Dragons head home in search of club record

28 November 2024

After four wins in a row, the Dragons could set a club record for consecutive victories this week. The previous hottest streak – five games – dates back to Oct. 2019 and is long overdue for an upgrade. With home fixtures against Lada and Dynamo coming up, Mikhail Kravets’ class of 2024/25 could rewrite the history books by the start of December.

Meanwhile, there’s a new recruit on the team. Joe Duszak arrived last week but did not feature in Monday’s 3-1 win at Neftekhimik. The American defenseman joins us from Severstal, where he played nine games. However, he’s better known in the KHL for a successful season with Dinamo Minsk in 2022/23 when he had 45 (9+36) points in 68 regular-season games to help the Bison to the playoffs. Ironically, Duszak’s most recent KHL game was against the Dragons in Severstal’s 0-3 home loss to our guys in early October.

Lada Togliatti (h), Nov. 29, 1930 Moscow time

Last season: We had mixed results in our two games against the Motormen last term. Early in the season we suffered a heavy loss on the road, but back in our barn we had revenge with a 3-1 win in February. Late goals from Colin Campbell and Brandon Yip turned the game in our favor. 

Familiar faces: None

Setting the scene: It’s been a difficult second season for Lada. Last term, on its return to the KHL, the Togliatti team turned heads. A strong start to the season set up a run to the playoffs amid impressive individual performances from Troy Josephs and Scott Kosmachuk. But Kosmachuk left in the summer, as did leading defenseman Georgy Solyannikov. Josephs has not posed the same threat this season and results have been inconsistent. With mutterings about off-ice issues affecting the club as well, head coach Oleg Bratash – a well-respected figure in Russian hockey – left earlier this month. So far, there’s no permanent replacement for him and a rudderless team has struggled for form. Ahead of Wednesday’s winning trip to Severstal, the Motormen had lost six in a row since defeating Dynamo on Nov. 8. One casualty of that skid was import forward Anthony Greco, released from his contract this week.

Dynamo Moscow (h), Dec. 1, 1700 Moscow time

Last time out: We began our season in fine style with a 3-1 victory over the Blue-and-Whites in Moscow. Nail Yakupov got his first goal for the Dragons and it turned out to be the gamewinner, while Colin Campbell and Parker Foo were also on target. However, we are still awaiting a first ever home victory over Dynamo – now would be the perfect chance to put that record straight.

Familiar faces: Goalie Konstantin Volkov spent two seasons with Dynamo, making his KHL debut there in 2022/23. However, he never fully established himself as first choice with the Blue-and-Whites and after he was limited to just 10 appearances last term, he opted to join the Dragons.

Setting the scene: This is a rather different Dynamo from the team we met at the start of the season. Back then, the Blue-and-Whites were struggling for form and lost five of their first seven games. Now, it’s all looking much better. Alexei Kudashov’s team won its last six – including victories over conference leaders Traktor and Lokomotiv. Moreover, the last 16 games have seen just one defeat in regulation, with 13 wins and two shoot-out losses ensuring a steady flow of points. It all adds up to third place in the Western Conference, and a run of form that suggests the team could go higher still.

That run has coincided with some good individual performances. Nikita Gusev continues to lead his team in scoring, but a couple of maligned imports have stepped up in recent games. Canadian forward Max Comtois looked a little out of his depth early in hte season, but the 25-year-old has found his game lately and has 7 (2+5) points in his last four games. Goalie Hunter Miska was held responsible for several of those early-season losses and lost his place to Maxim Motorygin for a time. However, his shut-out against Lokomotiv showed why the Muscovites’ management wanted to bring him to the club.