Shoot-out win snaps Red Star skid. September 19 round-up
Amur played its first home game of the season after a long – and not unsuccessful – road trip to begin the campaign. The Tigers after back-to-back wins at Avangard (5-1) and Sibir (2-1, SO) to face a Kunlun team that briefly led the KHL standings but slipped back on a run of three straight losses.
Amur Khabarovsk 1 Kunlun Red Star 2 SO (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)
The Dragons, struggling with injuries to key players including the Foo brothers, brought Jeremy Smith back as starting goalie and replaced defenseman Ryan Sproul with Kyle Wood for the start of this Far East tour.
The visitor had an early power play chance – and with a conversion rate just under 30%, any power play is a good chance for KRS this season – but could not take advantage. Gradually Amur came into the game and the host had the better of a goalless first period.
The breakthrough came in the 26th minute. Cam Lee’s shot took a redirect from Dmitry Shevchenko in front of Smith’s net and found its way behind the goalie. Indeed, the Tigers might have felt they deserved a bigger advantage after outshooting Kunlun 24-5 in the middle frame and 44-14 through two periods.
At the start of the third, Red Star had a long five-on-three power play but could not force a way through. Dmitry Lozebnikov performed strongly in the home net.
However, Amur’s goalie was denied a career-first KHL shut-out in the 56th minute when Zac Leslie tied the scores and took the game to overtime. Lozebnikov might question why veteran defenseman Yakov Rylov didn’t make a better job of clearing Ryan Merkley’s routine feed to the net before Leslie nipped in to score.
Red Star had a golden chance in overtime when Shevchenko took a slashing minor. However, the visitor could not make the extra man count, and Cliff Pu evened things up with a trip that saw him joining Shevchenko on the sidelines.
In the shoot-out, Smith added to his 56 saves by stopping four attempts, while Luke Lockhart and Alex Riche were on target to give KRS the verdict. Red Star snaps its three-game losing streak and, in the process, denied Amur the chance to move into the top eight in the East.
