Minsk Cup: Lada makes strong start

The first pre-season tournament of the summer began in Belarus with Lada defeating Admiral in the opening game.

Lada Togliatti 5 Admiral Vladivostok 1 (2-1, 3-0, 0-0)

The opening game of the Fonbet Minsk Cup ended in a convincing victory for Lada. Monday’s match-up against Admiral was the first all-KHL clash of the summer.

The rosters suggested that Admiral had the stronger line-up, and the first period saw the Sailors take the early initiative: there was more attacking intent and more shots, but it took until 19:40 to find a way past Maxim Tretiak in the Lada net.

By then, meanwhile, the Motormen had scored two on Dmitry Shugayev. Ilya Reingardt, a summer signing from Avangard, found the net from a dead angle, and Danila Dyadenkin converted a rebound.

Semyon Koshelev pulled a goal back for Admiral, but the middle frame saw Lada put the game out of reach. Dyadenkin potted his second of the night then Ivan Savchik added a fourth, this time on the penalty kill. That spelled the end for Shugayev, and incoming goalie Arseny Tsyba survived a three-on-five PK only to be beaten by Oleg Senkin as Lada made it 5-1 in the 37th minute.

That proved to be the end of the scoring. Admiral enjoyed greater control of the play in the final frame but struggled to generate clear-cut chances on Tretiak’s net. Lada closed out a comfortable win to start its pre-season campaign.