Games of the season

8 April 2025

From landmark successes to a record-breaking seven-game hot streak, there were plenty of memorable gamedays in 2024/25. Read on for a few of our favorites (with apologies to any SKA sympathizers).

Dynamo Moscow (a), Sep. 4, 2024

It’s always good to start the right way – and a win on the road in the opening game ticked that box. But this wasn’t just about kicking off the campaign with two points. It was our first ever win over Dynamo in regulation, and our first at the Muscovites’ arena. An impressive debut goal from Nail Yakupov turned out to be the game-winner, while Colin Campbell grabbed a shorthanded tally and Parker Foo finished the job as Dynamo contrived to lose possession as goalie Hunter Miska was trying to get off the ice for a sixth skater.

Severstal (a), Oct. 11, 2024

This was a game of firsts. A first win in Cherepovets. A first shut-out against Severstal, and a first shut-out for Kyle Keyser. Jayden Halbgewachs first point, swiftly followed by his first goal. Typically, Severstal is a tough opponent for us but on this visit we enjoyed a convincing win. It owed a good deal to Halbgewachs. Our summer signing took some time to adapt to the KHL, but this was the day he announced himself on the big stage. Two minutes in, Jayden set up Tomas Jurco for the opening goal before the pair traded places in the second for Jurco to set up a first KHL goal for our Canadian. After that, Keyser came to the fore, producing two highlight reel moments among his 41 saves.

CSKA (h), Jan. 10

Another 3-0 win and another goalie recording a first shut-out for the Dragons. This time it was Patrik Rybar marking his debut by blanking the Muscovites. And that set up a record-breaking sixth successive victory for Mikhail Kravets’ team; our best streak in KHL play (a shoot-out win in the following game at Lada improved the run to seven). With 37 saves, Rybar rebounded after being placed on waivers by Spartak and backstopped a memorable victory. At the other end, two goals from Spencer Foo set us on the way before Tyler Graovac found the empty net with our only shot of the third period.

Salavat Yulaev (a), Oct. 1

We had two impressive wins against the team that finished second in the Eastern Conference. But the 5-2 road win at the start of October was memorable for a few reasons. First, this was an impressive fightback. Down 0-2 at the second intermission, things looked pretty bleak. A penalty for Tyler Graovac at the start of the third didn’t offer much hope of redemption. But in fact, it was the catalyst for our fightback. Tyler jumped out of the box to pull a goal back, then in the 51^st minute he tied the scores. Suddenly, Salavat was in disarray. Josh Leivo – who potted one of his record-breaking 49 goals earlier in the game – sat for slashing and Luke Lockhart put us up on the power play. A unsuccessful bench challenge gave us another PP and Danny O’Regan scored his first for the club. Hudson Elynuik did likewise to complete a resounding win. Yet there was a note of sadness as well: amid first goals, we also saw Brandon Yip’s last point for the Dragons, assisting on Graovac’s tying goal.

Avtomobilist (a), Nov. 21

A 2-1 shoot-out victory in the midst of the regular season might not look like the most spectacular of results. But context is all. Our trips to Yekaterinburg had been, frankly, miserable. The previous four games brought four losses with an aggregate score of 24-1. We hadn’t got a win here since 2017. But this year, we changed the script. Spencer Foo’s first-period goal got us in front. A huge defensive effort – including 46 saves from Kyle Keyser – frustrated the powerful Avto offense. A late Stephane da Costa goal robbed us of victory in regulation, and in overtime we had to kill a penalty on Ryan Merkley to stay afloat. Even the shoot-out was far from straightforward: Brooks Macek twice scored to save the home team from defeat before Luke Lockhart found the net in sudden death and Keyser denied da Costa to take the ‘W’.

SKA (h), Nov. 4

We had a lot of fun with SKA this season, including two action-packed, high scoring wins on the road. Given the Petersburg club’s budget and prominence, it’s always fun to go there and give a proverbial bloody nose to one of the game’s grandees. But our home game in November, although it ended in a modest 2-1 overtime win, was the history-maker. When Rourke Chartier struck on the power play in the extras, it sealed a first-ever win against SKA on home ice. OK, there’s a quirk to that stat: our victory over SKA, in Feb. 2024 was notionally a home game but, for scheduling reasons, it had to be played in Petersburg. As a result, this was our first victory over SKA in our home arena – be it Beijing, Shanghai or Mytishchi.

SKA (a), Feb. 22

Oh, go on then. Let’s have another meeting with SKA. This 10-goal epic in front of 22,000 is another game that will live long in the memory. We’d already grabbed a 5-4 win beside the Neva at the start of the season, jumping to a 5-1 lead and holding on in the face of a home fightback. This game followed a similar pattern, with the teams trading goals to tie 2-2 at the midway point. Then came the decisive Dragons flurry of goals: three in 105 seconds as Ian McCoshen, Jan Drozg and Kyle Rau got us up 5-2 at the end of the second period. SKA wouldn’t be SKA without a fightback, of course, but head coach Roman Rotenberg loves a gamble. After getting back to 4-5, he went all-in on the empty net play as early as the 55^th minute. Ten seconds later, Tyler Graovac scored into that same empty net to complete a 6-4 scoreline.

Traktor (a), Nov. 23

Right after that win in Yekaterinburg, we travelled down the Urals to Chelyabinsk to play the Eastern Conference leader. Under Benoit Groulx, Traktor was flying in the East and the fans were responding with sell-out crowds night after night. Into a vibrant, intimidating atmosphere, the Dragons landed – and muted the noise within a couple of minutes. Martin Lefebvre put us up on 2:08, serving notice that this was no routine encounter for the home team. Vladimir Tkachyov quickly tied it up on a power play, but Traktor could do no more. We did the hard work on defense through two periods of home pressure, then turned the game on its head in the final stanza. Holding Traktor to just five shots, Kunlun demonstrated the value of clinical finishing. Rourke Chartier scored twice (assisted both times by Jan Drozg) to put our guys in control, and Spencer Foo’s empty-netter finished the job. And, proving it was no fluke, we went on to win our home game against Traktor in January.