Seventh heaven for Dragons

24 August 2024

Kunlun Red Star 7 Russia U23 1

That’s why there’s a new sense of belief in the Dragons’ Lair! After plenty of talk this summer about how our new-look roster could be ready for big things, today our guys produced some action to back up those words.

On paper, this looked like an intriguing encounter. A line-up of some of Russia’s top prospects taking on a KHL team with great potential but several question marks over how quickly it could find the winning formula.

On the ice, though, it was a blowout. Two goals in the first nine minutes put Red Star in command. After that, it was one-way traffic. The goals piled up and many players produced landmark moments early in their Kunlun careers.

That said, it was one of the old guard who started us off. With five minutes played, Parker Foo opened the scoring. Three minutes later, he turned provider for Jayden Halbgewachs – a name that KHL followers will surely learn to spell instinctively when he starts scoring in the league next month. The first period hadn’t reached the midway point, and we were in control.

After the intermission, Chris Wilkie extended the lead with a power play tally. Then came a ripsnorter of a wrister from Adam Clendenning, lazering its way to the top corner through a crowd of players to make it 4-0 at the end of the second. That strike chased starting goalie Yegor Zavragin from the net as the young Russians looked around for any spark of inspiration.

But the only sparks were conjured up by the Dragons. Yury Pautov, another summer signing, opened his account to make it 5-0 after just 90 seconds of the third. Wilkie then grabbed his second of the game, with incoming netminder Denis Popov beaten for a second time. Daniil Lazutin got a consolation goal for them, but it barely registered: 30 seconds later, Luke Lockhart finished the job with our seventh of a memorable game.

The emphatic final scoreline was the obvious headline grabber. But drilling deeper, there’s more to get excited about. For the second game in a row, KRS outshot the opposition. Far too often in the past, we’ve been on the receiving end of a fusillade of shots while our forwards were feeding off scraps. This summer’s evidence suggests that we will see far less of that in the coming campaign.

And, as demonstrated today at both ends of the ice, we have the players to finish our scoring chances and frustrate opposing offenses. There’s a long way to go for this team, but there’s every reason to hope that the coming season could be something a bit special.

Our Puchkov Tournament campaign continues on Sunday with the early game against Severstal. Victory there could see us in a share of the lead by the end of the weekend play.