Kunlun Red Star secured a 3-4 victory over Dynamo Minsk in the KHL on Wednesday evening. The result leaves both sides with just one point from their opening games, though Kunlun sit seventh while Dynamo Minsk occupy tenth in the table.
Dynamo Minsk had looked promising in their previous outing, beating Nizhny Novgorod 3-4 away from home. To be fair, that narrow defeat suggested they were competitive, but they could not carry that momentum into this contest against Kunlun.
Kunlun's form has been mixed at best. They lost 3-1 to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl on Saturday after a 5-4 win over Nizhnekamsk. By then, the visitors had shown they could score but also conceded freely. That pattern continued here.
The standings tell only part of the story. Both teams have played either one or two games and have zero points despite the results. Cup football has its own rules, and so too does the early KHL season — these numbers mean very little at this stage.
Dynamo Minsk had lost their previous match 4-1 to Dynamo Moscow and won 3-0 against CSKA Moscow. Kunlun, meanwhile, had been beaten 4-0 by Bars Kazan and thrashed 7-3 by Nizhny Novgorod. The contrast in recent results did not predict this evening's outcome.
What matters now is the gap in the table remains unchanged. Kunlun hold seventh place with two games played, while Dynamo Minsk sit tenth after just one. The season is wide open and neither side has opened talks about their ambitions yet.