“We’ll Keep Moving Forward Day By Day.” Dragons Open Minsk Cup With High-scoring Battle

The Shanghai Dragons opened their preseason schedule with a wild, back-and-forth contest in Minsk, falling 7–5 to Dinamo Minsk in their first game of the Minsk Cup.

The hosts came out flying and earned an early 5-on-3 advantage, but the Dragons’ penalty kill stood tall. Shanghai then struck first, with Nikita Popugayev finishing a play from Pavel Koledov and Mikhail Naumenkov to make it 1–0.

The momentum quickly swung the other way. A series of defensive breakdowns allowed Dinamo to score three times in less than two minutes late in the opening period, sending Shanghai into the first intermission down 3–1.

Dragons Keep Coming Back

That set the tone for the rest of the afternoon: every time Dinamo tried to pull away, the Dragons found a way back.

Dmitrij Jaskin cut the deficit to one with a power-play goal early in the second, finishing a setup from Nic Petan and Brennan Menell. After Dinamo restored its two-goal cushion, Mikhail Kotlyarevsky provided one of Shanghai’s highlights of the game, turning on the speed for a shorthanded goal that made it 4–3.

Dinamo answered again before the second intermission, but Shanghai refused to go away.

Early in the third, Riley Sutter showed off his hand-eye coordination, batting the puck home to bring the Dragons within one once more at 5–4. The hosts responded yet again, with Reid Gardner making it 6–4 midway through the period.

One Last Push

Shanghai threw everything forward late.

With the goaltender pulled and the Dragons skating 6-on-4, Jaskin struck for his second goal of the game at 56:28. Petan and Menell picked up their second assists of the night on the play, and suddenly it was 6–5 with more than three minutes remaining.

The Dragons went back to the extra attacker in search of the tying goal, but this time Dinamo capitalized. Sergei Kuznetsov found the empty net with exactly one minute remaining to seal a 7–5 win for the hosts.

Shanghai came up just short, but its first preseason test offered plenty to build on — five goals, a pair from Jaskin, special-teams production and a team that repeatedly fought its way back into the game.

The Dragons return to action Aug. 14 at 4 p.m., when they face Metallurg in their second game of the Minsk Cup.

Minsk Cup Preseason Tournament — Day 1
Dinamo Minsk – Shanghai Dragons 7–5 (3–1, 2–2, 2–2)

August 13 | Minsk, Olympic Arena | Attendance: 646
Goaltenders: Fucale – Khomchenko

Scoring Summary

0–1 — Popugayev (Koledov, Naumenkov) — 11:07
1–1 — Sotishvili (Smith, Lipski) — 15:26 (PP)
2–1 — Kuznetsov (Lipski, Ouellet) — 16:50 (PP)
3–1 — Chukharev (Gardner, Belkin) — 17:14
3–2 — Jaskin (Petan, Menell) — 23:43 (PP)
4–2 — Mikhalev (Kuznetsov, Smith) — 25:28 (PP)
4–3 — Kotlyarevsky (Khripunov) — 28:52 (SH)
5–3 — Mikhalev (Belkin, Smith) — 37:54
5–4 — Sutter — 42:17
6–4 — Gardner (Galiyev) — 46:20
6–5 — Jaskin (Petan, Menell) — 56:28 (PP, 6-on-4)
7–5 — Kuznetsov — 59:00 (EN)

Shanghai Dragons Media Relations