Four in a row for unchanged Dragons

25 November 2024

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Kunlun Red Star 3

If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it. Following a 4-1 win at Eastern Conference leader Traktor, the Dragons used exactly the same line-up in Monday’s game at Neftekhimik. That meant weekend signing Joe Duszak had to wait for his Red Star debut following his arrival from Severstal. But it also meant that an unchanged winning team did it again, beating the Wolves 3-1 to make it four victories in a row.

Grabbing an early goal always helps. A third-minute snipe in Chelyabinsk set us on our way in that game, and today brought a similar start. Rourke Chartier, who scored twice in the previous game, was at it again here. Neftekhimik’s Artyom Serikov helped out, obliging with a hooking penalty after 18 seconds. That set us on the attack and although Serikov had left the box, not even a full-strength defense could do much when Chartier bounced a shot off the goalie’s skates and into the net from a dead angle.

Power play or no power play, there was no argument that KRS deserved its lead. With six minutes played, Neftekhimik had managed just three seconds of possession in our zone. Needless to say, Jeremy Smith saw nothing of the puck in the early stages of the game. The home team never really warmed up in the first period, and could count itself extremely fortunate to tie the game on a rare breakaway midway through the session. It stayed 1-1 through 20 minutes, but there was no doubt which team was having the better of the play.

A couple of penalties at the start of the second period released some of the pressure that our guys had built up. Nonetheless, once back at full strength, it wasn’t long before we hit the front again. Spencer Foo continued his fine recent form with a goal on the counter. Colin Campbell won the puck in center ice and steered it into Spencer’s path; our captain raced onto it and advanced to wire an unstoppable shot into the top corner. That stretches his productive streak to five games, with 6 (3+3) points in that run. It also takes Foo to 51career goals for Kunlun, tying Tyler Wong for third place in all-time team goals. Spencer, though, reached his total in 234 games, compared with 277 for Wonger.

Ironically, although Neftekhimik enjoyed far more of the game in the second period, the scoring would strongly favor the Dragons. Midway through, a power play chance saw Adam Clendening make it 3-1 with a fine snipe. Our D-man took the puck on the blue line, deked a shot and strode forward to open up the perfect lane through traffic and into the corner of former Dragon Artyom Zagidulin’s net. The home team managed to even up the time on attack numbers in the second period, but Red Star proved that it’s what you do with it that counts, scoring twice off eight shots from less than three minutes offensive possession.

Early in the third period, a kicking motion denied Neftekhimk a second goal. But not quite how you’d think. Serikov’s much-deflected shot came at Smitty through traffic, but he followed its unpredictable trajectory and kicked the puck away from danger.

Our goalie also made a fine double save in the closing stages, denying former Dragon Vyacheslav Leshchenko and then Bulat Shafigullin on the rebound to preserve our two-goal advantage. At the other end, meanwhile, the Jurco-Chartier pairing continued to pose a threat, and Stepan Zvyagin created a good chance for Hudon Elynuik. On both occasions, Zagidulin came up with the answers.

A fourth consecutive win was marred by one incident in the second period. Our forward Semyon Sinyatkin was floored by a big hit from Neftekhimik’s Luka Profaca and had to leave the game to undergo a medical check. Hopefully we’ll see him back in the red and gold soon.