RIGA — Dinamo Riga’s inability to win in overtime cost them again on Saturday, going down 3-2 to Lokomotiv.

Dinamo Riga put in one of their finest performances of the season to hold their own with one of the league’s heavyweights in front of a boisterous crowd of 10,120. It was a tense encounter with both teams controlling significant periods of the game.

Dinamo Riga were the first to create a genuine chance through Lauris Dārziņš with just under five minutes gone. However the hockey gods were not shining down on Dārziņš who broke through Lokomotiv’s defence and had Lokomotiv goalie Georgij Gelashvili  guessing only to be denied by the metal work.

Marcel Hossa (81) puts one past the Lokomotiv goalie, but in the end Dinamo Riga still came up short. Photo used courtesy of Dinamo Riga.

When the first goal did come in the seventh minute a certain element of luck was involved. Edgars Masaļskis lost sight of the puck as it got caught at the base of the net. Unluckily for Dinamo Riga it was Lokomotiv who spotted the open puck first with Zbinick Irgil putting it in the back of the net.

Dinamo Riga were not to be disheartened however, and who else but Marcel Hossa struck back for the home-side, connecting beautifully onto Aleksandrs Ņiživijs assist from behind the net. It was the highlight in an otherwise quiet night for the goal-scoring machine who saw less time on the ice than what has been expected of him of late.

Dinamo Riga continued to threaten throughout the remainder of the period with Robert Petrovicky and Dārziņš looking particularly ominous.

This domination led into the second period with a fine attacking period finally rewarded with a goal to Roberts Bukarts with just over three minutes gone. Bukarts had Tyler Arnason to thank with goalie  Gelashvili still recovering from Arnason’s shot when Bukarts pounced.

Lokomotiv showed why they are one of the league’s top teams striking back four minutes later when Dinamo Riga failed to pick up Josef Varshichek who flew the puck past Masaļskis. The goal signaled a major change in momentum with Dinamo Riga forced to pull in their free-reigning game and adapt to a more defensive game as Lokomotiv began calling the shots.

Petrovicky and Dārziņš continued to make the plays for Dinamo Riga so when Petrovicky went down in the eighteenth minute a collective gasp went up around Arena Riga. Thankfully he was able to skate of the ice by his own means giving the fans hope he would be back before the end of the game.

Both Masaļskis and his opposite Gavalshi displayed some fine goal-keeping as the third period ebbed and flowed with neither team able to gain the upper-hand. It was good news for Dinamo Riga with Petrovicky returning to ice, seemingly recovered from his injury. As the clock began to count down and the game looked certain for over-time, tempers overflowed with Guntis Galviņš and Igor Korolev throwing down their helmets to fight. This subsequently saw them sitting out the rest of the game, along with Lokomotiv’s Aleksandr Galimov, who was given two minutes for his role in the melee. The ruling meant Dinamo Riga would spend the dying moments of regular time on a power-play but unfortunately they were not able to make anything of it

As the game moved into extra-time Dinamo Riga lifted the anti with Mārtiņš Cipulis coming the closest following a one-on-one with the goalie. However, the deadlock remained with the game moving onto a shoot-out. Unfortunately for the home fans Dinamo Riga’s first three skaters, Ņiživijs, Bukarts and Dārziņš were off the mark. Lokomotiv’s third skater Aleksey Minov was a little more on target, finding the back of the net and securing the win for Lokomotiv.

Dinamo Riga can take a lot of heart out of the game in the knowledge that they pushed one of the competition’s leading teams and were able to at least secure a point out of the performance. The task does not get any easier when they take on HK MVD on Monday evening before heading on the road again. They will be hoping for the home fans to again turn out in force to create the atmosphere that coach Julius Supler described after the game as being “amazing.”