Dragons in seventh heaven

12 January 2025

Lada Togliatti 2 Kunlun Red Star 3 SO

Another Red Star win keeps the record-breaking streak going. This one was a squeaker: a hard-fought battle against a Lada team battling for its playoff spot went to a shoot-out. After 17 unsuccessful attempts between the two teams, Colin Campbell scored on our former goalie Konstantin Volkov to give us a seventh successive win.

There were no changes to the team that beat CSKA 3-0 on Friday, with Patrik Rybar continuing in goal after becoming the first Red Star netminder to post a shut-out on his debut.

And the Slovak extended his streak by another 27 minutes in this game before he was finally beaten. By that time, the Dragons had opened the scoring in Togliatti through Campbell’s fifth-minute goal.

Parker Foo showed great determination to chase down a lost cause and prevent a potential icing. He got the play back to the slot and, on the second phase, Campbell was on hand to steer his shot past our former goalie Konstantin Volkov.

At the other end, Rybar produced a good reaction save, getting his shoulder to Danila Moiseyev’s point-blank effort to preserve that lead. Later, our goalie robbed the same player again, reaching out a glove as he sprawled across the crease and stopping the forward from slotting the puck into an open goal.

In between, Red Star had more chances. Tyler Graovac almost profited from a give-and-go, and Jayden Halbgewachs rang the iron from a solo rush.

The game remained very even in the second period. Lada got a tying goal in the 28^th minute, Alexander Volkov finally finding an answer to Rybar. Later, Austin Wong dropped the gloves with Rafael Bikmullin and delivered a knock-out blow in that bout. That was more decisive than the on-ice action with nothing to separate the teams after 40 minutes.

Bikmullin showed that he suffered no ill effects from his fight, putting Lada ahead at the start of the third period. But it wasn’t long before Red Star drew level. Yaroslav Likhachyov got his fourth goal of his loan spell for Kunlun with a fantastic play. He got onto Spencer Foo’s pass on the slot before spinning to fizz a shot past Volkov and make it 2-2.

There was still time for another fight, Ian McCoshen and Marsel Ibragimov trading blows in the 51^st minute. And the closing stages were littered with penalties as the game grew scruffy. Neither side could settle it in regulation, but Red Star might have finished it in the extras: Graovac stole the puck on his own blue line and stormed down the ice, only for Volkov to make a big save and keep the game alive.

It all came down to an epic shoot-out. The first five rounds produced no goals and it went into sudden death. In our net, Rybar kept making the stops and winning the duels. At the other end, Campbell finally found the answer. His finish gave Red Star a seventh successive victory and denied our former goalie a first win of the season.