Sailors too strong for Dinamo

Day three of the Fonbet Minsk Cup saw Admiral get its first win of the tournament, condemning host club Dinamo Minsk to a 2-5 loss.

Dinamo Minsk 2 Admiral Vladivostok 5 (1-2, 1-2, 0-1)

Admiral’s first victory at the Minsk Cup means we have three teams with one win apiece. The Sailors lost their opener to Lada before Dinamo defeated the Motormen in yesterday’s shoot-out.

But the rest day seemed to do Admiral good: despite the tournament host introducing high-profile summer signings Zach Fucale and Darren Dietz, this was a heavy loss for the Belarusians.

Fucale didn’t get off to a great start in goal: in the second minute he was beaten by Stepan Starkov as Admiral opened the scoring. After that, the home team enjoyed more of the play but gave up another goal when Dmitry Zavgorodny potted a short-handed tally. The same power play saw Sergei Kuznetsov got Dinamo on the board but Admiral took a 2-1 lead into the break.

Early in the middle stanza, Dinamo tied the scores thanks to Roman Govorkov’s effort. However, instead of going on to take control of the game, the Belarusians stumbled as the session wore on. Two goals in just over three minutes tipped the scales firmly in Admiral’s favor. First, newcomer Igor Geraskin assisted on Mario Grman’s marker, then the pair reversed roles for Geraskin to find the net. 4-2 after 40 minutes.

Both teams spurned power play chances early in the third and once the game settled down Dinamo again looked livelier. Admiral was content to eat up minutes and kept Minsk away from the net. The final word went to Daniil Gutik, whose empty-netter wrapped up the win.

The tournament continues tomorrow when Metallurg arrives to play the first of its three games. Lada, currently leading the standings after a win and a shoot-out loss, will provide the opposition.