Brave Dragons make their point
1 October 2023
Kunlun Red Star 3 Avangard Omsk 4 OT
The Dragons showed plenty of spirit to battle to a 3-3 tie against Avangard. Despite suffering some adversity, the guys came up big to salvage a point, and can feel somewhat aggrieved to go down to an overtime loss.
There were no surprises in the roster for Sunday’s game. Although the Dragons welcomed two big signings to boost the offense yesterday, Teemu Pulkkinen and Brandon McMillan weren’t quite ready to be pitched into the action right away. We can’t wait to see them suit up very soon, though.
Avangard, meanwhile, made wholesale changes after losing four on the bounce, culminating in a 0-6 shellacking at Dynamo on Friday. The highly-motivated Hawks tore out of the blocks in the first period, eager to prove a point. Yet, amid that storm, Red Star created the best early chance when Luke Lockhart crashed a shot against Andrei Mishurov’s post.
At the other end, Avangard got the puck in the net, but an inspired bench challenge wiped out Vladimir Tkachyov’s effort. Our eagle-eyed video coach, Mikhail Bykov, spotted that Reid Boucher inched offside in the build-up and the officials agreed after taking a second look.
Penalty trouble proved to be Red Star’s undoing. Our guys managed to kill a three-on-five, but got caught by Valentin Pyanov while the visitor had a single-man advantage. That was the only marker in the first period.
At the start of the second, the Dragons got their first power play chance. It’s fair to say the results were mixed. First, Semyon Chistyakov doubled Omsk’s lead with a shorty. Then Ryan Sproul converted the PP seconds before Igor Geraskin was due to return to the game. When Tyler Wong picked out Sproul in space just inside the blue line, everyone expected a slapshot. Instead, Sproully produced a perfectly placed wrister that found Mishurov’s top corner.
Back in the game, the Dragons tied it up in the 33rd minute on Devin Brosseau’s sixth goal of the season. Wong and Lockhart pushed Avangard into the corner and the puck emerged for Devin to score from close range.
At equal strength, our guys were more than competitive. However, the Avangard power play was always a threat. At the start of the third period, Boucher potted another PP tally to restore the visitor’s lead. Adding to the problems, Brandon Yip’s determination to put Kirill Panyukov in his place meant we were without our captain for 17 minutes of the third period.
By now, though the Dragons believed they could get something from this game. ‘Something’ turned out to be a power play goal from Lockhart with five to play. Sproul got the puck to the slot, where Luke apply the redirect to steer it past the goalie for 3-3.
That was how it finished – a valuable point for an injury hit team. Overtime began with our guys on the power play, but that opportunity did not accrue. Once back at equal strength the teams played out the remainder of the game without a break. However, just when a shoot-out seemed inevitable, Ryan Spooner grabbed a late winner for the visitor.
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