Turbulence. This is exactly the term used by Dinamo Moscow coach Alexey Kudashov to describe his team’s performance after a brilliant comeback in the match against Barys. In yesterday’s match with the Kazakh team, the blue and white game combined a large number of positive and negative aspects. If we talk about the negative, we add to this the gray and faceless game in the first half, the notable lack of creativity in the equal compositions and a blunder by the blue and white main goalkeeper Ilya Konovalov after a shot by Nelson Nogier.
But after Dynamo settled for 1:3 at home 10 minutes before the end of regular time, Kudashov’s wards, first of all, did not crumble and were not knocked down or eliminated, but played with their character and your performance skills. adding and clearly demonstrating the same virtues that, on paper, made the blue and white one of the favorites of the Western Conference in preseason expectations.
Dynamo increased their speed, forced the Barys players to break the rules and go to the penalty area, and converted both power plays brilliantly, managing to send the game into overtime. In one of the most striking matches of the start of the KHL season, one of the most notable matches of the start of the KHL season was ended in overtime by Dynamo newcomer Daniil Pylenkov, who quickly rushed to attack in a three-on-three game and did it independently with a perfectly accurate shot past Eddie Pasquale.
Interview with Daniil Pylenkov:
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Most: This most important component of modern hockey is now the most formidable weapon in the Dynamo game. Of 23 power play opportunities in five games played, the blue and white converted eight attempts (34.8%, third best in the KHL, along with Ak Bars). Seven of the eight goals were scored by the first special team, where the main players responsible for constructing the play were Canadian forward Jordan Weale and Russian forward Nikita Gusev.
Kirill Gotovets, Jordan Weale, Nikita Gusev
Photo: Yuri Kuzmin, foto.khl.ru
Just a year ago, not even the most desperate fans of the capital club could imagine the 31-year-old KHL superstar playing for Dinamo Moscow. In early November, after failed attempts to find work abroad, the 2018 Olympic champion and 2017 Gagarin Cup winner signed a contract with SKA. And the ceremony of Nikita’s return to St. Petersburg was organized in the most pathetic way possible by the leadership of the army team. A special presentation was organized for this event, at which Gusev, under the supervision of assembled cameras and journalists, signed a two-year agreement with the club.
Nikita Gusev’s first words after his return to SKA:
“I’m glad to be in St. Petersburg again, I hope everything turns out well.” Gusev – about the contract with SKA
Less than 48 hours had passed since Gusev’s return to the club, where he became a true symbol and one of the main legends in history, when Nikita wrote a brilliant new page in the chronicle of his relationship with SKA. The match against Sochi was the first for Nikita after returning to SKA. And he came back like a king: he scored the puck and gave an assist.
The goal became his 371st point (122+249) with SKA in the KHL and clearly placed him in first place among the club’s scorers. According to this indicator, Gusev surpassed Ilya Kovalchuk, who scored 370 points for the St. Petersburg club. Roman Rotenberg, happy and content, congratulated the player on the ice and gave him a specially prepared sweatshirt with the number 371.
Roman Rotenberg and Nikita Gusev
Photo: Ilya Smirnov, foto.khl.ru
What happened next, of course, you remember very well. In just a few months it will be clear that the best scorer in SKA history no longer fits into the Army Club system. In winter, certain tensions arose, but the relationship finally collapsed very abruptly: during the playoffs, in which Nikita started with 12 points in 13 games and finished on the podium, already as a spectator watching how Rotenberg’s team was eliminated from CSKA without he. Then, in one of the main Russian media outlets, Gusev was suddenly labeled as a person who does not comply with the sports regime, and others began to publish “unbiased” opinions of various experts, the general message of which was that he had become too A Nikita finds it difficult to prove himself at the KHL level.
Apparently, it is so difficult that last season the forward, who only started playing in November, scored 49 points in 37 regular season games and finished the championship as SKA’s fourth-highest scorer. And this despite the fact that the hockey player missed a total of 31 games in the quiet part of the season. Some people like to give this statistic the following killer argument: “Why is everyone watching the regular season? He can still do it on clean ice, but by the playoffs he’s no longer a player.” Well, let’s study the forward’s statistics in the last five KHL playoffs and move on.
SeasonMatchesGoalsTransfersGlasses2016/201718716232017/20181575122018/201918910192021/20221679162022/2023135712
After Gusev’s retirement from SKA, it was evident that the striker’s days in the military club were already numbered. And so it happened. In the off-season, the army team terminated the contract with the hockey player and he moved to Dynamo as a free agent, where defenseman Igor Ozhiganov was also traded.
Interview with Igor Ozhiganov after a strong exchange:
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Now Gusev runs the majority of Dynamo and is doing very well. In the match against SKA, Dynamo did not manage to use too much, but even then flashes were seen: enough dangerous moments were created. Like all the main emotions when playing on equal terms, it also came at that moment, as soon as Nikita found himself on the ice.
At that time the absolute “chemistry” between Gusev and Wil had not yet been found, but a few games were enough and the Russian-Canadian combination shone in all its splendor. Already in the lost match against Magnitka, Gusev and Wil first organized a goal with equal strength, and then the majority of Dynamo worked for the first time.
From that moment on, the blue and white produced an amazing series, analogues of which will be quite difficult to find. Starting with Eric O’Dell’s goal in the game against Magnitogorsk, Kudashov’s team scored eight goals in a row while playing on the power play. The minority teams HC Sochi (4-0) and Barys (4-3 overtime) suffered especially.
“Leopards” lost three goals from the Dynamo first team and one more from the second team, and “Barys” received two goals in a row at the key moment of the match from the Dynamo leader. Wrong opponents for analysis? There is a grain of truth in these words. Here the most revealing matches should be the matches against CSKA and SKA itself. But only a part. The same “Ak Bars” and “Lokomotiv”, who between them sent a puck into the goal of “Sochi” (1:3 and 0:5, respectively), will hardly agree that it is very easy to break through the defense of the southern club
What Andrey Skabelka said after the defeat:
The Barys coach talks about the fifth consecutive defeat: he did not forgive Dinamo’s expulsion, it is a shame
But it’s not even about the number of attempts made. Each of the five elements of Dinamo’s first majority brigade complement each other organically. Located on both ends, Gusev and Wil are capable of completing passes of any complexity, defenseman Brennan Menell orchestrates the blue line, Eric O’Dell is always ready to score himself from the nickel or help Nikita and Jordan make plays, and the Stanley Cup. The winner Cedric Paquette collects all the rebounds in case of inaccurate shots, giving partners the opportunity to start a new play, put even more pressure on the opponent and, ultimately, create as much beauty as in yesterday’s match with Barys.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. Video of the goal can be seen on the official KHL website.
After five games, Wil and Gusev have seven effective actions each, but in this sense the dynamics of Jordan’s point change are indicative. The former Ak Bars forward was one of Dynamo’s standout players last season. In the end, it was he who became the blue and white’s top scorer in the regular season, adding 43 points in 62 games. But then Jordan helped his teammates more, scoring only 14 goals in the regular season. He now has four goals to his name. This is understandable. How can you fail after a pass like Gusev’s in yesterday’s third goal episode?
Pylenkov’s opinion on the transfer from Gusev to Wil:
Video
Pylenkov: Gusev is an Olympic champion. Teacher. These programs are no longer new to us.
If Jordan and Nikita continue to perform at this pace, at the end of the season they will aim to set a new club record for points in the KHL regular season, which currently belongs to Vadim Shipachev (68). But for the blue and white coach, records are a minor matter. With the arrival of Gusev to Dynamo, Kudashov once again has a hockey player around whom most of the team’s actions can be built. It remains to discover the appropriate combinations when playing “five against five”, which is what the Dynamo coaching staff is currently working on, and then the blue and white will really be able to claim to live up to the ambitions that are constantly raised. It was talked about in the club.
What goals does Kudashov’s team have for the season? Position of Club President:
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