Frustrating day for the Dragons

17 January 2025

Spartak Moscow 2 Kunlun Red Star 0

Red Star battled hard at Spartak, but could not produce a repeat of the 4-2 win over the Red-and-Whites at the end of last year. This game got away in the second period, with the home team enjoying a long spell of dominance in an otherwise even encounter.

However, even when we matched the Muscovites, our forwards struggled to solve Dmitry Nikolayev in the home net. Yaroslav Likhachyov’s effort against the post was the closest we could come to saving the game.

As a result, your Dragons remain four points adrift of eighth-placed Torpedo in a tight Western Conference playoff race.

The guys were jolted from their rhythm early on by a freak incident. Damage to the Perspex forced a pause in the action, which slowed a decent start from Red Star.

After the delay, Spartak settled better and got the opening goal in the ninth minute through Andrei Loktionov. Late in the first, a big power play chance fell to Colin Campbell, but he could not find a way past Nikolayev from between the hash marks. In a further blow, Parker Foo left the game after a big hit from Andrei Mironov and could not return to action.

Early in the second period, Jeremy Smith was up to his usual tricks, denying German Rubtsov with a flashy glove save. But Spartak stepped up the pace and Adam Ruzicka doubled the lead in the 24^th minute, despite our protests that Smitty was impeded by Ansel Galimov.

For a time, the shot count veered into Spartak’s favor. Things started to even up after Joey Duszak laid a big hit on Ivan Morozov. That prompted a scuffle that left us short-handed, but got the blood pumping once again. Tomas Jurco created a good look for Tyler Graovac, but once again Nikolayev had the answer. Later, Jurco had an opportunity of his own but, well, you can guess the story by now.

At the other end, Smitty kept us in the game with a brilliant stop after a breakdown on our power play presented Alexander Pashin with a glorious chance to make it 3-0. However, to capitalize on that we needed to find a way to goal.

Although the third period saw more chances for our guys, there proved to be no way through. The closest we came was in the 54^th minute – Likhachyov hitting the post. But, in the end, it proved to be one of those days as Spartak held on for the win.