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24 September 2024

After the long trip to the Far East, the Dragons are back in Mytishchi for the start of this week’s action. We have two home games, against Torpedo and Dinamo Minsk, before heading to St. Petersburg at the weekend.

Torpedo (h), Sep. 24, 1930 Moscow Time

Last season: Igor Larionov’s team got the better of the Dragons in all four encounters last season. However, two of them went to overtime after 2-2 ties in November on home ice and in January on the road.

Familiar faces: Today, Igor Larionov Jr. is closely associated with his father’s team. But his KHL debut came with the Dragons in 2020/21, two years before he joined Torpedo. Young Igor played five games in that Covid-hit season, producing two assists.

Setting the scene: In recent seasons, Torpedo has been a solid opponent in the Western Conference. This time around, though, things haven’t quite gone according to plan. Larionov has always been clear that he wants his teams to play attractive, attacking hockey – and with 21 goals so far, the 2024/25 team is scoring more freely than current leader Lokomotiv. However, defensively things are not good. With 28 goals allowed, Torpedo has the worst defense in the KHL. That saw Nizhny Novgorod blow a 2-0 lead against SKA last time out, while Nikita Artamonov’s hat-trick in Sochi was wasted in a 3-5 loss. If our forwards can exploit the defensive weaknesses, the Dragons have a good chance of adding to our one-point lead over Torpedo.

Dinamo Minsk (h), Sep. 26, 1930 Moscow Time

Last season: The highlight of our meetings last season was in Minsk in January. Despite falling behind to a pair of quick goals midway through the first period, the Dragons hit back in style to win it 5-2. It was a good day for the Foo family, with Spencer scoring twice and Parker potting another. Devin Brosseau also notched a double.

Familiar faces: Our forward Tyler Graovac began his KHL career with Dinamo. Tyler helped the Belarusians to the 2022 playoffs and finished the season with 27 (11+16) points from 48 appearances.

Setting the scene: This is a very different Dinamo Minsk. Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team underwent extensive reconstruction in the summer, with the statement signing of Vadim Shipachyov setting the tone. Shipachyov is closing on his 1,000^th KHL game and will also surely overtake Sergei Mozyakin’s scoring record this season. At the same time, there’s a new-look, import-heavy defense with the likes of Josh Brook, Brady Lyle, Xavier Ouellet, and former Ufa man Nicolas Meloche seeing plenty of action. Early results have been promising, with four wins from six for the Bison. Both losses came in Moscow, 3-6 at Dynamo and 2-5 at Spartak.

SKA St. Petersburg (a), Sep. 29, 1700 Moscow Time

Last season: Our most recent meeting with SKA was one to savor. Back in February, even though our playoff hopes were officially over, the Dragons pulled off a 3-2 win to claim only our second victory over our friends from St. Petersburg. Goals from Colin Campbell, Devin Brosseau and Spencer Foo secured the verdict. Maybe that could be a springboard for a first win in Petersburg since Oct. 2020?

Familiar faces: On-loan forward Semyon Sinyatkin could line up against his parent club in this game. Last season the 20-year-old made his KHL debut with SKA and potted his first goal in a 5-0 win over Admiral. Fellow attacker Nail Yakupov went to Petersburg on his return from the NHL and played two seasons there. His 111 games brought 37 goals and 24 assists. Our defenseman Yury Pautov didn’t have such a long stay but spent part of the 2021/22 season with SKA. He made 16 appearances in that time and had two assists.

Setting the scene: The phrase might be ‘embarrassment of riches’. SKA once again recruited a clutch of big names in the summer with Evgeny Kuznetsov heading the list. Now head coach Roman Rotenberg needs to work out how to use them all. A common criticism of recent rosters is that he has top six forwards playing on the third and fourth lines – great for firepower and creativity, but perhaps less helpful when it comes to grinding through adversity. It may be significant that the current form players include youngsters like Nikolai Demidov and Grigory Kuzmin rather than the more heralded Mikhail Grigorenko or Sergei Tolchinsky.

When it works, it works well: a run of three successive victories last week shows that SKA is no pushover. However, SKA needed that run to get back into the playoff spots. And when it doesn’t work, this team can look strangely bloodless: in back-to-back losses against Lokomotiv and Traktor, there was not a single consolation goal.