Yipper’s strike rattles the Eastern leader

30 December 2023

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Kunlun Red Star 1

Another year comes to an end, and Brandon Yip is still scoring goals. Captain China, now 38, potted the opener in our trip to Magnitogorsk and extended his current productive streak to three games. He also moved on to nine goals and 17 points for the season, extending his club record tallies to 88 goals, 83 assists and 171 points.

Yipper’s effort today came late in the first period and gave the Dragons a deserved lead. Our power play was coming to an end but we kept up the pressure. Shortly after Pavel Akolzin returned to the game, Brandon lazered a one-timer into the top corner from the right-hand circle off a feed from Spencer Foo.

It was a fair reward for a good first period away at the Eastern Conference leader. Head coach Viktors Ignatjevs kept faith with the team that pushed Severstal so hard on Thursday, with Matt Jurusik’s return to the starting goalie role representing our only change. And, in that opening frame, the guys repaid that faith. Red Star more than matched Magnitka at both ends of the ice. On defense, we stubbornly kept the Steelmen to the perimeter, limiting the home offense to just six shots at Jurusik. Going forward, we got pucks to the net at every opportunity: 26 attempts, 17 on target.

There were dangerous moments before the opening goal, most notably a three-on-one rush where Jake Chelios fired wide. There was another big chance after we took the lead, when Tyler Graovac carved his way through the defense, got past goalie Ilya Nabokov but couldn’t quite stretch out and steer the puck into the open net. If any team looked like it was top of the league, it was the one in the red-and-white jerseys.

Unfortunately, the roles were reversed in the second period. Whatever was said in the home locker room during the break clearly shook our opponent out of its lethargy and the middle frame saw Metallurg serve up a reminder of why it is one of the top teams this season. The Magnikta PP has been hot in recent games, and showed just why when it converted its first chance of the game just three seconds after Devin Brosseau sat for interference. Midway through the session, another power play chance saw Alexander Petunin get his second of the game to give his team the lead. And 37 seconds later, Nikita Grebyonkin added a third, this time at equal strength, putting the host in control.

In the third, the Dragons got back to the kind of play that had us looking good at the start of the game. Spencer Foo was unlucky not to pull one back early in the session when he got to a loose puck in front of the net, then Austin Wong forced a big save from Nabokov on an odd-man rush. At the other end, Jurusik kept the game alive with a magnificent stop to deny Dmitry Korobkin, but time was starting to run out on our bid to save the game.

In the closing stages, Metallurg’s net lived a charmed life: Ryan Merkley and Luke Lockhart both dinged the piping before we pulled the goalie for one last surge. However, that gamble did not pay off. Akolzin put the puck into the empty net to wrap up a 4-1 victory for Metallurg. After five losses to end 2023, we’ll be happy to turn the calendar to 2024 and resume our campaign on Thursday away to Torpedo.