Game #666: the mark of the beast?

23 February 2025

Our long run of road games continues. After another epic win at SKA, the Dragons head south with a point to prove in Sochi before returning to Moscow for games against CSKA and Dynamo. Oddly, of the three opponents, basement club Sochi has given us more problems than the capital city giants so far this season.

HC Sochi (a), Feb. 24, 1930 Moscow Time

Last time out: Traditionally, the Dragons do well against Sochi. This season, though, has been a bit of a struggle. Three losses from four games against the Leopards is a record that needs righting. Our previous visit here in November was a high-scoring 5-6 OT loss with two goals from Luke Lockhart.

Familiar faces: Yury Pautov began his KHL career with Sochi in 2014/15 and returned for a second spell in 2021/22. In total he played 39 games for the Leopards.

Setting the scene: This is game #666 of the KHL season, a number of note for the superstitious among us. And it’s certainly true that Sochi has suffered some beastings this season, most notably a 1-8 loss at home to Salavat Yulaev. However, although Sergei Zubov’s team is stranded at the foot of the Western Conference, it has shown some resilience in recent games. Prior to Friday’s 3-6 loss at Torpedo – a result that did us few favors as well – Sochi had won four in a row. That included a masterclass from Daniil Seroukh, who scored all his team’s goals in a 5-3 win at Dynamo.

However, there’s rarely been much consistency from this team in the 2024/25 season. With the Dragons looking to set the record straight after some below-par performances against this opponent, we’ll be hoping to build on our victory at SKA with another success as well head to the south.

CSKA Moscow (a), Feb. 27, 1930 Moscow Time

Last time out: For all CSKA’s reputation as a powerhouse in Russian hockey, the Muscovites have struggled against KRS this season. Our most recent meeting produced a 3-0 victory for the Dragons in Mytishchi; earlier we suffered a narrow 2-3 loss in Moscow and an OT reverse on home ice.

Familiar faces: Rourke Chartier’s performances for us at the start of the season earned him a deadline-day move to CSKA. Since then, things haven’t quite gone the right way for our former center, who has just one goal in 14 games for his new club.

Setting the scene: CSKA snapped a three-game skid on Sunday with victory on the road at Salavat Yulaev. As a result, Ilya Vorobyov’s team is close to confirming its playoff place. However, while that would be ‘mission: accomplished’ for the regular season, this has not been a vintage campaign from hockey’s most titled club.

The combination of one of the KHL’s biggest hitters and a head coach with Gagarin Cup-winning experience was supposed to bring a newly-dominant CSKA to the fore, recreating some of the recent success enjoyed under Sergei Fedorov’s coaching. Instead, it’s been an uneven regular season. An 11-game winning streak from Nov. 28 to the New Year break showed what this team can do, but for much of the campaign things have been stop start. And there have been some horrible losses along the way, none more painful than a 0-7 drubbing at home to Metallurg, nor recent home-and-away reverses against basement club Sochi. Our results this season show that we’re capable of troubling CSKA, and Thursday’s game offers another chance to test ourselves against powerful opposition.

Dynamo Moscow (a), March 1, 1700 Moscow Time

Last time out: Our season started at Dynamo with a 3-1 win – goals from Colin Campbell, Nail Yakupov and Parker Foo giving us a first-ever regulation-time win over the Blue-and-Whites. Later, we took a point from an OT loss at home before suffering a 1-4 reverse in our most recent meeting.

Familiar faces: None

Setting the scene: Much like city rival CSKA, Dynamo can be almost unstoppable. But it can also hit unexpected bumps in the road. That was the fate that befell Alexei Kudashov’s men last week: beaten in overtime by Spartak, blown away by Seroukh’s five-goal blitz for Sochi, then thumped 5-0 by Dinamo Minsk. And all that for a team that had been in strong form since the turn of the year.

Before we go to Dynamo, the Blue-and-Whites will travel to Lokomotiv and SKA – two more tough games. And, like so many in the West, there’s a battle going on to gain the highest possible position ahead of the start of the playoffs with six teams from second to seventh separated by just three points at the time of writing. So there’s much to play for. As usual, Nikita Gusev is the key man on the Dynamo offense. However, the team’s success right now seems to depend greatly on the goaltending: Vladislav Podyapolsky, brought into the team to ensure consistency between the piping, looked shaky against Minsk last week while Maxim Motorygin does not appear to enjoy Kudashov’s full confidence.