By Yegor Glebov
Cities change, arenas change and competitors change. However the scoreboard, which is still not Dinamo Minsk’s friend, does not change at all. Alexander Andrievsky’s team suffered their fifth successive defeat and returned home in far from the best of moods. The saddest thing is that this is a game the Dinamo team could have won. The opposition players of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were average in attack and quite weak defensively. This defeat means that Dinamo Minsk have lost 7 out of their 8 matches this season.
Again, the Minsk players did not manage to play a game without making some very basic errors, and again missed a puck at the beginning of the game, when the pads of Lars Haugen were hit by Staffan Kronwall. Already 1:0 down, at the beginning of the second period, the captain of the Dinamo team, Alexey Kalyuzhny scored his first goal of this season and levelled the score in a powerplay. However it was the first and the last success of the Minsk guests, while the hosts kept their 9,000 fans happy on 3 occasions.
“It has not been the first time we have made such gross errors in defence. During two periods the game was quite equal. We had problems only in killing penalties, and there were moments when we had the chance to score. However we started making these errors and the game changed. In the third period our strongest players tried to fight, but they lacked the needed strength. We have scored just 11 goals in eight matches. Certainly, there are questions — and they are very big ones. It is possible to win with one goal, but it is very difficult,” said Interim Head Coach, Alexander Andrievsky after the match.
Before playing in Yaroslavl, Alexander Andrievsky’s team have lost to Severstal Cherepovets (2:4), SKA St. Petersburg (1:5) and Atlanta Mytishchi (2:3). Dinamo players have achieved just one victory, from the 8 matches of the 6th KHL Championship that they have played this season. On September, 10th they defeated HC Slovan Bratislava, at the Minsk-Arena, 2:0. Apart from their recent losses, Dinamo have also lost to Riga Dinamo (1:2), CSKA Moscow (1:2, in overtime) and HC Lev Praha (1:3).
The Minsk team’s next match will be played on September, 28th at the Bobruisk-Arena against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.
