Dragons suffer in back-to-back schedule

25 August 2024

Kunlun Red Star 3 Severstal Cherepovets 7

If yesterday was the seventh heaven for Kunlun, today was more like the seventh circle of hell. After a confidence-boosting big win over Russia U23s, it was back down to Earth against Severstal.

In fairness, though, the final score did not tell the full story. The first half of this game was even. However, the strain of playing an early game within 24 hours of the previous engagement – remember that kind of painful schedule from last season? – took its toll in the closing stages. A well-rested Severstal eased clear to claim a slightly flattering win.

The Dragons made some changes to help mitigate that quick turnaround. Nail Yakupov came in for Brandon Yip, with Spencer Foo taking the ‘C’ for the day. On defense, there was more of a reshuffle, with Ian McCoshen and Ryan Merkley the only unchanging pairing. Konstantin Volkov got the start in goal with Kyle Keyser as back-up.

In the early stages, Red Star had to kill two penalties. Then, our first power play proved full of incident. First, Severstal grabbed the lead on a short-handed goal. However, our PP got it right in the end as Luke Lockhart tied the game when he rifled home Kyle Wood’s cross-ice feed.

Severstal quickly regained the advantage, helped by some uncertain goaltending, but Lockhart continued his great scoring form in Petersburg to tie it up before the first intermission. If Luke’s opener was a textbook passing play, this one owed much to Austin Wong’s determination on the forecheck. He simply refused to allow the defense to settle on the puck behind the net and his efforts were rewarded with an assist when the puck popped out in front for Lockhart to pot his second of the game.

Early in the second, we found ourselves down for a third time. But then we produced the goal of the game to make it 3-3. There didn’t seem to be much on when Jurco found himself battling with Mark Barberio down the right wing. But our Slovakian star has great stick handling, huge reach and the ability to take full advantage of both even when playing one-handed. That’s a highlight reel clip we’ll put on repeat until the regular season starts!

There were more chances to come, most notably when Yakupov got clean through on Alexander Samoilov’s net. That might have put us up for the first time in the game, but Samoilov made a big save. Then came the sucker punch when Emil Pyanov and Mark Marin scored two in quick succession late in the middle frame to give Severstal a 5-3 advantage.

The third period was a step too far for our troops, and Severstal added two more goals. That included another short-handed tally on the way to a final of 7-3.

So, in two games, we’ve seen the Dragons score seven and allow seven. If you subscribe to the theory that we learn more about teams in adversity, you can conclude that Sunday’s game represents an important lesson as a new-look roster continues to gel. And a big part of pre-season is about getting the guys used to the playbook for the coming season. Inevitably, that means tough days as well as good ones.

KRS wraps up its Puchkov Tournament program – and its pre-season schedule – against Sochi on Tuesday. After that, it’s back home for the final preparations for our KHL opener on Sep. 4 at Dynamo Moscow.