Smith sets off to face former club

15 January 2024

We’ve got a week of road games, starting with two in Minsk. That’s a big deal for our in-form forward Gemel Smith, who will be looking to extend his productive streak against the club where he began the season. After those meetings, there’s a visit to SKA.

Dinamo Minsk (a), Jan. 16 and 17, 1910 Moscow time

Last time out: We’ve won two of our three games against Dinamo this season. The first was 4-3 victory on home ice with Austin Wong and Nolan Moyle scoring their first goals for the club. Later, Brandon McMillan and Parker inspired a fightback from 1-3 before Luck Lockhart potted a shoot-out winner in Minsk. In between, we suffered a 0-4 home reverse.

Familiar faces: Gemel Smith is the man of the moment for the Dragons right now with a goal in each of his last three games. However, he started the season in Belarus and played 15 games for 5 (4+1) points, including a goal against the Dragons on Oct. 11. In addition, Tyler Graovac had 26 (11+15) points to help Dinamo reach the 2022 playoffs and Teemu Pulkkinen began his KHL career in Minsk, playing 83 games and scoring 56 points.

Background: Dinamo is currently hanging onto the last playoff place in the Western Conference. That’s not a particularly unusual situation for the Belarusian club, which typically finds itself in a battle to make post season. However, after the summer appointment of Dmitry Kvartalnov as head coach, it might be a slightly disappointing return.

The big problem came on a run of just one win in nine games between Nov. 11 and Dec. 1. That pushed the Bison down the standings. Generally, though, Dinamo has tended to put together neither long winning streaks, nor extended skids.

Going into these back-to-back games, Minsk is 11 points ahead of Kunlun. Clearly, winning both would be a huge boost to our chances of overtaking Dinamo. And with plenty of former Dinamo men on the team, plus Belarusian-born defenseman Nikita Parfenyuk, it promises to be a special trip for many of the Dragons.

SKA St. Petersburg (a), Jan 19, 1930 Moscow time

Last time out: We’ve suffered two losses to SKA this season, 2-6 at home and 3-6 on the road. Parker Foo scored in both games for the Dragons.

Familiar faces: None

Background: If Dinamo suffered in the fall, SKA prospered at roughly the same time. An 11-game winning streak for Roman Rotenberg’s men between Nov. 9 and Dec. 5 turned the club’s season around. Up to that point, there were big questions about SKA’s lack of progress, with this traditional title contender languishing in a battle for a playoff place.

However, improved results have not been uniform. SKA lost three of its last five games. While defeats to Metallurg and Lokomotiv, two teams near the top of their respective conferences, can be shrugged off, a 2-3 loss at Severstal was a bigger blow. It might suggest that the Petersburg power house is not yet at full force.

Arseny Gritsyuk, who only returned to the team in December after injury, is in hot form. He has 7 (5+2) in the previous five games. Sergei Tolchinsky, who scored on us in both previous meetings this season, has three goals in the same timeframe.