Lauris Dārziņš' shootout goal assured victory for Dinamo Riga. Photo courtesy of Dinamo Riga.

RIGA — Dinamo Riga hold their slight advantage over Torpedo in the playoff race, beating them 3-2 in overtime.

The importance of the game was not lost on the locals with a sellout crowd of over 10,000 welcoming Dinamo Riga onto the ice.  With the support behind them Dinamo Riga showed it with a number of strong attacking plays to start the game. It was perhaps odd then that when their only goal of the period did come in the ninth minute, it was from a simple pass rather than a scoring shot. Martin Kariya skated the puck out from behind the net before attempting to pass to Lauris Dārziņš who was in prime position in front of the Torpedo goal, completely obscuring the view of goalie Alexander Fomochov. When Dārziņš failed to pick up the pass from Kariya, it left the simplest of pick ups for Fomochov but he did not see the puck at all as it glided in almost slow-motion into the back of the net. Dinamo Riga’s only other chances of the period came in the latter stages but Fomochov was proving more resilient after his early glitch.

At 2.45 into the second period Torpedo shot in the equalizer after a five minute deliberation from the video referee. Playing a on a power-play, Mihail Varnikov sent the puck high into the back of the net. Edgars Masaļskis was adamant that the puck had deflected of another of the Torpedo players but replays would prove inconclusive.

Vadim Sharaichuk then further dampened the spirits of the Dinamo fans, scoring another power play goal for Torpedo. Dinamo Riga continued to create opportunity for themselves on offense but too often when they were beginning to create pressure around the Torpedo net poor discipline would prove costly, handing Torpedo invaluable power-plays.

Dinamo Riga claimed back the momentum as the players returned to the ice for the final period, thanks to a Mike Iggulden goal in the fifth minute. The goal shared similarities to Kariya’s, with the puck again finding its way through the Torpedo defensive lines on the back of a simple passing maneuver. It was also the third goal to be scored on power-play.

Masaļskis’ interesting night in goal was also set to continued. After loudly voicing his disapproval of Torpedo’s first goal, he was fortunate to avoid serious injury when hitting his head hard on the goal frame before topping his night of by losing his helmet in goal at a crucial moment. Luckily the referee was able to stall proceedings before any serious damage was done.

With the clock counting down Dinamo Riga were presented with a strong opportunity to claim the lead in the 17th minute when they were given a late power-play but it came and went without the much sought after third goal eventuating.

Fans were then given a nervous final minute to sit through as Miķelis Rēdlihs saw himself banished to the penalty-box for the final moments of regular time. Luckliy it did not prove to  be conducive to the result with Dinamo Riga holding on to send the game into overtime.

Overtime came and went with the deadlock remaining, forcing the game into a shoot-out with Torpedo stepping up first. Masaļskis was showing no ill effects from his earlier head clash, easily stopping Yarolsav Bednarsh’s attempt. At the other end Alexandrs Ņiživijs made no mistake of firing the puck home. Masaļskis was again unbreakable on Torpedo’s second attempt. This now left Darzins with a chance to claim the victory, something he made no mistake of sending the crowd into delirium.

With four games remaining Dinamo Riga will assure themselves a place in the play-offs with outright victory in two of these games. The first of the four is against CSKA on Sunday, another team that is still attempting to secure their play-off spot.