First Point For Duszak – Kunlun Red Star

29 November 2024

Kunlun Red Star 1 Lada Togliatti 2

A frustrating game ended in disappointment for the Dragons. Despite deservedly tying this one late on, a power play saw Lada snatch a barely-deserved win in Mytishchi.

There were a couple of changes from the team that won at Neftekhimik and extended our hot streak to four games last week. One was enforced: Semyon Sinyatkin picked up an injury in Nizhnekamsk; his place went to Austin Moyle. There was also a debut for new defenseman Joe Duszak, who joins us from Severstal. The American didn’t spend long in Cherepovets, but earlier in his KHL career he had a successful season with Dinamo Minsk and proved to be an effective two-way contributor. In goal, Kyle Keyser took over from Jeremy Smith.

With a good winning run behind us, our guys made a confident start to the game. Early on, in-form Rourke Chartier was close to his fourth goal in three games when he was first the rebound from Adam Clendening’s shot. However, he couldn’t quite get the elevation needed to clear Vladislav Podyapolsky’s pad and the game remained goalless.

Midway through the first period, Lada got ahead when Alexander Ozhgikhin stuffed one home on the wraparound, but the Dragons continued to threaten. There was frustration for Stepan Zvyagin when a great feed from Hudson Elynuik found him all alone on the slot. The youngster, on loan to us from Dinamo Minsk, will seldom have a better look at the net, but was unable to register his first goal in the KHL.

Lada held that lead until the intermission, but soon after the restart, KRS got the first power play of the night. Almost immediately, Podyapolsky was in trouble: Luke Lockhart helped Colin Campbell’s feed to find Danny O’Regan at the back door and the home goalie had to stretch out a pad to deny what looked a certain goal. The same PP brought danger at the other end as well, with Troy Josephs surging clear only for Keyser to slam the door in his face.

The third period saw Duszak give us a glimpse of his defensive attributes. Facing down a three-on-one rush, he got his positioning spot on and was able to get his stick in the way of a pass that would have given veteran Mikhail Fisenko a clear sight of goal.

Soon after, we saw Joey’s attacking props. He got into a good shooting position, and although his effort flashed wide of the goal, he ended up collecting an assist after the play returned to the blue line for Ian McCoshen to…