Dragons deliver stunning start

4 September 2024

Dynamo Moscow 1 Kunlun Red Star 3

After an encouraging summer, it was down to business at last. And a trip to last term’s regular-season table-topper was a great way to get a feel for where the Dragons’ class of 2024/25 fits in. We knew it would be a tough test against one of the most dangerous offenses in the KHL. But we also understood it was a fine chance to show that this season the Dragons are ready to roar.

For his first game as our head coach, Mikhail Kravets sent out a first line with ample KRS experience: the Foo brothers, centered by Colin Campbell. With Brandon Yip missing out, Spencer Foo wore the ‘C’ for this one. But there were plenty of new faces as well: the second line saw Rourke Chartier centering for Chris Wilkie and Tomas Jurco, Nail Yakupov, Jayden Halbgewachs, Hudson Elynuik and our latest addition Nikita Sinyatkin all featured on offense. At the back, we handed competitive debuts to Adam Klendening, Ian McCoshen and Martin Lebebvre on a six-man D unit. Jeremy Smith got the first start of the season in goal.

Our guys wasted no time making their presence felt. In the early shifts, Elynuik delivered a resounding – but clean – hit on Brennan Menell. Home goalie Hunter Miska, making his Dynamo debut, was the busier of the goalies for much of the opening frame and we had some joy when opening shooting lanes in the left-hand channel. Even the much-vaunted Blue-and-White power play, which ran at 25% last season, came up blank: not only did the first penalty of game bring no goal, it didn’t even muster a shot at Smitty.

So, after all that great work, it was hugely frustrating to be caught by Nikita Gusev 12 seconds from the intermission. Red Star deserved to go the break at least level, but Gusev is one of those master players who cannot be left unguarded for a second.

In the second period, the guys went out and put it right. You remember that all-powerful Dynamo PP? Glad someone does. After its first-period failure, it managed to be slightly worse in the second and Campbell cashed in with a shorty. Parker Foo was the architect, galloping down the left wing on the breakaway. He fired the puck into Miska’s pads, and Campbell was there for the rebound.

And there was more to come. Nail Yakupov, one of the most enigmatic talents to come out of Russian hockey in the past decade or so, marked his Red Star debut with a great goal. Twice, he robbed a Dynamo player of possession. The first resulted in a dangerous shot beaten behind the net; the second saw him steal the puck in the trapezoid and burst out to score on the wraparound.

In the third period, as expected, we had to dig deep. Dynamo had never lost to the Dragons in regulation and piled forward with a view to preserving that record. It meant more for Smith in our goal, but as we know by now, that’s just how he likes it. He adopted his familiar “they shall not pass” attitude, stopping what came his way. However, it’s also notable that our new defensive system played a huge role. Dynamo enjoyed plenty of possession, but rarely got a dangerous look at the net.

Sure, we weren’t always offering much threat of our own, but when chances came we knew what to do. Late in the game, with the pressure building, Spencer Foo charged down a blast from Gusev. The puck dropped to his brother, Parker, who scored an unusual empty-net goal. Dynamo’s netminder was still on the ice, heading for the boards but unable to get there in time to release a sixth skater.

There was still time to kill, some of it on the PK. Jordan Weal dinged the post in the final seconds but even if that had crept in, our host would have struggled to tie the scores on one last, desperate shift. Instead, the celebrations were all ours: a winning start, and a notable statement on opening night.