On the rebound
15 February 2025
Kunlun Red Star 5 Vityaz Moscow Region 4 SO
This win was a triumph of resilience. The Dragons, bruised by a painful loss to playoff rival Torpedo on Thursday, produced a strong performance from the start against Vityaz. However, the visitor hit back late in the game, forcing overtime after trailing by two. Once again, our guys dug deep and found a way to get it over the line in a shoot-out.
The victory keeps us clear of 10th-placed Vityaz, and also cuts the gap to Torpedo in eighth. Moreover, Igor Larionov’s team suffered a spectacular collapse at Spartak, seeing a 4-0 lead evaporate in a 4-7 loss. The psychological impact of that may yet revive the whole playoff race, which seemed all-but run a couple of days earlier.
After the Torpedo game, we saw some changes to the roster. Jeremy Smith returned in goal as he shares netminding duties with Patrik Rybar. And there was the rare sight of an all-Russian fourth line: Alexander Sharov (Chelyabinsk), Yaroslav Likhachyov (Yaroslavl) and Stepan Zvyagin (Moscow-born, albeit a Belarusian international).
The Dragons made a fast start, and the opening goal arrived in the second minute. Spencer Foo was the scorer, ending a goal drought that dates back to Jan. 10, when he potted twice against CSKA. This time, our captain was perfectly placed at the back door to bang home a Kyle Rau feed.
And Rau continued to cause problems, scoring our second of the game in the 16th minute. Yury Pautov halted the visitor’s attempts to clear the zone with a crunching forecheck, the puck got to Doyle Somerby on the point and Rau popped up to redirect our D-man’s shot inside the post. That tied us at 2-2 after Vityaz had turned the game around during a lively first period.
After killing a penalty at the start of the second, Red Star began to test Maxim Dorozhko in the Vityaz net. Rau almost notched another at the back door, Jayden Halbgewachs deked his way to the net but could not finish. Then, midway through the session, Colin Campbell restored our lead. Foo led a dangerous raid, but was forced behind the net. He emerged to set up Ian McCoshen on the blue line, and Campbell touched his shot beyond Dorozhko’s reach. We took that lead to the intermission, but lost Pautov’s services after he took an elbow to the head late in the second. With only six defensemen on the roster, that meant some big minutes coming up for our blueliners.
That didn’t disturb our forwards, though. Rau continued his impressive performance by robbing an opponent of the puck on halfway and surging forward. His pass for Danny O’Regan couldn’t quite connect, but the play continued and Campbell made it 4-2 with a redirect on Joey Duszak’s shot off the boards.
However, fatigue began to take its toll and the closing stages saw Vityaz get back into the game. A powerplay goal opened the door for the visitor, then Frederik Gauthier tied it up late.
With depleted forces, overtime was a struggle. But we came through it intact, and went on to win the game thanks to O’Regan in the shoot-out. He stepped up to take the 10th shot of the sequence and got it all right to give us the win.
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