Dragons snap losing streak

9 January 2024

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 1 Kunlun Red Star 2

The wait is over! The Dragons grabbed their first victory of 2024 with a battling performance in Ufa. Goals from Gemel Smith – his first for the club – and Spencer Foo snapped an eight-game skid. The 2-1 verdict also secured a first regulation-time win since beating Avtomobilist 5-2 on Dec. 2.

Salavat Yulaev was in good form ahead of this game, climbing to third in the East. Although the home team was the pre-game favorite, the Dragons made it hot in the first period. After killing an early penalty – our former forward Vyacheslav Leshchenko having Salavat’s best chance – we began to threaten Ilya Ezhov’s net. Even on a second penalty kill, Red Star looked dangerous: Luke Lockhart dinged one off the crossbar, then Foo got a breakaway chance.

Back to equal strength, Kunlun kept up the threat. A two-on-two rush saw Devin Brosseau looking for Lockhart at the back door, but a crucial intervention from Mikhail Naumenkov preserved Ezhov’s net.

Late in the opening frame, a first power play of the game for Red Star brought a deserved goal. Gemel Smith was active from the moment Artyom Pimenov went to the box. Ezhov denied him once at full stretch, but had no answer a few seconds later when our recent acquisition got another chance. Spencer Foo’s point shot thudded into the goalie’s pads, and Smith pounced on the rebound to open the scoring – and open his account for KRS.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t take that lead to the intermission. Back at full strength, Salavat Yulaev responded. Ivan Drozdov maintained his recent scoring form, but enjoyed a huge slice of good fortune after his point shot deflected off Doyle Somerby to wrong-foot Matt Jurusik.

Even after that, Red Star had chances to end the opening frame on a high. First, Tyler Graovac redirected a Somerby shot against the post and Brandon Yip could not quite steer the rebound into the open net. Then, seconds later, Devin Brosseau had a great look but saw his shot scrambled to safety.

Our offense continued to ask all the questions at the start of the second period. Lockhart again tested Ezhov, then the home goalie had to react fast to twice deny Brandon McMillan. However, when the Foo brothers got going, Salavat Yulaev had no answer. Jason Fram banged the puck into the boards, Parker chased it behind the net and rooted it out to the slot, where Spencer was waiting to finish it off.

Behind once again, Salavat Yulaev tried to step up the tempo. The home side enjoyed three power play chances and had most of the puck. However, there was no way past Jurusik who gave every impression of a man enjoying his work. The pick of his saves? Probably denying Yegor Suchkov after the young forward blasted in an effort from the circle. A swift cross-ice play had Juice making up plenty of ground to stop the puck after a powerful shot on the overlap.

With a lead to protect, we might have expected to spend much of the third period on the back foot. However, an early Red Star power play after Drozdov’s foul robbed Salavat Yulaev of momentum. The home team never quite got that back. Even after returning to full strength – and later getting a couple more power play chances at the other end – Salavat Yulaev struggled to turn possession into clear scoring chances.

That’s a tribute to a huge defensive effort: 19 blocked shots, nine turnovers won and a hard-working display that denied Ufa’s forwards access to the danger zone. Of 73 attempts on goal, only 36 made it as far as Jurusik and he dealt with the dangers he faced in the final session.

Desperation set in. Salavat Yulaev replaced Ezhov with a sixth skater in the 56^th minute, looking to exploit a power play. It didn’t work: whether we played four-on-six, five-on-six or eventually five-on-five after Josh Leivo’s penalty, we soaked up the pressure. Luke Lockhart was a shot-blocking colossus in front of our net, and Jurusik even had a decent attempt at a goalie goal in the closing stages as Red Star claimed an impressive win.