At home, Dinamo conceded to Nizhny Novgorod’s Torpedo with 4: 6 (3: 2, 0: 1, 1: 3), suffering their third loss in a row.
Miks Indrašis, Rihards Bukarts, Roberts Bukarts and Jānis Švanenbergs scored the goal for the homeowners.
The game was started more actively by the guests, who in the first minutes brought the puck closer to Ilya Proskurjakov several times, but the goalkeeper was not forced to save his team. “Torpedo” activity soon bore fruit, because in the sixth minute the puck from the shutter came to Mikhail Varnakov, who was uncovered in front of the goal, reaching 1: 0.
In the tenth minute, Lauris Dārziņš flew into the opponent’s defense zone with a puck, who soon passed it to Kristaps Zīls. The guard tried to send the puck in the direction of the goal, but he broke the stick, but immediately “Torpedo” hurried to use it. A moment later, the captain Anton Schenfeld went into the counterattack with the puck, who made a throw at the height of the ankle, but Proskurjakovs was powerless.
Eight minutes before the end of the period, Proskurajov saved his team from the third goal loss by repelling Damir Žafjarov’s throwing puck, which flew into an empty goal. Four minutes later, the Rigans had already passed the numerical minority, but Jesse Lipon passed to Indrašim in the 18th minute, who knew how to put the puck into the top corner. A minute later, Richard Bukart reached 2: 2, being able to make a march alone against the goalkeeper. The period did not end with that, because a second to the referee’s whistle, Robert Bucharest was found in front of the goal by Kristaps Zīle. The attacker changed the direction of the puck’s flight and put Dinamo in the lead.
“Torpedo” started the second third more resolutely, but the Rigans also threatened the guest goal several times from the close distance in the first five minutes. In the tenth minute of the period, Andy Love managed to reach a draw, his partners made several quick and short passes in advance, as a result of which the puck reached the goal, where the attacker was first.
About two minutes later, the “Dynamics” in the numerical majority demonstrated a quality interplay, which was followed by several shots on goal, but without a result. With six minutes left in the third, Proskurjakov saved Dinamo by repelling the shot from a very close distance. The rest of the time the field saw an active game performed by both clubs, but 40 minutes ended in a draw – 3: 3.
The final 20 minutes started with a lost goal. Žafjarovs scored his second and fourth goals. It took Dinamo less than ten minutes to reach a draw for the second time. Matthew Mayon passed the puck to Ziel for the blue line, but Schwanenberg hit the puck in front of the goal. The balance on the scoreboard was less than four minutes, as Ivan Čehovič reached the 5: 4 majority.
In the 58th minute of the match, Pēteris Skudra demanded a half-minute break, after which the “dynamians” returned to the field with six players. It was not possible to use the majority, while “Torpedo” still noticed that the sixth puck was thrown into the empty goal, causing the Rigans a third loss in a row.
At the start of the home game series, the Rigans gave up the St. Petersburg SKA 1: 4 on Saturday, suffering a second loss in a row. In the previous match, “Torpedo” gave up Cherepovets’ “Severstal” 0: 3, suffering a second loss in the last three games. Before that, the Nizhny Novgorod team had six victories in seven games.
It was at “Torpedo” club that Pēteris Skudra started his career as a head coach and led this unit for five seasons until the spring of 2018. Under his leadership, “Torpedo” entered the Gagarin Cup for five consecutive seasons, achieving the best result in 2016, when it reached the semifinals of the conference.
Currently, the legendary Latvian defender Sandis Ozoliņš works in the “Torpedo” coaching team.
The next match will be played by the Rigans on Monday, when they will compete with the “Sochi” team, but at the end of the year they will play three games in Minsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.
Last season, the two teams met twice, each winning one victory. In total, in the KHL Championship, the two clubs met 33 times before this match, of which “Dinamo” won 14.
Dinamo is still in last place in the league and the Western Conference with 15 points in 35 matches, while Torpedo is in the seventh Eastern Conference with 40 points in 37 duels.
Last season, “Dinamo” took the penultimate place in the Western Conference and in the entire league, not qualifying for the Gagarin Cup for the sixth year in a row.
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