Alexandrs Ņiživijs showed tantalizing form with three goals and an assist to boot. Photo used courtesy of Dinamo Riga.
RIGA — Dinamo Riga strengthened their playoff hopes in the KHL with a telling 5-4 win over Dinamo Minsk.
Dinamo Riga fans have a chant which they shout to their hearts’ content week in week out, “Tikai Riga, tikai Dinamo” which translates to “Only Riga, only Dinamo,” which was certainly the case this evening, especially for the first two periods.
Dinamo Minsk had to win to have any chance of making the playoffs while Dinamo Riga needed the win to remain in top eight.
Dinamo Riga dominated the opening facets and it came as no surprise when they scored first. Their intentions were clear from early on with their sharp-shooters firing far out. Mike Iggulden came close to scoring with one of those long shots in the first play of the game. Their tactics paid off, when Aleksandrs Ņiživijs’ slap-shot found the net in the sixth minute. It was a well timed shot with Mārtiņš Cipulis providing the assist.
With Janis Sprukts given some time out, Dinamo Minsk made full advantage of their extra player on the ice, striking back through Druvel Westcot. The goal proved controversial with replays suggesting interference on Edgars Masaļskis in goal.
Dinamo Riga did not mess around getting their revenge, returning the favor on power play less than two minutes later. In a well-worked, pre-planned move Ņiživijs fed the puck across the ice to Oļegs Sokorins who in turn pushed the puck forward to Marcel Hossa to claim his 31st of the season, finding the back of the net from the finest of angles.
The second period had the crowd in absolute delirium, somewhat assisted by an attempt to break the record for the most noise made at a KHL game. Regardless of the record attempt, the action on the hockey was enough to keep the smallish crowd of 6,380 cheering.
After a quiet first ten minutes, Dinamo Riga came alive in the second half of the period with Mikelis Redlihs scoring in the eleventh minute. In an evening full of highlights, Ņiživijs second goal claimed trumps.
Sprukts bullied his way down the left wing and when it looked for all money that he would shoot himself he instead offloaded to Ņiživijs who simply guided the puck into the neck. The goal was made all the sweeter by the fact it was a shorthanded goal, with Robert Petrovicky looking on from the penalty box.
Just over three minutes later and the rink was awash with the caps of fans who were celebrating Ņiživijs’ hat-trick goal in their own unique style. Having watched the previous goal from the penalty box, Petrovicky was making sure he did not miss out this time, providing the assist for the triple-scorer.
The heroics of the previous period had the crowd amped for more but as is often the case with games in which the result is already all beyond doubt, the game became wayward and lost some of its intensity. This was not to say that Dinamo Riga did not continue to have chances but the passes began to lose some of their accuracy. Dinamo Riga’s loss in intensity would almost prove costly as the clock wound down.
For a while Dinamo Minsk thought they were Dinamo Riga, trying to reproduce one of the comebacks that the Latvians have become famous for. With two goals in the middle of the period to Dmitri Maleshko and Sergei Varlamov and when Oleg Antonenko scored with just 32 seconds remaining, some Dinamo Riga players may have been thinking they were about to get a taste of their own medicine. Thankfully cool heads prevailed and Dinamo Riga were able to see out the remaining 32 seconds with no real dramas.
The news only got better following the game with news that Torpedo had suffered a loss giving Dinamo Riga a slight 5 point buffer. Next up for Dinamo Riga is Vityaz at home on Wednesday. Although Vityaz are sitting well adrift at the foot of the table, Dinamo Riga will remain optimistically cautious going into the game.
