Demidov Shines In SKA St. Petersburg Win

2025 should be the year Montreal Canadiens' fans can finally see Ivan Demidov play in the NHL, but he still has half a season to go on his KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg. Yesterday, the prospect and his team started their year with a big win.

On Christmas day, SKA had suffered a 6-5 loss against CSKA Moscow and yesterday, they had the opportunity to make up for it. Roman Rotenberg's men didn't miss their opportunity and Demidov played a key role in the 6-3 win.

Skating on the top line, Demidov scored a pair of goals and added an assist in 18:30 of ice time. The prospect's goal scoring streak now stands at five games and both were pretty impressive. He showcased elite puck control when he took the puck to the net before beating the goaltender to open the score.

He then doubled SKA's lead by batting the puck out of midair, a goal reminiscent of Mike Cammalleri's famous goal during the Halak Spring.

After SKA took a 4-0 lead, there was a momentum shift and CSKA clawed its way back into the game by scoring three unanswered goal which brough them back within one. After Rotenberg took a time out, Demidov sent a picture perfect pass to Sergei Plotnikov who one-timed it past the goaltender, giving SKA a two goal lead.

SKA will be back in action tomorrow when they take on HC Vityaz and after such a tremendous performance, Demidov should still be skating on the first line. In 39 games played, he now has 29 points which is the fifth highest total on the team.

One can wonder how many he would have had he been given more ice time, but that kind of performance in the face of adversity is admirable. In his last KHL season, Matvei Michkov was loaned to HC Sochi and he put up 41 points in 47 games with plenty of ice time and he's now proving to be a dominant force in the NHL. Demidov will be looking to emulate him in short order...

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