Thriller in Riga as Indrasis downs Dinamo Minsk. November 1 round-up

Dinamo Riga 4 Dinamo Minsk 3

Miks Indrasis was not having the best of seasons. Last year’s top goalscorer for Dinamo Riga had failed to find the net in 23 appearances, and his personal disappointment was matched by his team’s miserable form this season.

But there were some signs of progress despite a seven-game losing streak: all those defeats were by a single goal, and four of them came after tying in regulation. So with Dinamo Minsk coming to Latvia looking to get back on form in the playoff race, there was some hope for the men in maroon.

The Latvians left it late. When Sergei Kostitsyn put Minsk 3-2 up in the 56th minute – wiping out an earlier 2-1 lead for the host – it looked like the anguish of narrow defeats was set to continue.

But Indrasis stepped up. He’d finally broken his goal drought in the 36th minute, cancelling out Alexander Materukhin’s early opener. Now he delivered an even more significant goal to tie it up at 3-3 on 57:28.

And he wasn’t done there. With just one second left to play Dinamo Riga snatched a dramatic game-winner with Indrasis taking the puck behind the net and popping it out for Gints Meija to steal all three points.

That was harsh on Minsk’s Rob Klinkhammer. The Canadian forward has been in good form this season and his goal and assist took his personal tally to seven points from the last four games. But this was undoubtedly Indrasis’ day.