RIGA — Dinamo Riga suffered another heartbreaking loss, going down 5-3 to Sibir Novosibirsk in Riga on Thursday evening.
Dinamo Riga completely dominated all facets of the game and produced an insurmountable number of genuine opportunities, but the 5,460 fans that filed out of Arena Riga following the game were left scratching their and wondering how their team had managed to come out on top of all facets of the game except for the score sheet.
Adding further insult to injury, inspirational captain Sandis Ozoliņš suffered injury and it is not yet known how many games he will be out for.
The first ten minutes of the game failed to produce much action as the teams sized each other up. In goal, Martin Prusek had few questions asked of him early on. As the period entered its final stages the action began to unfold as Dinamo Riga received a power play in the 16th minute. Following on from his fine performance on Tuesday night, Krišjānis Rēdlihs showed confidence to shoot the puck when he had the chances. It was on one of these such chances that Dinamo Riga scored their first goal when Sibir goalie Lawson Tomas failed to secure Redlihs shot at him leaving Aleksandrs Ņiživijs an easy shot of the deflection. However he made it harder for himself than needed hitting the post. Luckily he pounced on the deflection and made no mistake of his second attempt.
As has become a habit of Dinamo Riga’s, they slacked off following the goal and were made to pay just over a minute later when Sibir equalised through Vladimir Tarasenko, who picked up the loose puck after it deflected of Prusek.
Dinamo Riga took complete control as the second period got underway. Their sustained pressure reaped reward in the sixth minute after a barrage of shots on Sibir goalie Tomas. Adrian Foster had two attempts at goal before it came to Mike Iggulden to score Dinamo Riga’s second. Soon after Dinamo Riga did well to hold out on a defensive power play only for Leeosh Chermak to come straight out of the penalty box to steal the puck and put himself one on one with Prusek. Out of desperation Dinamo Riga interfered with Chermak giving Sibirj a crucial penalty shot which Mihail Ansinin made no mistake off to bring the score back to 2-2.
Dinamo Riga continued to dominate the flow of the game but again Sibirj managed to score against the run of play. Some weak defense cost Dinamo Riga in the 13th minute when some scrappy play in front of their goal led to Sibirj’s third through Aleksei Akifev.
Following the goal Dinamo Riga went on the all out attack only allowing Sibirj to have one more shot for the period which was expertly stopped by Prusek. Dinamo Riga came close a number of times throughout the remainder of the third but frustratingly they could not put the puck in the back of the net.
Early in the final Dinamo Riga once again tied the game at 3 apiece, courtesy of a pin point pass from Jānis Sprukts to Guntis Galviņš who had little trouble evading Tomas. However, as had occurred earlier in the game, Sibirj struck back almost instantly, this time through Alexander Kutusov who, after having his initial shot saved, scored on his second attempt.
Dinamo Riga spent the remainder of the game camped in Sibir’s third. Their best chances came in the final four minutes when they were rewarded back to back overplays. With time against them, coach Julius Suplers pulled Prusek from the ice giving them an extra two skaters for the final minute. However it was in vein as Sibir turned over the puck on two occasions with an open goal in front of them. On the first occasion they hit the right post but made no such mistake the second time to take the game 5-3.
Next up for Dinamo Riga is another home game on Monday against Dinamo Moscow on Monday. If they play similar to their last two outings then some luck should come their way soon.
