No repeat of Severstal joy

1 November 2024

Severstal Cherepovets 7 Kunlun Red Star 2

Ian McCoshen got his first KHL goal and Luke Lockhart celebrated his 32^nd birthday (and 401^st game) with an assist. However, this was only a consolation prize in a game that got away from the Dragons early on. Severstal got revenge for the 3-0 scoreline we handed out last month.

This week was the end of an era for Kunlun. Tyler Wong, one of longest serving and most successful players, left the club. In total, Tyler played 277 games for the club and contributed 131 points. He also played for Team China at the 2022 Olympics (where he became known as Wang Taile) and was the very definition of a loyal servant. However, Tyler would be the first to admit that this season he was struggling to replicate his best form and, rather than continue to struggle, he and the club agreed to terminate his contract.

That didn’t affect the line-up for Friday’s trip to Cherepovets. There only personnel change saw Kyle Keyser return to the starting role in the arena where he recorded his first KHL shut-out three weeks ago. Otherwise, it was a few slight tweaks from the 2-0 win at Barys on Monday: the Foo brothers’ line was promoted to first as Spencer picks up game readiness following his return from injury.

That win here in October gave plenty of grounds for optimism. However, Severstal had not lost since then and made a flying start tonight. Keyser’s hopes of another shut-out were gone in just seven seconds as Mikhail Ilyin opened the scoring. Kirill Pilipenko extended the lead in a first period that saw our guys restricted to just four shots on goal.

Things were destined to get worse before they got better. A five-on-three power play saw Pilipenko pot his second, then the same man turned provider on Severstal’s fourth of the night. In case anybody wanted more evidence that our luck was right out tonight, the home team grabbed a short-handed goal before Tyler Graovac missed a penalty shot at the other end. If it could go wrong, it went wrong.

Finally, the third period brought something to cheer. In our previous game at Severstal we saw Keyser’s first shut-out and Jayden Halbgewachs first goal and assist in the KHL. Today it was Ian McCoshen’s turn. Some great stick-handling from Hudson Elynuik created the chance and our American defenseman stepped up from the blue line to wire a wrister through traffic and into the top corner.

A fightback from 1-5 was improbable, but the Dragons at least managed to tie the third period. After a sixth goal for the home team Danny O’Regan grabbed a power play tally late on, with Luke Lockhart getting an assist on his birthday. However, Severstal had the final word as Danil Aimurzin struck six seconds after that to make the final score 7-2.