Marcel Hossa and Ģirts Ankipāns discuss tactics with trainer Julius Supler, tactics that would ultimately prove successful. Photo used courtesy of Dinamo Riga.
MOSCOW, Russia — Dinamo Riga clinched a thrilling 5-4 victory over Dinamo Moscow Friday evening.
The game provided more twists than a pig’s tail when Dinamo Riga looked down and out after just 11 minutes, only to come storming back to look like they had clinched the most unlikely of victories, only for the game to then looked headed for over-time, only for Dinamo Riga to provide the game with one final twist with a minute to go on the clock. Follow that?
The victory sees Dinamo Riga move inside the play-off cut off, sitting one point above Torpedo. However, with Torpedo to play tomorrow evening, it may well be a short-lived stay.
Dinamo Riga could not have possibly got off a worst start with Dinamo Moscow scoring their first with just 12 seconds gone as Irshi Gudpir slipped the puck past Martin Prusek. As the period progressed things were to only get worse for Dinamo Riga with Ivan Neprayev scoring Dinamo Moscow’s second in the seventh minute. This was followed by what looked like a certain goal for Dinamo Riga, only for the goal to be disallowed by the video referee. The bad start was far from over with the hosts moving further ahead in the 11th minute as Nikita Divurichenski also added his name to the score-sheet by simply putting the puck between Prusek’s legs, spelling the end of the night for the Dinamo Riga goalie. Dinamo Riga were able to hold out for the rest of the period but morale was low as they headed into the shed at the completion of the period.
As much as the first ten minutes of the first period had belonged to Dinamo Moscow, the same could be said of the first ten of the second for Dinamo Riga. In just his third game in Dinamo Riga colors Mārtiņš Karsums had his first goal, skating a fast line down the center of the ice to hook on to Ģirts Ankipāns’ cross before beating the Dinamo Moscow goalie in style. Karsums’ quick skating which is a by-product of his time in the NHL has seen him evade defenders on a number of occasions already.
When Martin Kariya was able to quickly clear the puck to Lauris Dārziņš from a face-off in the 5th minute, Dārziņš was able to fire off a quick shot, finding the back right corner of the goal. The comeback had begun.
As the ten minute mark approached Robert Petrovicky found himself one-on-one with the goalie and was quickly able to cash in tying the game up at 3-apiece as the halfway mark approached. Both teams had their chances to move ahead as the period progressed. In the end it was Dinamo Riga who pounced first as Oļegs Sorokins scored his team’s fourth with 13 seconds left in the period. Again Petrovicky was involved in the action handing Sorokins a regulation pass, only for the Dinamo Moscow goalie to completely lose sight of the puck. At the other end, things were looking more settled with Masalskis back in goal.
Dinamo Riga held tight through the last period as the three points began to look more and more secure. However, with just over two minutes to play, the game was again turned on its head with Mattias Vinhandl scoring the goal which many thought would see the game heading into overtime. But Dinamo Riga were not done yet.
It would only seem fair that in a game that had as many moments as this to head for overtime, but given their overtime record, Dinamo Riga were a lot more determined to finish proceeding before the third-period hooter. That job fell onto the shoulders of Miķelis Rēdlihs who scored from a fine individual effort, beating the first defender before shooting around a second to give the game its final twist.
Dinamo Riga can now ill-afford to rest as they head to St. Petersburg on Sunday to take on SKA, a team that have handed them more than a few problems this season with Dinamo Riga having just recorded one victory from three games against them this season.
