Dragons shoot down top dogs
30 November 2023
Kunlun Red Star 5 Spartak Moscow 3
Ahead of this game, Spartak moved to the top of the Western conference while Red Star slipped to the basement. But the formbook proved meaningless as the Dragons roared to an impressive victory, defeating the Red-and-Whites for the second time this season.
In the week, the Dragons were busy in the trade market. Defenseman Zac Leslie left us, heading to Neftekhimik, while forward Cliff Pu moved to Admiral. That deal saw Tyler Graovac coming the other way – he made his debut against Spartak – while Red Star also completed the signing of Gemel Smith, previously of Dinamo Minsk.
Graovac made his debut for the club alongside Austin Wong, back with us after a long injury lay-off. They joined Brandon McMillan on the third line, with Teemu Pulkkinen missing out today despite scoring twice at Sibir last time out. Jeremy Smith returned as the starting goalie.
Red Star made a great start to the game. Spartak, who snapped a three-game skid to return to the top of the Western Conference last time out, took an early penalty. Ryan Merkley capitalized, collected Spencer Foo’s pass on the blue line and stepping forward to pick his moment for a shot from the deep slot. There was plenty happening in front of visiting goalie Andrei Kareyev, who saw little other than McMillan’s back as the puck flew past him.
There was more to come. Tyler Wong got the puck to Devin Brosseau in center ice, and our forward was off to the races. He rolled over an attempted challenge from German Rubtsov and sped into the danger zone to lift a backhanded shot into Kareyev’s net. Spartak clearly hadn’t learned its lesson from the opening day of the season, when Devin claimed our first goal of the campaign.
Although this game was a top vs bottom clash, it really did not feel like one. Or, more accurately, an unwitting observer would struggle to guess the teams’ respective positions. Yes, Spartak improved in the latter stages of the first period but there was little sign of the offensive power that put the Red-and-Whites so far up the table.
That pattern continued in the second period. Red Star more than matched the visitor, outshooting Spartak 15-6 in the middle frame. Our guys were happy to get pucks to the net as often as possible, while Spartak struggled to test Smitty despite having a slight edge in terms of time on attack and puck possession.
It all added up to a third goal for the Dragons not long before the second intermission. Wonger got his second helper of the night, grabbing a loose puck on the blue line and advancing down the left before dishing off a feed for Luke Lockhart to score with a one-timer from between the hashmarks.
Could it get much better? Of course it could! Spartak’s golden boy, Nikolai Goldobin, took a penalty early in the third and Lockhart cashed in for his second of the game. This time, Brosseau had an assist on a well-worked passing move that presented Luke with a great chance in front of Dmitry Nikolayev. The Spartak goalie only came off the bench at the start of the third period, but a change of personnel did not bring any immediate change in fortune for the visitor.
It wasn’t until the closing stages that Spartak’s much-vaunted offense finally found the target. Pavel Poryadin pulled one back in the 48th minute, but when Daniel Usmanov made it 2-4 with nine minutes on the clock, things got a bit nervous. There was even more anxiety when a power play enabled Maxim Tsyplakov to make it a one-goal game with five minutes to play. However, the two previous meetings between these teams finished 4-3, and this time Red Star went one better. Spencer Foo scored late on to make it five and complete a win that lifts us off the foot of the standings.
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