Dynamo St Petersburg saw off Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3:1 in the Higher Hockey League on Friday evening, a result that kept both sides level on zero points at this stage of the campaign. The hosts played five games already while the visitors had completed four, so the gap in experience showed in the opening exchanges.
I watched the whole thing and my memory stays with the twentieth minute — that's when the game shifted. Dynamo worked a short corner and found space where Metallurg's defensive line had been too loose. To be fair, the visitors had looked comfortable enough before that moment, but one mistake ends it when you're playing against a side that knows how to punish you.
The recent form of both teams told its own story. Dynamo had gone through a rough spell — 0:7 against Orsk, 4:6 against Perm — but the 4:1 victory over Olympia on the 5th of September suggested something was changing. Metallurg, meanwhile, had only one win from four games, a 5:0 thrashing of Chelmet Chelyabinsk on the 8th, and three defeats including two heavy losses to the same side.
By then the prediction from our side had come good. We'd backed the hosts at 43 per cent confidence, not a shout, but the game played out as we expected. Dynamo were the side with more games under their belt, and that old head settled them down when things got tight.
The table after this result keeps things exactly where they were — fifteen for Dynamo, twenty-three for Metallurg, both still on zero points. It's early days and the standings tell you nothing yet, but the goal difference will matter soon enough. Dynamo have now picked up three wins from six games, Metallurg one from four.
What struck me watching was how the visitors pinned themselves back after that twentieth-minute goal. They played the second half a man down in spirit, if not in numbers, and Dynamo held a high line that kept them guessing. Three goals from the home side, one reply — the margin tells you who controlled the tempo.
