Edgars Masaļskis again recieves mention, following a dry night in goal. Photo used courtesy of Dinamo Riga.

RIGA — Edgars Masaļskis’ second shutout of the season assured Dinamo Riga of a 4-0 victory over Avtomobilist on Thursday evening.

At no stage did the result look in doubt with Dinamo Riga holding complete control over proceedings. Masaļskis should be commended for recording his second shutout of the season but in reality it was relatively quiet night for him with Avtomobilist asking few questions of the Dinamo Riga goalie.

Scoring bizarre goals seems to be becoming something of a trend for Dinamo Riga. Following on from their last game when goalie Masaļskis recorded a goal, this evening saw another less than regulation goal. During the first power play of the evening in the 11th minute, Robert Petrovicky was holding the puck behind the Avtomobilist net eying up passes. As he attempted make his pass, he instead forced the puck into the back of the goalies leg, with it subsequently rebounding into the goal.

The Latvians continued to look dangerous without actually being able to add to their early goal with Ivan Lietusin having recovered from his early mistake in the Avtomobilist goal to become the only factor holding the visitors in the game.

Sooner or later Avtomobilist had to fold under the constant pressure being placed upon them and sure enough Dinamo Riga’s lead was out to two with just over four minutes gone in the second-period. Having played second fiddle in recent weeks, Marcel Hossa was back doing what he does best, scoring goals. It was certainly not his cleanest goal ever, coming on the back of some scrappy play involving Petrovicky and Aleksandrs Ņiživijs. Nonetheless it was enough to keep him on top of the KHL goalscorers leader board.

With little going their way Avtomobilist soon resorted to some less than savoury tactics as the game dissolved into a scrappy affair. Roberts Bukarts came off worse as he was forced off the ice following a late shot, but to everyone’s relief he was soon back skating and getting a hand in his team’s next goal.as In fact, initial thoughts were that he had got the goal but after deliberation, the accolades instead went to Ģirts Ankipāns.

With just under two minutes left in the game Jēkabs Rēdlihs put the final nail in the coffin, courtesy of some sharp reactions in front of the goal. Liesutin had just survived a barrage of shots and thought it was over, only for Rēdlihs to dive backwards to pick u on a lose deflection and send the puck into the back of the net.

Dinamo Riga would have been a little disappointed with the small crowd that turned out but with another three home games in coming days they will be confident that bigger crowds are yet to come, starting when they host Traktor on Saturday evening.