Two Points from Minsk!

Dinamo Minsk – HC SLOVAN Bratislava 3:4sn (1:1, 1:2, 1:0 - 0:0, 0:1)

Goals: 13. Nick Bailen (Alexander Materukhin, Paul Szczechura), 21. Ryan Vesce (Nick Bailen, Matt Ellison), 50. Dmitry Meleshko (Konstantin Koltsov, Sergey Drozd) – 17. Michal Sersen (unassisted), 25. Cam Barker (Lukáš Kašpar, Michal Sersen), 31. Rok Tičar (Andrej Šťastný, Žiga Jeglič) - deciding penalty shot: Žiga Jeglič

Lineups:
Dinamo Minsk: Lalande – Bailen, Gunderson, Krajíček, Lisovets, Nogachyov, Shinkevich– Vesce, Kalyuzhny, Ellison – Stepanov, Szczechura, Materukhin – Koltsov, Komarov, Meleshko – Mikhalyov, Drozd, Pavlovich.
HC SLOVAN: Brust – Barker, Sersen, Starosta, Luža, Valach, Švarný, Kozák – Leblanc, Nedorost, Kašpar – Bartovič, Surový, Paré – Jeglič, Tičar, Šťastný – Skalický, Viedenský, Miklík

Louis Leblanc, Slovan's recent arrival from Canada, came close to scoring on debut four minutes into the game. He picked up the rebound from Nedorost's shot behind the goal, but was unable to surprise Lalande. Slovan then handed the home team a powerplay, although a trio of our defenders surged forward first, but this enabled the hosts to make a quick counter, which forced Brust to intervene twice. Minsk's activity was rewarded in the 13th minute, when hesitation in the defensive zone left a pair unchallenged in front of Brust, and Bailen converted from close range - 1:0. Dinamo's lead lasted but three minutes, however, as a fine combination put Sersen in, and his bomb beat everything in its way – 1:1.

The home were celebrating again just seconds into the middle period, when Ryan Vesce beat Brust from right up close - 2:1. But as with the first period, Minsk only held their lead fro three minutes. Szczechura broke away in a Slovan powerplay, but failed to score, whereas Cam Barker hit the target from the blue line in the resulting counter-attack - 2:2. In the 6th minute, Krajíček got through all the way to the Slovan net, but wasted his great opportunity in the side netting. The Sky Blues then seized on a moment's hesitation by the Minsk defence, and Šťatsný's pass from the corner found Tičar ready in front of goal, and he took Slovan into the lead for the first time - 2:3.

Just over a minute into the third period, Szczechura sailed between the two Slovan backs, but could only find Brust's pads. Slovan did well to repel the home teams forays, and kept them from major openings. In the 50th minute, however, they lost the pack in their own zone, and Meleshko directed the loose puck into the net - 3:3. The closing minutes brought excitement at both ends, and the home team had their chances after a foul by Brust, but instead committed their own error of too many players on the ice. When the Sky Blues also failed to make anything of their powerplay, the game headed into overtime. The play was even, with neither side creating major chances, so a shootout had to settle the tie. 

Žiga Jeglič and Ryan Vesce both scored first up, Lukáš Kašpar scored his, while the Slovan netminder saved off Stepanov. In the third round, Paré missed, while Meleško kept Minsk in it at 2:2. Vesce then missed his second go, while Jeglič scored again to take two points for Slovan! 

Miloš Říha: An even game, both teams made some mistakes. We had enough chances, we were winning in the third, but simple errors cost us victory in regular time. We were luckier in the shootout.