18 plus: Ovechkin's victory, Michkov's hat-trick and shootouts

The Russian stars of the NHL and KHL put on a real show in the 2026 Match of the Year, which took place in St. Petersburg. The teams of Mikhail Sergachev and Artemy Panarin scored 18 goals between them in regular time — 9:9. And in the shootout, the Utah defender's partners won: the decisive throw was made by the Belarusian Washington striker Alexei Protas, who was the only one of the 14 players to make his attempt.

New format

This time, the charity event was held outside of Moscow for the first time — at the SKA Arena in St. Petersburg. The innovations were not limited to changing places. The organizers abandoned the previous confrontation between the NHL and the KHL, dividing the participants into two mixed teams under the captaincy of Mikhail Sergachev and Artemy Panarin.

The idea of the new format, as it turned out, belonged to Alexander Ovechkin. The Capitals forward probably learned a lesson from last year's game, which ended in a crushing victory for the Western League representatives with a score of 15:3, and decided to bring a little intrigue.

The rosters were formed at the draft, which followed an unusual system. The team Ovi will play for was determined by drawing lots: Alexander drew a ball with Sergacheva's name on it. Then the captains, along with general managers Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergey Fedorov, chose two fives each, and the rest of the hockey players were distributed by the neural network.

The excitement was huge. The fans filled the largest hockey arena in the world (18,000 spectators) almost to capacity. And they obviously didn't regret that they decided to see the best hockey players of the country live. Panarin promised: "Zaruba will be interesting." And so it turned out. A hat-trick and a point from Protas.

In the first few minutes, the teams didn't force things, but gradually got used to each other's speeds. The Panarins looked sharper, and they opened the account. Four minutes before the end of the first period, Shalunov found a free Michkov at the far post, and he punched Sorokin from close range.

From that moment on, the hockey players seemed to turn on the afterburner. In less than a minute, Podkolzin doubled the score. However, Sergachev's team quickly recovered and responded with three goals in a row before the break: Poltapov, Simashev and Marchenko scored 3-2.

During the break, the audience was not allowed to get bored: they entertained with musical numbers, and also held a ceremony to present valuable watches to Vadim Shipachev in honor of his thousandth point in the KHL (he already has 1,027 points in 1,134 games): the Salavat striker received a box with brand-new Rolex.

At the beginning of the second period, Marchenko scored a double, increasing the advantage of Sergachev's teammates — 4:2. But a new comeback followed. Panarin's team scored six (!) goals in a row: Mintyukov, Nikishin, Michkov, Rafikov, Artemy himself and Michkov again entered themselves into the protocol.

Matvey scored his third lacrosse goal. It is noteworthy that the Philadelphia forward performed exactly the same trick from behind the goal in last year's game.

At the end of the period, Sergachev reduced the gap to three goals — 5:8. And already at the start of the final third, Ovechkin scored the long-awaited goal. Before that, Alexander worked more for partners, but he couldn't do without the goal of the Great Show.

Soon Alexander was supported by Gridin and Surin, again equalizing the score. After that, Yashkin led Panarin's team ahead again, but two minutes before the siren, Romanov restored equality — 9:9.

The teams went to identify the winner in the shootout. And goalkeepers Askarov and Serebryakov shone in it: the goalkeepers prevented 13 participants from making attempts. Only Protas beat the representative of Avangard and won the victory for the team of Sergachev and Ovechkin. The show was a success in every sense, Ovechkin noted.

"The atmosphere was great, the fans enjoyed it," the Washington captain told reporters. "The game was interesting, not a one—way game. We played hockey, talked, and did a good deed. The mood was serious, everyone got high.

Match of the Year"-2026 raised 50 million rubles for charity.

Match of the Year-2026

Panarin's team — Sergachev's team — 9:10 B (2:3, 6:2, 1:4, 0:1)

Goals: Michkov-3, Podkolzin, Mintyukov, Nikishin, Rafikov, Panarin, Yashkin — Marchenko-2, Gridin-2, Poltapov, Simashev, Sergachev, Ovechkin, Surin.

The winning shootout: Alexey Protas.

Shootout: Panarin - 0:0, Marchenko — 0:0, Michkov — 0:0, Poltapov — 0:0, Kaprizov — 0:0, Ovechkin — 0:0, Gridin — 0:0, Zharovsky — 0:0, Sergachev — 0:0, Yashkin — 00, Buchnevich — 0:0, Maltsev — 0:0, A. Protas — 0:1, Barabanov — 0:1.

Panarin's team: Panarin, Kaprizov, Shipachev, Mukhamadullin, Mintyukov, Michkov, Tsyplakov, Zharovsky, Gavrikov, Orlov, Khusnutdionov, Barabanov, Shalunov, Lyamkin, Rafikov, Yashkin, Podkolzin, Maltsev, Mironov, Nikishin; goalkeepers Serebryakov, Bobrovsky, Shesterkin.

Coaching staff: Znarok, Nikitin, Larionov, Sharipzyanov.

Sergachev's team: Ovechkin, Marchenko, Tkachev, Romanov, Sergachev, Poltapov, Okulov, Surin, Provorov, Pylenkov, Galimov, Buchnevich, Goldobin, Simashev, Lyubushkin, A. Protas, Nichushkin, Gridin, Yakovlev, Dronov; goalkeepers Sorokin, Dorozhko, Askarov.

Coaching staff: Gatiyatulin, Razin, Vic. Kozlov, Rotenberg.