Game Day. The Rematch
GAME 3
SEPT. 10 — AT DINAMO MINSK
7:10 p.m. local | 12:10 p.m. ET | 9:10 a.m. PT
Minsk-Arena — Minsk
THE STORYLINE: THE REMATCH
There is no mystery here.
These teams have already played.
Dinamo defeated Shanghai 7-5 on Aug. 13, giving both coaching staffs 60 minutes of unusually relevant preseason film before their first regular-season meeting.
For Shanghai, the lessons were obvious.
The Dragons showed they could create offense. Jaskin scored twice on the power play. But penalties altered the rhythm of the game, Dinamo found offense through special teams and transition, and Shanghai spent too much of the night responding rather than controlling.
Four weeks later, the stakes change.
So does the lineup.
A NEW LOOK IN MINSK
Dinamo enters the season after one of the strongest regular seasons in franchise history.
Last year’s team reached the second round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs, while Sam Anas produced 89 points in 67 regular-season games, leading the KHL and tying Nikita Gusev’s league record for points in a season. He finished with 94 points in 75 games including the playoffs.
But this is not simply last year’s Dinamo running it back.
Sergei Brylin — a three-time Stanley Cup winner as a player with the New Jersey Devils and a longtime coach in the Devils organization — has taken over for Kvartalnov in his first head-coaching job. His North American background fits a roster containing several players familiar with that environment, and Dinamo has spent preseason adjusting rather than completely reinventing itself.
Brylin said this week that he likes the direction of the team following its Moscow Mayor’s Cup games, but acknowledged that several injuries have reduced Dinamo’s depth. Defenseman Nicolas Meloche was among the players whose timetable remained uncertain as the season approached.
That makes the state of the Minsk lineup something worth checking again on game day.
NEW WEAPON: NICOLAS AUBE-KUBEL
One of Dinamo’s late additions brings a very specific profile.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel arrives with extensive North American experience and a game built around speed, pressure and physical engagement. He played six NHL games for Minnesota last season before producing 37 points in 62 AHL games with Iowa.
For Brylin, he is another player who should understand immediately how the coach wants the game played.
FAMILIAR FACE: JAKE BISCHOFF
And then there is a reunion.
Jake Bischoff, who played 52 games for the Shanghai Dragons last season and recorded nine points, signed a one-year contract with Dinamo Minsk on Aug. 25. He joined the team for practice on Sept. 1.
That makes Bischoff the clearest former Shanghai/Kunlun connection among the three opponents on this opening trip.
He knows the organization.
He knows several of the players.
And by Sept. 10, there is a chance he will be staring back at his former club from the opposite blue line.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
SHANGHAI — Dmitrij Jaskin
Two power-play goals against Dinamo in August make him the obvious place to start. Minsk already knows what happens when Shanghai gets him established around the net.
SHANGHAI — Nic Petan
Petan’s distribution was part of Shanghai’s successful power-play work in the preseason meeting. His ability to manipulate Minsk’s penalty kill could become one of the game’s defining details.
SHANGHAI — Calen Addison
If Minsk pressures aggressively, Shanghai’s most mobile defensemen will have opportunities to turn that pressure into transition offense.
DINAMO — Sam Anas
Eighty-nine regular-season points say enough. Give him time in a soft area and the mistake is usually already made.
DINAMO — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
A potential tone-setter in exactly the type of high-tempo, physical game Brylin is trying to build.
DINAMO — Zach Fucale
Behind all the offensive talent is a goaltender capable of turning a close game into a frustrating one. Shanghai will need more than volume; it needs traffic and quality.
KEY MATCHUP
Shanghai’s discipline vs. Dinamo’s transition and special teams.
The preseason meeting already supplied the warning.
Shanghai does not want this to become a track meet driven by penalties and broken structure. Dinamo has too much skill for that.
Shanghai Dragons Media Relations
