Rough night on the road for the Dragons

13 November 2024

Ak Bars Kazan 5 Kunlun Red Star 0

There’s no respite for Red Star right now. After allowing five goals against Spartak last time out, the Dragons were unable to hand Mikhail Kravets a belated birthday gift in today’s trip to Ak Bars. Instead, another five-goal loss left the team frustrated in Kazan.

Our head coach, who turned 61 yesterday, decided to unwrap some new attacking combinations after that Spartak game. The Halbgewachs-Graovac-Jurco line was broken up, with Tomas remaining on a new-look top line with Parker Foo centered by Luke Lockhart. Nail Yakupov was the new man alongside Jayden and Tyler on the second line. The ripples continued into the bottom six, with Stepan Zvyagin appearing as new addition to Danny O’Regan and Rourke Chartier’s combination, and Hudson Elynuik joining Colin Campbell and Spencer Foo. On defense, Yury Pautov returned to the team and took Doyle Somerby’s place in the first pair alongside Jake Chelios. Kyle Keyser got the start in goal.

The first period saw Keyser given plenty to do. Ak Bars made a strong start and fired in 17 shots in the first period alone. Early on, our goalie’s gymnastic skills were tested as Artur Brovkin rampaged in from the left wing, forcing Keyser into the splits to lay down an impenetrable barrier in front of repeated attempts on goal.

The Dragons survived that scare and created a few chances of their own. Zvyagin sent Chartier round the back and only a bravely outstretched stick denied Rourke a goal on the wraparound. And the same line caused more problems when O’Regan got one-on-one with Amir Miftakhov but couldn’t make the most of his chance. However, the first power play of the game saw the home team ahead in the eighth minute. Kirill Semyonov was the scorer but, in keeping with our recent luck, he was helped by an improbable deflection.

With a lead to defend, Ak Bars enjoyed more control of the game. That didn’t mean an end to KRS scoring chances, though. Elynuik tested Miftakhov with a shot that deflected to safety off the goalie’s shoulder.

The second period saw more of an attacking threat from our guys, outshooting Ak Bars 12-8 through 20 minutes. Our cause was helped by two power plays, but neither could produce a tying goal. Instead, the only goal of the frame went to Denis Komkov, playing in only his sixth KHL game. His first marker at this level arrived midway through the session.

In the final frame, the game got ill-tempered – perhaps reminiscent of a turbulent pre-season encounter between these teams. Ian McCoshen and Yegor Korshkov had a difference of opinion early in the session and both players got double minors for roughing. Then came a spat between Spencer Foo and Dmitry Katelevsky, bringing more roughing penalties. In between the scuffles, the game got away from our guys. Katelevsky, Artyom Galimov and a second goal for Komkov made the final score 5-0.

Now, attention switches immediately to Sochi and a battle with one of our rivals at the foot of the Western Conference. That game is set for Friday evening.