Dragons scorch SKA once again

4 November 2024

Kunlun Red Star 2 SKA St. Petersburg 1 OT

For the second time this season, a battling Kunlun performance upset the city slickers from St. Petersburg. Rourke Chartier’s overtime goal earned Red Star a 2-1 victory, moving us two points clear of Sochi at the foot of the table. It also delivered ample revenge for the 0-8 defeat we suffered against SKA a couple of weeks earlier, giving us two wins from three games against a star-studded opponent.

This was much more like the Dragons team we know and love. After that heavy loss last time, today Red Star gave the high-profile Petersburg roster plenty to think about. A defense-splitting Luke Lockhart feed saw Hudson Elynuik give our guys an early lead. Then the KHL’s most prolific attack was held to a solitary goal through 60 minutes as Kunlun forced the game into the extras. Finally, on the power play, the guys got the job done with some flawless execution, potting the winner just six seconds after Evgeny Kuznetsov went to the box.

A welcome return to action for Ryan Merkley undoubted contributed much to that defensive solidity. He missed a full month after picking up an injury at Vityaz on Oct. 3 and immediately played a part here. As well as assisting on Chartier’s winner, Ryan played 17 strong minutes on our third pair alongside Ian McCoshen. Alexei Kozhevnikov was also involved in a seven-man D unit, with Adam Clendening missing out. Forward Nolan Moyle was also absent.

While SKA’s offense has deservedly garnered plenty of attention, less has been noted about the defensive deficiencies of Roman Rotenberg’s team. And those were exposed after seven minutes of this game. A turnover in our zone saw four opposing players converge on Luke Lockhart, hoping to win back the puck. That, of course, created huge gaps all over the ice and Luke’s perceptive pass from blue line to blue line released Hudon Elynuik into the SKA zone unopposed. Advancing to the left-hand circle, Hudson ripped a wrist shot over the glove of Pavel Moisevich. That was Elynuik’s second goal of the season, beating Moisevich early in his first appearance of the season.

And the Dragons were good value for that first-period lead. Although the stats suggested an even game, SKA only really dominated on the sole power play of the opening stanza. A flurry of shots kept Jeremy Smith busy in our net during those two minutes, but otherwise our guys more than matched our much-vaunted visitor.

After the intermission, we began to see more of SKA’s offense. However, it took time for the visitor to break through. And when the tying goal arrived in the 37^th minute, it wasn’t one of the star names who made the difference. Instead, unheralded young defenseman Ivan Vydrenkov made it 1-1 with his first goal in the KHL.

The third period, as expected, saw SKA pile on the pressure in search of victory. Now, not for the first time, we saw a game-saving performance from Smitty. He stopped 14 shots in that final frame as much of the play circled around his net. That was good enough to keep us tied at 1-1 and take us into overtime with one point already secure.

And there was more to come. Three minutes into the extras, Evgeny Kuznetsov’s holding penalty handed Red Star a golden chance to go on and win it. The guys went straight to the bench for a time-out, took a close look at close Kravets’ playbook, and went out and executed it perfectly. Danny O’Regan won the face-off, the puck went to Merkley at the point and his feed to the left-hand post invited Chartier to claim his third goal in four games to give us the win.