Dragons snatch OT win at Torpedo

30 December 2024

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Kunlun Red Star 4 OT

Talk about finishing the year on a high note! An overtime win at Torpedo makes it three wins in a row for Red Star to wrap up 2024 in some style. Despite trailing twice in regulation, our guys kept battling away and got their reward late in the game. Yaroslav Likhachyov grabbed the game winner, while Jeremy Smith produced another stellar goaltending display with 46 saves to keep us in contention despite serious pressure.

The Dragons went with an unchanged team following the 4-2 win over Spartak to wrap up our home program for 2024. That meant no sign of our three deadline-busting acquisitions – former Spartak goalie Patrik Rybar, claimed off waivers to replace the departing Konstantin Volkov; experienced defenseman Ziyat Paigin, most recently with Lada; and American center Kyle Rau, whose brother Chad was a Kunlun star in our first season.

But a lack of debutants in Monday’s roster did not mean a lack of firsts in the game. We had a first goal of the season from Austin Wong, and a first goal for the club from Alexander Sharov.

That helped us to a 3-3 tie in regulation, giving us a first point against Torpedo since an OT loss on Jan. 1. Then Yaroslav Likhachyov potted the winner in the extras, sealing our first win over this opponent since Oct. 2020.

This wasn’t an easy assignment. Our recent form against Torpedo is far from impressive and the home team was looking to build on its 3-1 win over Barys to finish the year on a high note. Our guys were under pressure from the start, and fell behind in the seventh minute to a Kirill Kirsanov goal.

But there was no time to feel sorry for ourselves. Instead, we started asking questions of Ivan Bocharov in the home net. He was forced into a double save, getting a pad behind Jayden Halbgewachs shot before scrambling to steer Tyler Graovac’s rebound effort over the bar. Bocharov was beaten in the 15^th minute when Wong opened his account for the season. Our forward saw one effort flash narrowly wide, but got himself in position on the slot to redirect a Yury Pautov point shot into the net.

That had the game tied at the end of the first period, although we owed a great deal to Jeremy Smith as well as our forwards. He stopped 17 shots in that opening frame on the way to another game-changing performance from our netminder.

In the second period, Torpedo again had more of the play. And again, Smith kept making saves. Nikita Shavin put the home team back in front in the 28^th minute, but even with more than twice as much time on offense through two session, Torpedo could not build a commanding lead. Instead, there were real chances to tie the game: Spencer Foo dinged the crossbar, Parker Foo failed to connect in front of goal and Luke Lockhart almost punished some lazy goaltending with a shorthanded tally.

Then in the third period, the Dragons hit back hard. Hudson Elynuik brought play down the right and fired a dangerous pass right across the face of Bocharov’s net for Sharov to score. That’s a first goal in KRS colors for our recent signing, who is best known for his many years as a hard-working center at Traktor.

Likhachyov was close to grabbing a go-ahead goal on the breakaway, only to be denied by Bocharov. But a few shifts later, Red Star was in front for the first time in the game. Halbgewachs produced a fantastic finish from the slot, making the most of a yard of space to control the puck, spin and shoot past the goalie.

That five-hole finish deserved to be the game’s mic drop moment, but with 11 minutes to play Torpedo had time to recover. Vasily Atanasov tied it up, and it took a big moment from Ian McCoshen to keep the game tied late in the third. Cosh showed great awareness to anticipate Sergei Goncharuk’s shot, plus some nifty skating to squeeze through a tight gap behind the stranded Smitty and deflect the effort over the bar to safety.

So we went to overtime and as a belated Christmas present or early New Year’s gift, were treated to a little masterpiece from Likhachyov. Our on-loan forward demonstrated his speed and his eye for goal as he circled around the Torpedo zone before arrowing in on a path to goal. Picking up the pace, he accelerated to a point between the hash marks and fired an unstoppable shot to win the game.