corner, and his centering pass found Nikolai Prokhorkin at the face-off dot for another one-timer goal at 13:13.

If there's one thing that Winnipeg Jets and Boston Bruins fans know all too well, it's opposition goals going in off Paul Postma, and Postma was back to his old tricks here as Prokhorkin's shot appears to deflect in off the big defender's skate past Garipov. In Postma's defence, Garipov has to get the pads wider down on the ice, but the end result of this Prokhorkin goal was a 5-1 lead for SKA St. Petersburg.

Finally, the goal you've all been waiting for as Nail Yakupov, the former first-overall pick in the NHL, scored in his return to the KHL on what appears to be another routine save for Garipov.

Nail Yakupov put an end to the game scoring his first goal with SKA to clinch a 6-1 win for SKA. pic.twitter.com/hPmMbluG6Y

— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) September 1, 2018

Yakupov's goal with 2:57 to play was set up by Patrick Hersley, and it would round out the scoring as SKA St. Petersburg took the opening game of the season by a 6-1 score.

Let's be honest: Ak Bars Kazan needed a better effort from everyone, but Emil Garipov allowing six goals on 21 shots is rather embarrassing for the netminder, especially when you consider how some of those goals got through him and by him. His .714 save percentage won't cut it in a Russian beer league, let alone the best hockey league in Russia, so I'm sure that Kazan will demand more from him as the season progresses after seeing how great he was in last year's Gagarin Cup Playoffs. Newcomer Justin Azevedo was held off the scoresheet and limited to just two shots in the game by SKA while Jiri Sekac and Danis Zaripov were a combined -2 with zero shots recorded. Ouch.

SKA has to be happy as their big guns came to play tonight, and they made Magnus Hellberg's start an easy one in allowing just 13 Kazan shots. Datsyuk, Tikhonov, Kablukov, Hersley, and Gusev all had two-point nights, and last year's best team in the regular season are off to a flying start once more.

The rest of the league settles in this week as the KHL regular season has begun. Who will end up atop the standings and as favorites for the Gagarin Cup? We'll see how this season plays out in Russia, Finland, Latvia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, and China as the KHL teams begin their quest for immortality!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!