Foo family flattens Spartak
27 December 2024
Kunlun Red Star 4 Spartak Moscow 2
The festive period is a time for families – specifically the Foo family, in Red Star’s case. Our brothers in arms, Spencer and Parker, inspired a big fightback to secure an impressive win over second-placed Spartak. This victory avenges our 1-5 loss in Moscow earlier in the season.
Today’s game was the Dragons’ first following the departure of Rourke Chartier to CSKA. As part of the reshuffle of the attacking lines, the Foos were put back together on the third line with Colin Campbell. And that change provided the spark for a turnaround in the closing stages to lift our guys to a 4-2 win.
Spartak was up 2-1 going into the third, but Red Star was by no means out of contention. A strong performance in the final frame got its reward in the 52nd minute when Spencer tied the game. Parker and Campbell combined neatly in the set-up, but this was all about a devastating finish. Spencer pulled off some fantastic stick-handling to bamboozle visiting goalie Dmitry Nikolayev and make it 2-2.
Inspired, our guys continued to press. Tomas Jurco whipped in a wrister that squirmed through Nikolayev’s defenses but the goal was off its moorings as Jayden Halbgewachs looked to finish it off.
The pressure kept coming, and with two minutes to play Joey Duszak moved down the right-hand channel and set up Parker Foo between the hash marks. Parker’s instinctive finish steered the puck into the net to put KRS up for the first time in the game.
And there was more to come: Spencer potted his second of the night, and 10th of the season. This time, he didn’t even need to find the net. Spartak was playing with an empty net, Foozy charged down Dmitry Vishnevsky’s shot and headed down the ice only to be slashed as he shaped to shoot. The shot went wide, but due to the combination of the foul and the empty net, the officials awarded a goal. That made the final score 4-2.
Earlier in the game, Spartak led twice. The visitor opened the scoring in the third minute through Pavel Poryadin, but Red Star responded within three minutes. Yaroslav Likhachyov scored his second of the season, beating Nikolayev at the second attempt to tie the game.
Both goalies distinguished themselves in the early stages. Martin Lefebvre forced a great save from Nikolayev in the 13th minute and Doyle Somerby tested the netminder after a good set-up. Meanwhile, our own Jeremy Smith produced a fine save to deny Danil Pivchulin’s one-on-one.
However, Spartak managed to get back in front midway through the second period. A five-on-three power play saw Vishnevsky make it 2-1 to the Red-and-Whites.
So our final home game of 2024 ended in victory. Now the guys head off to Nizhny Novgorod for the final game of the calendar year against Torpedo looking to post three wins in a row.
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