Brosseau’s double gives CSKA a scare

7 January 2024

CSKA Moscow 4 Kunlun Red Star 3

Two goals from Devin Brosseau and a first from new signing Tyler Graovac were the highlights of a much-improved Red Star performance. After Saturday’s heavy loss at Dynamo, the Dragons could not quite bounce back with a win 24 hours later. However, a characterful performance pushed the defending champion all the way in Moscow before our fightback ran out of time.

A combination of a tight turnaround and a painful loss prompted some changes to the roster. In goal, Alexander Lazushin got the start. On offense, Viktors Ignatjevs also wanted to freshen things up. Cory Kane, Alex Riche and Ivan Lisin came in, with Teemu Pulkkinen, Nolan Moyle and Gemel Smith missing out today.

CSKA hasn’t been at its best this season, with some commentators suggesting that the back-to-back Gagarin Cup winner has lost some of the intensity that propelled it to sustained glory. Nonetheless, this is never an easy opponent and Sergei Fedorov’s team showed its strongest suits in a powerful first period. However, there was a big element of good fortune about the opening goal, which took three deflections on its way past Lazushin.

Nothing daunted, the Dragons did not bemoan their ill-fortune. Instead, the very next shift saw Brosseau tie the game. Although CSKA had more possession and shots in the opening frame, the teams went to the break locked at 1-1.

However, the second period saw this game go away from us. The home team continued to control much of the play and Konstantin Okulov got his second of the night to restore the lead. Even then, it took a bit of a gift to give CSKA a two-goal cushion. It wasn’t entirely clear how we ended up with two men in the box, particularly after Brosseau seemed to fall victim to a soft refereeing call. However, we were left with a three-on-five PK and could not hold on. Nikita Nesterov made it 3-1 with just 10 seconds of the penalty left to kill.

After that we got our first power play of the weekend and almost pulled a goal back before the intermission. Unfortunately, a great save from Ivan Fedotov robbed Graovac as he looked to pot the rebound from a Kyle Wood effort. That wasn’t the only great save to note: our own Lazushin pulled off a highlight-reel contender to rob Sergei Plotnikov in a de facto penalty shot.

Early in the third, Mikhail Grigorenko made it 4-1. For many teams, that would have been game over. But after yesterday’s late collapse, our guys were determined not to see a repeat. Today we battled back hard. Midway through the third, a terrific feed from Brandon McMillan set up Graovac for his first goal in Red Star colors. The fight continued until the very end, and Brosseau got his second in the last minute to make it 3-4. By this stage, we were playing six-on-five. Spencer Foo brought the puck to the bottom of the circle but, with his back to goal, had few shooting options. Instead, he left it for Devin to rifle home a laser-like shot. With 46 seconds to play, there was still a chance to snatch a dramatic tie, but CSKA held on to take a tight win.