Riga — Dinamo Riga’s poor start to the KHL season continued Wednesday night when they went down 4-2 to Baris Astana from Kazakhstan.

After two tough games to start the season off, Dinamo Riga were confident of getting their first win under their belts before heading of on a four game road trip.

Unfortunately for the Latvians, they were playing catch up hockey from the third minute when Baris’ Talgats Zailaulovs scored on the first power play of the night. Riga Dinamo had a number of chances throughout the remainder of the period but it was wayward passing and shooting that continually denied them the equalizer.

The beginning of the second period was much the same as the first with Dinamo Riga again controlling play for little reward. After sustained pressure, Mikelis Redlihs was finally able to put the home-side back on even terms during a power play in the 15th minute.

It was at about this stage that things began to sour for Dinamo Riga, with potentially the longest name in the league, Vadims Krasnoslobodcevs, on hand for a simple tap in when goalie Martin Prusek failed to secure the puck in the 18th minute.

This was followed quickly by a third for the visitors with Andrejs Spiridinovs taking advantage of a 2-on-1 situation.

With just under eight minutes left in the game Dinamo Riga were given a ray of hope when Marcel Hossa pulled one back for the home-team. However, time was their enemy for the second game in a row, forcing them to pull Prusek with a minute left on the clock to give them an extra skater on the ice. This proved to be to no avail with Konstantins Glazacevs winning the puck from a face-off in the dying seconds of the game to put away his side’s fourth and final goal with a second remaining on the clock.

Again Dinamo Riga will be frustrated at their inability to capitalise on power-plays whilst letting the opposition benefit from them. In the press conference following the game Dinamo Riga coach Juliuss Suplers remained positive in light of the outcome, sighting that the signs are there that much better is to come and if the team can stick to the game plan much better then results will start to come.

Dinamo Riga now head to Moscow where they face an undefeated Spartak on Saturday night.