Cajkovsky hits the right note for Dynamo

The last day of summer brought two last preparation games ahead of the start of the KHL games — and they could hardly be more contrasting. While Dynamo needed a late rally to snatch a 2-1 win over Sibir, Lokomotiv steamrollered Kunlun, defeating the Chinese team 7-0 in Yaroslavl.

Warm-up games

Dynamo leaves it late

Dynamo Moscow 2 Sibir Novosibirsk 1 (0-0, 0-1, 2-0)

Two goals in the last five minutes of this game saw Dynamo finish the summer on a winning note, despite the absence of Teemu Pulkkinen and Oscar Lindberg, who would normally form a key partnership on the second line.

Those two are both missing with injuries and in a cautious first period it was clear that nobody from either team wanted to risk joining them on the sick list with the new season days away. But Sibir got ahead 30 seconds after the intermission when Eric O’Dell opened the scoring and after that the game livened up.

Despite the faster tempo, it wasn’t until the 56th minute that we saw another goal. Dynamo defenseman Michal Cajkovsky’s point shot was redirected by Dmitrij Jaskin and the puck trickled into the net past Harri Sateri. The Finn only entered the game at the start of the third and he was beaten once again in the last minute when Cajkovsky fired in another shot and Jaskin screened Sateri as the winning goal went in.

Heavy defeat for Red Star

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 7 Kunlun Red Star 0 (1-0, 4-0, 2-0)

Lokomotiv looked sharp in its final warm-up game, while Red Star slumped to its heaviest loss of the summer. The gap between the teams was clear not just from the lopsided final score, but also from the shot count. Loko had a 53-9 advantage as both Dmitry Shikin and Alexander Lazushin endured a difficult time in the Dragons’ net.

Photo: 31.08.20. Friendly match. Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl) - Kunlun Red Star (Beijing)

Vladimir Tkachyov led the scoring with a hat-trick, and his team-mates Andre Petersson and Maxim Osipov had three assists apiece. There were also goals for Artur Kayumov, Alexei Marchenko, Atte Ohtamaa and Denis Alexeyev as Loko ran riot.