Ringing out the old

26 December 2024

It’s the final few days of 2024, and there are just two games left for the Dragons this year. Our last home game before the New Year is against Spartak before we wrap up our latest journey around the sun with a trip to Torpedo.

Spartak Moscow (h), Dec. 27, 1930 Moscow Time

Last time out: Our first meeting of the season with the Red-and-Whites ended in a 1-5 loss on home ice. Luke Lockhart’s power play goal was the only highlight of a disappointing game.

Familiar faces: None

Setting the scene: This game could bring a KHL debut for Spartak’s former NHL forward Brendan Perlini. The British-born Canadian (usually in the hockey world we see that the other way round) joined the Red-and-Whites in the run-up to Christmas but has yet to feature for his new team. Perlini, a 28-year-old left winger, won World U18 bronze with Canada back in 2014 and was a first-round draft pick for the Coyotes. However, after a promising start to his NHL career, he could not deliver on that early promise and spent the past two seasons in the AHL before opting to continue his career in Europe.

He’ll be joining an offense that has been in good form of late. Spartak’s recent road trip, which culminated in a trip to Uzbekistan for the KHL World Games clash with Dinamo Minsk, brought four wins in the last five games, with 20 goals scored. Only SKA has more than Spartak’s 122 goals this season as Alexei Zhamnov’s team continues to put its faith in front-foot hockey. Encouragingly for Zhamnov, this season’s team has not been quite so reliant on Pavel Poryadin and Nikolai Goldobin to drive the offense. They remain leaders, currently first and third in team scoring, but in the last five games Alexander Pashin (3+2) and Ansel Galimov (2+3) have stepped up to power the team.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (a), Dec. 30, 1300 Moscow Time

Last time out: We’ve faced Torpedo twice so far this season, and lost 2-4 at home and 0-4 on the road.

Familiar faces: Igor Larionov Jr is the only current player to have represented both teams. His first five KHL appearances were with the Dragons in 2020/21; since then he’s played 106 games under his father’s coaching in Nizhny Novgorod.

Setting the scene: History suggests that Torpedo is one of our toughest opponents in the KHL. In 23 meetings, we’ve managed just two wins and scored a miserly 34 goals. Among Torpedo’s statistical achievements this season, the team currently leads the league in scoring efficiency. Torpedo’s forwards have converted 10.91% of their shots on goal, well up on CSKA’s 10.64%. Despite failing to score in Yaroslavl last time out, these guys are among the most prolific in the KHL with 120 goals so far this season.

Maxim Letunov is clearly one man to watch. He has 14 (8+6) career points against the Dragons and is third in team scoring this term. Although the 28-year-old failed to score in five of his last six games, the other game brought two more goals in a shoot-out loss at Vityaz. That one finished 6-5, and two days later there was a 4-6 reverse at SKA, highlighting both the scoring power on Igor Larionov’s team, as well as the defensive frailties in Nizhny Novgorod. Right now, frailty seems to be the thing, though: a 0-5 loss at home to Lokomotiv last time out makes it 17 goals allowed in the last three games.