Goalie Edgars Masaļskis is congratulated by teammates after securing a rare goal. Photo used courtesy of Dinamo Riga.

KHABAROVSK, Russia — Dinamo Riga finished their road trip on a high note on Thursday, securing a 4-2 victory over Amur.

Missing key personnel in Sandis Ozoliņš and Aleksandrs Ņiživijs meant that victory against one of the weaker teams in the KHL was no given. With the game also being played in the far East, their may have been some concerns regarding jet lag, but if any was present it was certainly not evident on the ice.

To the relief of coach Julius Supler, Dinamo Riga showed that Tuesday’s 7-2 victory over Metallurg had been no fluke as they quickly established a 2-0 lead within the first two minutes. Featuring in the first line, Tyler Arnason finally proved his worth with one of the quickest goals in the KHL this season as he found the back of the net after just 26 seconds. Jānis Sprukts had a large role to play in the goal, again using his size to his advantage in front of the Amur net.

With a switch up in the lines, the second line wasted no time at getting involved in the action with Lauris Dārziņš benefiting from some fine work from Martin Kariya and  and Miķelis Rēdlihs.

In the twelfth minute the lead was extended to three with the goal going to the most unlikely of players, Edgars Masaļskis. With Amur goalie Tailor Moss of the ice during a power-play, the hope was their defense-men would secure any loose puck. However, this scenario did not play out. Instead a shot on goal was deflected of the pads of Masaļskis and then travelled the length of the rink to reach the back of the net untouched. It is unlikely Masaļskis ever before in his career has scored a goal or ever will again.

Following the most unlikely of goals the next 30 minutes came and went without any further action being produced. But just as the game had started, it also ended with a flurry of goals with a further three being produced in the final 10 minutes.

Amur finally got on the scoreboard with Sergei Arakayev claiming his team’s first in the 51st minute. Not long after and Dinamo Riga had struck back again taking the lead out to three. It was Dārziņš and Kariya who had again combined to claim the fourth.

With the clock winding down Amur managed a token second goal through Sergei Plotkinov but the final result was already beyond doubt.It was sweet revenge for Dinamo Riga who had gone down to Amur at home earlier in the season.

Dinamo Riga will now return home for a six-day break before taking on another struggling team in the form of Automobilist in the first of four home games.