RIGA — Dinamo Riga moved into playoff contention Friday evening, defeating Lada 4-1 at home.

Yet again, the fans were out in strength at Arena Riga providing a boost to their heroes. Perhaps the hardest job on Friday was selecting the man of the match, with Dinamo Riga finally playing the complete team performance for the entire three periods. The game threw up plenty of highlights in what was a physical fast exhibition of hockey.

Veteran defender Olegs Sorokins (28) breaks his goal-scoring drought with his first of the season on Friday evening. Photo used courtesy of Dinamo Riga.

From the opening moments of the first period, Dinamo Riga made their intentions clear as they went hard on attack. Their persistent attacking game plan was rewarded in just the fourth minute when Oļegs Sorokins finally got the monkey of the back scoring his first goal of the season. He could hardly take all the credit however with Roberts Bukarts and Tyler Arnason creating the space for Sorokins. Veteran Sorokins has stepped in the absence of Sandis Ozolins in recent weeks, showing real leadership on the ice. Although it was the only goal generated in the first period, Dinamo Riga created plenty more opportunities, particularly in the opening 12 minutes when the referee’s literally went unheard.

Robert Petrovicky made the second period his own, showing no signs of the recent injury which had seen him benched. The Slovakian veteran was constantly amongst the action, effortlessly switching from offense to defense. After earlier being denied on a one on one with the goalie, his perseverance was rewarded in the 12th minute, being in the right place to pick up the deflection from Krišjānis Rēdlihs’ blocked shot. Less than four minutes later and he had added his second. What was all the remarkable about the second goal was the fact that he bet two defenders before beating the goalie, as well as the fact that it came whilst Dinamo Riga were skating against the power-play.

Any thoughts Edgars Masaļskis had of the perfect game in goal were thwarted in the fourth minute of the final period as Yuri Petrov added some creditability to the score-line, but not before some serious deliberation from the video referee. The goal surprised Masaļskis who did not pick up the puck, which received a large deflection on the way into the goal.

The best was yet to come for Dinamo Riga with Guntis Galviņš putting his name forward for shot of the year in the 13th minute. Standing in the deep left corner of Lada’s zone, Galviņš let rip, sending the puck into the top right corner of the net, flying between three Lada defenders its way.

Dinamo Riga pushed hard for the closing minutes of the game with Lee Sweatt and Martin Kariya both coming close. Sweatt was deserved of a goal, having played with maturity in leading the Dinamo Riga defensive efforts.

Dinamo Riga coach Julius Supler was happy with the way his team performed on the night, showing conviction on the opportunities they were given. “It was a hard game until the end. Masaļskis, Miķelis Rēdlihs and Petrovicky played particularly well this evening,” Supler said.

Dinamo Riga will be back on Sunday when they meet Dinamo Minsk for the second time this season. It is likely they will be playing without Mike Iggulden who received a spinal injury in this evening’s win.