Another hard-fought battle in St. Pete

19 January 2024

SKA St. Petersburg 3 Kunlun Red Star 1

In the absence of captain Brandon Yip, suspended following his inspiration bout in Minsk on Wednesday, Red Star battled hard at SKA. A 1-3 loss doesn’t entirely reflect the balance of this game, with the Dragons arguably creating the more dangerous chances at times before the home team’s pressure finally wore us down.

With Yipper unavailable and Nolan Moyle rested, Teemu Pulkkinen and Austin Wong came back into the team. Spencer Foo was made captain for the day and joined his brother Parker on the first line with Colin Campbell.

Our forwards were up against 19-year-old goalie Pavel Moisevich. He made his KHL debut against us earlier this season, coming off the bench during our 3-6 home loss to SKA. We couldn’t score on the Belarusian youngster that day, and he went on to go a record-breaking 240 minutes before finally allowing a goal in the KHL.

Today, he again showed his caliber in the first period. Although SKA had more possession, the home team often struggled to do very much with it. By contrast, the Dragons’ counterattacks were pointed and probing. Devin Brosseau tested Moisevich early on, then Gemel Smith went close on a rebound from Kyle Wood’s blast. Even when shorthanded, Brosseau continued to ask questions, and there were more chances when we got back to equal strength.

Our PK was looking good, but as is often the case in Petersburg, trips to the box were proving frequent. Red Star began the second period on the penalty kill for a third time, and this one led to the breakthrough as Marat Khairullin opened the scoring. Shortly after, Borna Rendulic doubled the lead and took some of the edge out of the game. Two quick goals were a deflating blow for our guys and there were fewer incidents of note in the middle frame.

The intermission brought a chance to regroup and the final stanza saw more chances for Red Star, and especially Tyler Graovac. Moisevich was at his best again to stop a point shot, then Tyler attempted a backhander from a Pulkkinen feed to the slot but saw his effort go wide.

At the other end, a bad bounce for us presented the puck to Valentin Zykov, who capitalized to beat Alexander Lazushin and make it 3-0. That might have ended the contest, but it didn’t stop Kunlun looking for a goal. Ryan Sproul sent Tyler Wong clean through before Graovac got the marker his efforts deserved. Pulkkinen’s shot was too hot for Moisevich to handle and the youngster gave up a big rebound, inviting Graovac to bury the loose puck.

Late in the game, at last, Red Star got a power play chance and both Luke Lockhart and Wong had chances to further reduce the deficit. However, time ran out before we could get a serious fightback started: revenge will have to wait until next month’s home game.