New face and welcome returnee

16 October 2023

CSKA Moscow 7 Kunlun Red Star 0

The Dragons went to the defending champion with some attacking reinforcements. On the day, though, CSKA proved too strong and inflicted a tenth successive loss on our guys. It’s only the second time in franchise history that Red Star has seen a losing streak reach double figures in one campaign: the previous instance was a 14-game skid at the end of the 2021/22 regular season.

There was big team news ahead of the trip to CSKA. Among our forwards, we had one new face and another welcome returnee. Brandon McMillan made his KRS debut following his recent signing. The much-travelled 33-year-old began on the fourth line with Colin Campbell and Nolan Moyle. In addition, Spencer Foo returned from injury to play for the first time since Sep. 14.

Meanwhile, a visit to the defending champion was always likely to be a challenge. Although CSKA has not hit the performance levels we know it is capable of this season, it would be unwise to underestimate the test posed by Sergei Fedorov’s team. And, in the first period, we got a reminder of just how tough the Muscovites can be when they find some form. The home team outshot us 13-3 in that opening frame and took a 2-0 lead to the intermission.

However, those two first period goals might form the basis of a pop-psychology test. CSKA opened the scoring on the back of a turnover as we brought the puck out of our zone: Pavel Karnaukhov made the most of the space in front of Matt Jurusik’s net and set up Vitaly Abramov for 1-0. Then, our first penalty of the game – assessed to McMillan – saw the home team double the lead on a power play with Vladislav Kamenev on target. A pessimist might be frustrated by the way the Dragons contributed to their own problems; an optimist would argue that without a helping hand, CSKA might not have unlocked our defense despite all its possession.

Meanwhile, Kunlun was not completely anonymous as an attacking force. During our first power play of the game there were genuine chances to tie the scores, with Luke Lockhart and Jack Rodewald firing in one-timers that brought big saves from Alexander Sharychenkov.

Optimist or pessimist, it would be hard to argue that once a team of CSKA’s quality gets in front, it is no easy task to battle back into the game. A power play early in the second offered something of a lifeline, but the home team killed Darren Dietz’s penalty and the play continued to be mostly in front of our net. That pressure told; Takhir Mingachyov added a third midway through the session and Maxim Sorkin made it 4-0 in the 35^th minute.

There was no respite in the third period as CSKA put in three more goals. Our next chance to halt this unhappy run comes on Thursday in Minsk. We’ve already defeated Dinamo once this season, and now would be an opportune moment to do it again.