After an up-and-down first season with SKA Saint Petersburg, Evgeny Kuznetsov was full of good vibes after Monday’s playoff game with the team.
Kuznetsov scored in SKA’s 5-3 victory over Dynamo Moscow, flapping his wings and jumping into the boards after a second-period strike gave SKA a 2-0 lead.
The tally marked Kuzy’s first goal for SKA since February 17, when he scored twice in a 5-3 win over Severstal. It was also the Russian forward’s first KHL playoff goal in 12 years — an April 7, 2013 game against Dynamo as a member of his hometown Traktor Chelyabinsk. Kuzy would leave for the Washington Capitals and the NHL a year later.
“Volodya (Vladimir Alistrov) made a good pass, all that was left was to score,” Kuznetsov said of his goal to Match TV and translated by a Google Translation. “It was important for me that the team won. I went out with positive emotions, today the home walls helped, the crazy atmosphere.”
On his personal Instagram, Kuznetsov thanked his family — his wife and two children — who were in attendance rooting him on.
“Thanks to the fans for their support, as well as my beloved, who cheered on the stand with Yesenia and Fedor ❤️,” Kuznetsov wrote on Instagram. “Love you @anastasiakuzy92 🥰”
Kuznetsov, who had three shots on goal, also won a faceoff that led to SKA’s first goal of the game from Arseny Gritsyuk on the power play. SKA utilized a set play off an offensive zone draw where Gritsyuk and Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov did a give-and-go to score near the net.
Importantly, Kuznetsov was awarded SKA’s post-game Predator mask as the player of the game. The Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup champion made a silly face as he propped the mask on the top of his head.
“Today 1-0 won the day, right?” Kuznetsov said in a speech. “Now a little bit of emotions, then we calm down, tomorrow we recover. And we start all over again. Everything is just beginning.”
Kuznetsov also drilled a playoff game puck into an SKA hockey stick, marking the team’s first win of the 2024 playoffs. SKA trails Dynamo 2-1 in the first-round series.
Kuznetsov then led the SKA locker room in a cheer, screaming its playoff motto three times: “One big heart and a hundred fists!”
The Predator mask plays into a joke made by Evgeni Malkin during a Russian interview many years ago. The Penguins centerman jokingly nicknamed Alien and Predator statues he has at his Pittsburgh area home after Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin.
“The [Predator statue] is the rookie, number 92, the dangerous one,” Malkin said in the interview. “You can just tell he is from Chelyabinsk, right? That’s Evgeny Kuznetsov. He is pleased to meet you.”
Kuznetsov has played in all three of SKA’s postseason matchups despite leaving the team’s final game of the regular season early with an undisclosed injury. Kuznetsov also suffered two concussions during the 2024-25 campaign that kept him out of the lineup for periods of time.
