LIEPĀJA, Latvia — Dinamo Riga have returned home in fine form, defeating Neftehmik 6-3 on Monday evening.
Acknowledging their fan-base stretches far wider than the city of Riga, Dinamo Riga paid tribute to their fans in Liepāja by playing their latest home game in the city of wind and rock ‘n’ roll.
Playing on a rink closer in size to those used in the NHL, it was Dinamo Riga who adapted best to the smaller rink than what the KHL teams are normally used to playing on.
Martin Prusek was back in goal providing Edgars Masaļskis with a well earned rest whilst Robert Petrovicky was a welcome addition to the line-up as he returned from a two week injury lay-off.
Both teams struggled early on as they adapted to the new conditions but it was Dinamo Riga who finally found the back of the net in the dying stages of the opening period. Miķelis Rēdlihs and Jānis Sprukts created a fine two-on-one but it looked like the chance had been blown when Sprukts skate dug into the ice, causing him to end up on the ice. However, his flailing stick managed to make enough contact with the puck to leave it sitting up for Miķelis Rēdlihs who delivered a less than perfect shot past the goalie.
Following the period Petrovicky stressed the problems of adapting to the smaller rink but believed that if they could create enough traffic in front of the goalie and offer up more shots then they could easily take control of the game.
Early in the second period and Sprukts and Miķelis Rēdlihs took a role reversal with Sprukts this time being the benefactor from Miķelis Rēdlihs. It was a fine night for the pair, with Sprukts rewarded with the man-of-the-match award.
Neftehmik, determined to make sure it was not all one way traffic had one back through Niklas Person in the 12th minute. It was certainly no fault of goalie Prusek with the goal coming on the back off a mad pile up in front of the Dinamo Riga goal.
Three minutes later and Aleksandrs Ņiživijs who was never far from the action also added his name to the score-sheet. Mike Iggulden provided the perfect decoy in the front of the goal as Ņiživijs faked before letting rip, giving the goalie limited time to react, as he tried to get sight of Ņiživijs around Iggulden.
With four minutes left in the period Andrei Ivanov pulled the deficit back to one, assuring Dinamo Riga would not rest on their laurels in the final period.
However, thanks to Mārtiņš Cipulis and Ģirts Ankipāns, the lead was extended back to 3, as Dinamo Riga headed into the final nine minutes with a commanding 5-2 lead. Cipulis’ and Ankipāns’ goals both came on the back of strong build-ups, with seemingly every Dinamo Riga player assisting in the goal scoring. Ankipāns will probably never score one much simpler with the goalie caught well out of place following a lightening quick Marcel Hossa slap-shot.
With just over seven minutes left in the game Sergei Demagin added Neftehmik’s third and final goal, with Dinamo Riga determined not to let this one slip away from them.
As the game entered its final fazes Martin Kariya was rewarded with his first goal in Dinamo Riga colors, with Miķelis Rēdlihs capping off a fine game with yet another well worked assist.
Kariya was pleased with the way the team adjusted to the smaller rink and was quick to credit his goalie Prusek’s performance as one of the biggest factors in the side’s win.
“With Prusek playing the way he did in goal, it made our jobs a lot easier,” Kariya said.
Dinamo Riga return to Riga for their next home game against Ak Bars on Wednesday. This will be followed by home games against Lada on Friday and Dinamo Minsk on Sunday. These are all winnable games and will put Dinamo Riga right amongst play-off contention before they take a break to allow the large Latvian consortium in the team to participate in national duties.
